Common questions, answered up front.

No. This app is a self-accountability tool. It does not provide medical, psychological, or addiction treatment. If you are struggling with compulsive behavior, please consult a qualified professional.

It is a screen-recording accountability tool. During a session, it captures your screen as a timelapse and tracks which apps you use. At the end of the session you can review your time as a video and a summary report. Focus adds optional round-the-clock schedule and blocking enforcement on top of the timelapse core. Separately, Social Cooldown is a built-in minimum standard: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Reddit, Snapchat, and YouTube share one time allowance followed by a break, even when Master Focus is off.

Anyone who wants an honest record of how they spend time on their phone. It is built for self-accountability, not for monitoring others.

The app is organized into Start, Review, Focus, and Settings. Start is for beginning a session, Review is for labels and finished-session review, Focus is for always-on blocking and schedules, and Settings holds the remaining app-level options.

Open the Focus tab. It holds the Master Focus switch, Schedule Focus, Quick Lock, Night Lock, Strict Mode, per-app limits, Adaptive Protection exceptions, and a Protection section with the Protection Log, Settings history, and Focus analytics, plus any permission prompts Focus still needs.

Open the Review tab and tap Review app labels on the App labels card. Settings no longer repeats that shortcut.

The app takes a capture on the interval you selected for the session. It samples the screen at those ticks and assembles the finished timelapse locally on the phone.

Normal capture requires an active subscription verified by Google Play. Valid reviewer or closed-tester access can also enable controlled review access.

Use Restore purchases or Retry Google Play on Plan & limits. If Google Play cannot be reached, a subscription confirmed within the last 24 hours keeps working until that window ends; restarting the phone ends it early. After that, or if Google Play confirms there is no active subscription, protected features pause until access is confirmed. Saved sessions remain on this device.

Yes. Start or continue capture after access is restored and approve the Android screen-capture prompt again.

It records the screen Android shares with it, usually the full screen, so the timelapse reflects what you were seeing.

Only after you start a session — with Start session, a widget, or the Start timelapse app shortcut — and approve Android's screen-capture prompt. It never starts silently.

Long-press an empty area of your Android Home Screen, tap Widgets, then choose Timelapse: Adaptive Blocking. Timelapse controls is a wide widget that changes from Start to Pause + Stop or Resume + Stop with the session. While recording or paused, it also shows elapsed capture time, frames saved, and the capture interval. Start timelapse, Pause / Resume, and Stop timelapse are compact single-action tiles. A compact tile that is unavailable stays visible but does nothing. Weekly Rhythm is a separate widget that only shows a local screen-time overview; it does not control capture.

Yes. Every Start from a widget opens Android's fresh screen-capture consent prompt. Declining it starts no capture.

No. The capture widgets only control the timelapse session, and the Weekly Rhythm widget only displays your week. None of them can change Focus, schedules, Quick Lock, Emergency, Request more time, or any active lock.

No. Audio is not part of the product.

Yes. Google Play handles subscription checks. If Website access is active, allowed DNS lookups are sent encrypted using DNS over TLS to Cloudflare's public 1.1.1.1 resolver, which receives the requested domain names and connection data needed to answer them. Cloudflare says it deletes Public Resolver Logs within 25 hours, though limited sampled data may be retained for aggregate statistics. If there is no connection or the network blocks encrypted DNS on port 853, allowed lookups fail during the lock; the app does not send them as unencrypted DNS. Capture, summaries, labels, saved website lists, and blocked attempts stay on the device unless you export or share files. Optional Product Analytics is separate; if enabled, Firebase receives product events and technical app details.

For a limited set of supported banking apps, wallets, and password managers, Capture exclusions can add the app automatically using an exact package-ID match on this phone. The app list never leaves your device. It does not try to identify every financial app, so you can also black out any other app yourself in Capture exclusions. While an excluded app is in the foreground, saved frames are blacked out. You can remove any detected app in Capture exclusions; that choice stops it being added automatically again. The change applies to future sessions, not a recording already in progress.

No. It records only during an active session.

Usually the full screen. On supported devices or Android versions, the system may let you choose a single app or window.

No. Capture is manual-start only and always needs your approval. If a recording is interrupted, the app can offer to continue it, but only after you approve a fresh screen-capture prompt.

The session keeps running. On some devices the captured frames may turn dark or black while the screen is off or locked.

Yes, but foreground-app detection is limited, so labels and warnings are less accurate. Focus schedule enforcement also requires Usage Access to identify which app is in the foreground, and Social Cooldown needs it to count time in covered apps.

It lets the app read the foreground app so labels, warnings, summaries, schedule enforcement, and Social Cooldown timing stay in sync with what is on screen.

Android only lets apps change notification / Do Not Disturb behavior if you grant notification policy access. Do not disturb is optional, and the app only tries to use that access from its switch inside Night Lock, Focus Block, or Quick Lock. The first time you turn it on, the app opens the Android settings screen so you can grant that access, then turns it on automatically after you come back if access was granted.

Yes. The Reopen active session automatically switch, in the Session recovery section of the permission setup screen, is on by default so reopening the app returns you to an already-running session screen instead of Home. It does not start capture silently and it does not read anything new beyond the session you already started. If you turn it off, the app will open to Home even while a session keeps running in the background. If a recording was interrupted, a Recording interrupted card offers Continue recording, which asks for fresh screen-capture approval, or Review and export.

Screen capture approval is required before a session can start, and Start session stays locked until you allow it. Battery optimization should also stay Unrestricted before you start so capture stays reliable. The other settings sit in useful-later checklist items: Usage Access helps the app keep labels and warnings accurate, notification and overlay permissions keep warning alerts visible, and exact alarms keep Focus timing precise. Usage Access also lets Social Cooldown count time in covered apps, and optional features such as website blocking (VPN consent) and short-form feeds (Accessibility) ask for their own access only when you turn them on. Images, labels, summaries, and exports stay on the phone unless you choose to export or share them, and the app itself does not request internet access for capture or MP4 building.

The app detects the change and writes a "Usage access removed" event to the Protection Log. Without Usage Access, Focus cannot identify which app is in the foreground, so schedule and Quick Lock enforcement stops working, and Social Cooldown cannot count use, until the permission is restored.

Android can restrict background apps to save power. If Focus falls under battery optimization, Android may suspend or kill it, causing schedule enforcement to stop silently. The app monitors for changes to its battery optimization status and logs them in the Protection Log. To keep the service reliable, set the app to Unrestricted in Android Settings → Apps → Battery.

The app detects the change and writes an "Overlay permission removed" event to the Protection Log. Without the Display over other apps permission, the block screen that normally appears over restricted apps cannot be shown, so app blocking is no longer possible until you restore the permission.

Strict Mode is an optional accountability layer that protects four sensitive actions — requesting more time (including pausing a Quick Lock), disabling a schedule, turning off Always-on, and turning off Strict Mode — with a trusted-contact passcode. It does not define its own app allowlist or blocking rules. Schedules, Quick Lock, and per-open limits keep deciding which apps are allowed, and Strict Mode simply makes the escape hatches deliberate. It asks what the approval should unlock before the passcode step, and it also adds a recovery countdown if you ever need to regain access without that passcode.

No. Strict Mode is just a PIN gate on top of the existing features. The schedule allowlists remain the source of truth for what is allowed, and the other blocking systems keep working exactly as they already do.

Strict Mode asks what the approval should unlock before it asks for the passcode. That keeps the passcode tied to a real outcome instead of a vague "more time" request. Depending on the blocker, you can approve a single app, the current schedule, or a Quick Lock pause. Social Cooldown, short-form feed blocks, and Adaptive Protection containment cannot be unlocked through Strict Mode approval.

The first two requests for the same scope stay fully available. Starting with the third request in the rolling 24-hour window, the app shows a stronger warning and narrows the options for that scope. The tighter choices reset automatically once the window expires.

Schedule approvals can unlock one app for 10 minutes or 1 hour, or the whole schedule for 1 hour or 1 day. Quick Lock approvals can unlock one app for 10 minutes or 1 hour, or pause the whole Quick Lock for 10 minutes or 1 hour. Per-open approvals stay app-only, and daily, weekly, or category limit blocks likewise unlock only the app for 10 minutes or 1 hour.

The passcode is stored locally on the phone as a hash only. There is no server copy and no remote recovery path.

The app has no reset button for the passcode and keeps no server copy. Its built-in way to regain access is the 60-day recovery countdown, which starts only when you choose it from inside the app.

A simple pattern is to split the 10 digits 5 + 5 so you and your trusted contact each hold half. That keeps the passcode deliberate without making it easy to casually reuse.

Do not enable it until you and your trusted contact have already agreed on the passcode. If you turn it on too early and lose the code, you can leave yourself stuck until the 60-day recovery finishes.

When an app is labeled Distraction, the session keeps recording and the app shows your warning path, usually a notification, vibration, and in-app chip. Warnings escalate with the share of the session spent in distracting apps: Warning 1 when one opens, Warning 2 at 10%, a final warning with one of your motivational photos at 20%, and the session is marked failed at 30%. Capture keeps running after a failed session.

Yes. The app still works if Android's Display over other apps permission is unavailable, although Focus blocking does need it.

Yes. They appear whenever the Display over other apps permission granted during setup remains available.

Yes. Warning notifications use sound and vibration by default. You can still manage the warning notification channel from Android system settings.

The app still records, but warning notifications cannot appear. Vibration and the in-app or overlay path can still work as long as their own access is available.

Overlay warnings cannot appear, but the app still records and can continue with notification, vibration, and in-app warnings. If Focus is active, the block overlay that covers restricted apps also requires this permission.

Open the Review tab, tap Review app labels on the App labels card, and assign the app to Study / Work, Distraction, or Neutral.

Timelapse auto-labels installed apps the next time it checks (usually at launch). Until then, or for any app it isn't confident about, it behaves as Neutral. You can confirm or change any label yourself in App labels at any time.

Because that app is currently labeled Distraction, whether you set that label or the app suggested it.

The session warning ladder warns you but does not block. Focus is different: when a Focus Block or Night Lock schedule is active, a Quick Lock is running, or a Night Lock's automatic Morning Guard is still active for 15 minutes after that schedule's end time, the app shows a full-screen block overlay. Request more time and Emergency appear there only when that block's saved switches are enabled. Request more time applies only to that schedule or Quick Lock; Emergency is a rare global temporary bypass. Per-app time limits, Social Cooldown, Adaptive Protection, and short-form feed locks use the same block screen when they trigger. If Focus is running while a session is also active, starting a session does not bypass an active schedule, lock, or Morning Guard window.

There is no single off switch for warnings. They trigger only for apps labeled Distraction, so keeping apps Neutral stops them during sessions. Denying notification or overlay access in Android also silences those parts, but overlay access is needed for Focus blocking.

Yes. Timelapse suggests a label for each installed app automatically, and you can change any app's category in App labels (Review tab) at any time.

Both are saved locally on the phone, and the finished files are written into Downloads.

Open the Review tab. Your latest session is at the top, and the Previous sessions list reopens saved sessions, summaries, MP4s, and PDFs.

The summary is the in-app review, the PDF is the shareable report, and the MP4 is the timelapse video.

The app is assembling the files locally on the phone. Bigger sessions and slower devices take longer.

Exports with an active subscription do not include a watermark.

Partly. Frames (in the Review tab once advanced options are shown) has a Delete all images button (not available while a session is running), and you can delete exported files from Downloads like any other file. Session summaries and history are kept on the phone for your most recent 365 sessions, and clearing the app's data in Android Settings removes everything the app stores.

Stored images are cleaned up automatically after 7 days.

App-private data such as labels, session history, and images is removed. Files already saved in Downloads usually stay until you delete them separately.

Google Play provides the current localized price and billing period for each offer. Plan & limits shows the offer available to this account before purchase, including any eligible trial and renewal terms.

Compare the current localized prices and billing periods shown by Google Play. The app does not publish fixed USD prices or a fixed annual savings claim.

A subscription includes 480p capture, Quick, Balanced, and Detailed timelapse styles (up to 3, 6, or 10 minutes), 365 sessions of history, the full range of Capture detail options (every 30 seconds to every 6 minutes), sessions up to 2 days, unlimited MP4 builds, watermark removal, per-app time limits, Night Lock, Local Insights, Focus, Focus Block, Quick Lock, Strict Mode, the Protection Log, and Settings history.

Open Plan & limits and use Retry Google Play or Restore purchases. If Google Play is only briefly unreachable, a subscription confirmed within the last 24 hours keeps working until that window ends. If access is paused, saved sessions remain on this device.

A single session can run for up to 2 days; its exact capture window depends on the selected interval and frame cap. MP4 builds are unlimited. Capture still requires Android screen-capture consent and available device storage.

Normal app use requires an active Google Play subscription. Valid reviewer or closed-tester access can also enable controlled review access.

Open Plan & limits, choose an available monthly or annual offer, then review its current Google Play price and terms before purchase.

Open Plan & limits and tap Restore purchases.

Cancel it in Google Play subscriptions; the Manage subscription button on Plan & limits opens it. The app cannot cancel it for you.

No. Saved sessions remain on this device. Protected features pause until access returns; resuming screen capture requires fresh Android consent.

Google Play may return an eligible 7-day trial with the monthly offer or a 14-day trial with the annual offer. Eligibility depends on your Play account. If a trial is unavailable, the standard paid offer is shown; Google Play provides the current billing, renewal, and cancellation terms.

A per-opening limit caps how long you can stay in an app during a single unbroken visit. When the limit runs out, the app is blocked even if your daily total is not used up yet. Switch away for more than 5 minutes and the next time you open the app your opening window resets.

If you leave a limited app and come back within 5 minutes, your timer picks up where it left off. Quickly checking another app or your notifications does not reset the clock. If you are away for more than 5 minutes, the next opening gets a fresh window.

Yes. Time inside a per-opening window adds to your daily total. If you have a 5-minute per-opening limit and a 30-minute daily limit, you can take up to six 5-minute openings before the daily cap stops you — not unlimited openings.

Yes, using the same more-time button that appears on all block overlays. Granted time extends the current opening window and still counts toward your daily total. More-time requests use the same weekly quota as daily-limit bypass requests. Each app has its own weekly request allowance, and setting it to 0 turns requests off for that app.

Open the app limit editor and switch to Advanced when you need weekday allowances, one-off date overrides, Allowed hours, or an existing schedule integration. Allowed hours is a hard time-of-day gate: the app blocks outside the selected weekday window even if allowance remains. The separate legacy schedule gate uses a reusable Focus schedule and opens only while that schedule is active.

The app blocks immediately when the selected window ends, even if daily, weekly, or weekday allowance remains. A disabled weekday blocks the app all day. Overnight windows, such as 10 PM to 7 AM, continue into the next enabled day.

Use the On / Off switch on the app row. Turning it Off keeps the rule saved, and turning it back On restores enforcement without rebuilding the limit from scratch. Turning a limit On, or saving an enabled limit, also turns Master Focus on if it was off, so the limit is enforced. While a limit is blocking its app because it is outside the limit's Allowed hours, you cannot turn it Off, remove it, or loosen it, and Master Focus cannot be turned off either; all of that opens up again when the Allowed hours begin.

The automatic check uses the enabled built-in Night Lock only when it crosses midnight and lasts at least five hours; otherwise it uses 10 PM–4 AM. It never guesses from another Focus schedule, a Quick Lock, an app name, or usage. Certain essential and safety apps are left alone automatically using a small local list of verified exact package IDs, not an app's name or Android category. Automatic limits also need Master Focus on, and they respond to recurring late-night use rather than a single night. You can still create, edit, enable, or disable a Time Limit for any app yourself.

Look at the capture notification: it names the cause, such as the screen being off or locked (frames resume once it is unlocked), Android not delivering frames, or access being paused (restore it on Plan & limits). Also check that screen-capture permission was accepted, that battery optimization is set to Unrestricted, and that the session is still running. If needed, stop and start a new session.

Recording uses battery because the phone is actively capturing the screen and processing frames locally.

The app builds the MP4 and PDF locally, so slower phones or longer sessions simply need more time. Sessions of up to 2 days are supported, and Low performance mode lowers export resolution if you want a lighter build.

Standard keeps the usual quality. Low reduces frame quality and export resolution (by about 30%) to make capture lighter.

Try Low first if you want lighter capture and export, then switch back to Standard if the phone handles it comfortably.

Long sessions create more frames and more local work, so review and export can take longer as the session grows. Plan sessions of up to 2 days to keep that work manageable.

Check that the session stopped cleanly and that there is enough storage, then try building again. If it still fails, restart the app and rebuild.

Check that a session is running, that the app has a Distraction label, that notification permission is allowed, and that Display over other apps permission is granted for the on-screen banner.

If Usage Access was off or labels changed later, the app may not have had enough foreground-app data for that part of the session.

The app uses the labels you saved and the app names Android exposes. If something looks wrong, edit the label in App labels and the summary will follow that save.

The app cannot detect incognito mode directly. A delayed or missing capture buffer does not reveal what app or content is on screen. When Android delivers an image that is repeatedly blank while the screen is on, some browsers or protected content surfaces may be blocking capture. The app does not show its protected-content alert while Android reports the Home launcher in front. If the screen is off or locked, dark or blank frames can be expected.

It saves a global blur setting and applies it to future captures, frame previews, reports, and MP4 exports. No blur is the default, and the other options are slight blur, moderate blur, and max blur. Blur can make capture work harder on the phone, and it does not guarantee perfect concealment.

Android may be killing the background service under memory pressure. Go to Android Settings → Apps → [app name] → Battery and set it to Unrestricted or Not optimized. The app writes an "App closed unexpectedly" event to the Protection Log each time this happens, so you can see how often it has occurred.

The most common causes are the system killing the capture service to free memory, the phone screen locking in a way that interrupts capture, or a permission change mid-session. Access being paused also stops capture (restore it on Plan & limits). Check the Protection Log for any permission or unexpected-close events. If the recording was interrupted, a Recording interrupted card appears when you reopen the app, letting you continue with fresh screen-capture consent or review and export what was saved.

Android may have revoked the overlay permission. Go to Android Settings → Apps → [app name] → Display over other apps and re-enable it. Block overlays and warning overlays both require this permission.

Go to Android Settings → Apps → [app name] → Battery and set it to Unrestricted or Not optimized. Android's default Optimized setting can suspend the background service unexpectedly.

Check that the schedule is enabled (not just saved), that Focus itself (Master Focus) is turned on, that Usage Access and exact-alarm access are allowed, that the phone's clock is correct, and that the app is not under battery optimization. Also verify the schedule covers the current day of the week, and that an Emergency pass has not paused protection.

Force-stopping the app, clearing app data, or Android killing the service under memory pressure can all end a Quick Lock early. You can also use an Emergency pass or approve a pause (each needs the Strict Mode passcode if Strict Mode is on). A running Quick Lock cannot be stopped from the app. Check the Protection Log for an "App closed unexpectedly" or "App data cleared externally" event.

Some launchers, system apps, and certain Android OEM apps cannot be overlaid by other apps. Apps that run as device owners or have special system privileges may be unreachable. The exact list varies by device manufacturer.

Focus blocks apps based on the allowlist you set for each schedule or Quick Lock. If an app is not on the allowlist, it is blocked whenever that lock is active. Open the schedule editor and add the app to the allowlist to permit it during that window. If a distracting app is blocked for up to 15 minutes right after a Night Lock's end time even though the schedule now shows inactive, that is the automatic Morning Guard window, not a stuck schedule — it always clears itself 15 minutes after that Night Lock ended. Per-app time limits, Social Cooldown, and Adaptive Protection can also block an app; the block screen names the reason.

The banner names the cause after the colon, for example "Unable to export the session summary PDF: …". Common causes: a session that is still running (the summary PDF needs a finished session, so the app asks you to stop it first), not enough free storage to save the PDF or MP4 to Downloads, or the app being closed mid-export. The same applies to the daily and weekly Focus analytics PDFs. Free up storage, stop the session if one is running, and try again. If the failure repeats, restart the app and retry.

Focus is an optional monitoring mode that works continuously, without a recording session. When Master Focus is on, it runs a persistent background service that can enforce the following features:

• Night Lock and Focus Block schedules (Schedule Focus) — recurring time windows that block access to apps not on your allowlist.

• Break windows — short, scheduled unblock slots inside a Focus Block.

• Quick Lock — a one-time countdown lock that you start yourself. Once it is running it cannot be stopped early; you can only block more apps.

• Per-app time limits — simple daily caps or advanced weekday, override, and schedule-gated limits, with row switches to pause and re-enable each rule.

• Website and short-form feed blocking — extra rules you can attach to a lock.

• Strict Mode — a passcode gate on changes that would weaken your protection.

• Protection Log — a timestamped record of monitoring events.

• Settings history — automatic settings freeze-frames captured every time a lock is toggled.

The service only does work for the features you have turned on. You can turn Master Focus on or off from the Focus tab, but not while a schedule or Quick Lock is active. Social Cooldown is separate: it keeps working even when Master Focus is off.

Yes, and the app is upfront about that. While Master Focus is on, the background service checks which app is in the foreground about once a second. The exact impact depends on which features you enable and how actively you use your phone, but it is more significant than a typical app's background footprint. Social Cooldown uses the same kind of check, even when Master Focus is off.

A permanent notification stays visible while the service is running. It disappears when the service stops; see "Can I turn it off?".

Both systems run at the same time. Focus keeps enforcing your active schedules and any Quick Lock even while the timelapse is recording. If a block overlay appears on screen during the session, the timelapse captures it — the recording literally shows that you were blocked, which is the point.

The session's own distraction warning ladder is suppressed for any app that an active schedule or Quick Lock is already blocking. There is no reason to fire two signals for the same blocked app; the block overlay is the accountability record.

Starting a recording session no longer bypasses any active schedule or lock.

Yes. The Master Focus switch on the Focus tab turns Focus off after a confirmation that warns the change will be recorded. It is locked while a schedule or Quick Lock is active, or while a per-app limit is blocking an app outside its Allowed hours, so you can turn it off once that lock ends or those Allowed hours begin, and Strict Mode can require its passcode first. Turning it off stops the schedules, locks, and limits that Focus enforces. Individual schedules and limits have their own switches, so you can also turn them off without turning off Focus (not while a lock is active).

The background service and its permanent notification stop with it, unless Social Cooldown applies to you: it has no off switch, so its monitoring (and the notification) keeps running. Turning monitoring off is logged in the Protection Log, including how long it was off when you turn it back on.

Android requires all services running in the foreground to show a persistent notification. This is a system rule, not a design choice. It exists so you always know a background service is active.

The notification reads "Focus is active", or "Social monitoring is active" when only Social Cooldown is running. It does nothing except open the app when tapped, and it disappears when the service stops.

Force-stopping kills the background service immediately. Any active schedules or Quick Lock stop enforcing until the app is reopened and the service restarts. The optional Force Stop protection (Device Admin) makes Android require an extra confirmation before the app can be force-stopped.

The app detects this on next launch and writes an "App closed unexpectedly" event to the Protection Log, so there is a record that monitoring was interrupted.

Yes — running both together is the highest-battery state the app can be in. Focus polls the foreground app every second and the session is capturing frames on top of that. That is worth being upfront about.

What "more battery" means in practice is very personal. Battery drain is relative, and plenty of apps drain silently in the background without ever asking permission. The best way to know is to run both together for a few days, then open Android Settings → Battery and see what the actual percentage attribution looks like on your specific device. Older phones will feel it more; newer phones may barely notice.

It is also worth framing the trade-off honestly: the apps being blocked — social media, short-form video, games — drain battery on their own. They also drain time and attention in ways that are harder to measure. This app costs some battery to protect something that costs you more.

If after your test you decide the combined cost is not worth it, you still get strong accountability value from each system on its own. Sessions without always-on give you a full timelapse record of your screen. Always-on without sessions keeps blocks and schedules in place around the clock. Either mode alone is meaningful.

It is an optional switch inside Night Lock, Focus Block, and Quick Lock. When you turn it on for a lock, the app asks Android to use its Priority Do Not Disturb mode while that lock is active, and restores your previous interruption mode when the last active lock ends. Android decides which calls, messages, and alarms still come through.

Android only allows this with notification policy access, so the first time you turn it on, the app opens that settings screen if access is missing, then finishes turning it on once you return with access. If you decline, the switch stays off; if you revoke access later, the lock still works but can no longer apply Do Not Disturb.

Social Cooldown adds foreground use across covered apps to one shared allowance; reaching it starts a break. The shared allowance, continuous-away reset, and break each last 30 minutes. Social Cooldown is independent of Master Focus and can keep monitoring while Master Focus is off if its own requirements are met. When active, YouTube’s daytime exception applies from 05:00 to 22:00 local time; YouTube remains covered from 22:00 to 05:00. It requires Android Usage Access and reliable foreground monitoring: time the app cannot observe does not count as use or as a completed break. If a cooldown deadline cannot be verified, a newly observed continuous break may be needed before access returns.

With a subscription, you can turn on Website access inside a Night Lock, Focus Block, or Quick Lock. Choose Block selected websites (add a domain such as reddit.com; everything else stays available) or Allow selected websites only (every other website is blocked). While that lock is active, the app's local DNS-only VPN blocks those domains and their subdomains across browsers and in-app web views. It is domain-level blocking, not path-level blocking: blocking reddit.com blocks all of Reddit, not one subreddit or page. Whenever a Website access rule is active, the app also proactively blocks many popular adult content sites, even if they are not on your list. Website blocking only works while Master Focus is on.

It reads each DNS query's domain name locally to compare it with your rules. Allowed lookups are sent encrypted using DNS over TLS to Cloudflare's public 1.1.1.1 resolver, not to the DNS resolver your network normally provides. Cloudflare receives the requested domain names and connection data needed to answer them; it says it deletes Public Resolver Logs within 25 hours, though limited sampled data may be retained for aggregate statistics. Only DNS lookups pass through the VPN; your other internet traffic does not. It does not inspect paths, query strings, cookies, page content, or ordinary non-DNS traffic. Your saved website lists and blocked attempts stay on this phone and are not sent to Cloudflare. If there is no connection or the network blocks encrypted DNS on port 853, allowed lookups fail during the lock and are not sent as unencrypted DNS.

Android requires consent for any VPN service and shows a persistent system VPN indicator while it is active. This is how Android makes the feature visible. Granting consent is not required to save a lock; until you grant it, the lock still saves but its website rules do not enforce. The Start tab shows a "Website access needs one more permission" card with a "Set up Website access" button until you do.

No. Android permits only one active VPN at a time. Starting website blocking can disconnect another personal or work VPN, and connecting another VPN can stop website blocking. The app explains this before asking for Android's VPN consent. If another VPN takes over, the app shows a "Website access is paused" alert with a Reconnect button, and it will not take the VPN back on its own.

The app locally blocks the browser canary that normally disables automatic encrypted DNS, and also blocks a curated list of well-known public encrypted-DNS providers directly — both their server addresses and the provider hostnames some browsers look up before connecting to them. A manually configured private or unlisted resolver can still bypass the feature; this is a known limitation, not something the app claims to prevent.

Blocking is not retroactive. A tab that already resolved or loaded can remain visible until it needs a new DNS lookup. Refreshing it, opening a new tab, or navigating to another page normally causes a new lookup and applies the active rule.

With a subscription, turn it on in a Night Lock, Focus Block, or Quick Lock (the card is labeled Short-form feeds (Experimental)) — it supports YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, and you can enable either, both, or neither for a given lock. While that lock is active and Master Focus is on, a narrow Android Accessibility Service recognizes when the screen you turned on is open and shows this app's own Focus block screen over it, with a Return to YouTube or Return to Instagram button that takes you back to that app's normal feed. Normal use of either app — Home, Search, subscriptions, long-form videos, DMs, Stories, posting — stays available; only the specific surface you selected is guarded.

While YouTube or Instagram is open, the service receives screen-change events from those two apps only, never from any other app. For each event the app builds a temporary, in-memory copy of the screen's accessible structure: each element's type, its Android view ID, whether it is visible, and its content description (the label Android exposes for accessibility, which in these apps can include text such as a video title). It does not copy on-screen text fields, typed text, or search terms. Recognition uses only the structure and view IDs to tell whether a Shorts or Reels screen is open; the content descriptions are not used. This happens whenever one of those apps is open, even if no lock is active, and when no lock has Short-form feeds turned on the result is discarded immediately. Nothing is stored, logged, uploaded, synced, or sent anywhere — recognition happens entirely on this device. It never takes screenshots or analyzes pixels, and never taps, scrolls, or performs any action inside either app.

No. This app never edits, hides, or modifies anything inside YouTube's or Instagram's own interface. It only shows its own separate block screen on top when it recognizes the surface you selected, the same way it blocks any other app.

Accessibility Services are a sensitive Android permission. This app cannot enable it silently — you turn it on yourself in Android's own Accessibility Settings, after a separate disclosure screen explains exactly what is read and why. One permission covers both providers; if you decline or later turn it off, every lock's setting stays saved but cannot enforce until you turn it back on. The app will say so honestly rather than claim protection that is not active.

No. It is a best-effort recognition of each app's current on-screen layout, not a guarantee. It is deliberately conservative: it is designed to fail open (leave ordinary YouTube and Instagram usable) rather than risk blocking a page that is not actually Shorts or Reels. A future YouTube or Instagram update could require an app update to keep working.

A schedule is a recurring time window when Focus blocks access to apps not on your allowlist. You set the days, start time, and end time. When you turn a schedule on you confirm a short acknowledgment (and Master Focus is turned on if it was off), and from then on it enforces the block automatically whenever its window is active. A schedule needs at least 8 allowed apps before it can be turned on, and phone, dialer, home, and accessibility apps always stay available. While its window is active a schedule is locked: you cannot turn it off, delete it, or loosen it until the window ends (you can still block more apps), and it cannot be turned off until about an hour after the window closes.

Both block apps that are not on their allowlist during a set time window. Night Lock is built for overnight use: it starts at 10 PM and ends at 7 AM every day by default, can never allow social, video, or game apps (see the question about forbidden apps), adds Morning Guard for 15 minutes after it ends, and can ring an optional Extreme Alarm at its end time. Focus Block needs a subscription to create or turn on, starts at 9 AM–5 PM Monday to Friday by default, lets you allow any app, and additionally supports break windows — short slots where blocked apps are temporarily permitted. Night Lock does not support breaks.

A fresh install starts with a turned-off Night Lock (10 PM–7 AM, every day) and a turned-off Focus Block (9 AM–5 PM, Monday to Friday), each already filled in with Smart select's allowed apps — open one from the Focus tab to adjust it. To add another, open the Focus tab: tap Schedule Focus and then + for a Focus Block, or tap Night Lock and then + for a Night Lock. Give it a name, set the days and time window, review the allowed apps (at least 8), and tap Save schedule. Saving does not turn it on: use the switch on its row. A schedule that is turned on is locked for editing, so turn it off first if you need to change it (not possible while its window is active).

Yes. You can create multiple Night Lock and Focus Block schedules. If two schedules overlap, the stricter rule wins — an app is blocked if any active schedule would block it, and a break window in one Focus Block does not unblock an app that another active schedule still blocks.

Smart select builds a starting allowlist for you. New schedules, new Quick Locks, and the built-in Night Lock and Focus Block start with it already applied, so you rarely need to tap anything; if you tap Remove all in the Allowed apps card, the Smart select button comes back. It starts with the launchable apps currently on your phone, then removes a small local list of common social, video, shopping, reading, and browser apps, plus apps Android identifies as games, social, or video. Google and Samsung Contacts/Messages, Gmail, and Proton Mail stay allowed by default. It excludes Timelapse: Adaptive Blocking and Android System Settings on purpose. Android categories are only a hint, so review and edit the result before you Save or Start. It does not request a new permission or change a saved lock in the background. Apps you install later stay blocked during a lock until you explicitly add them to that lock's allowed apps. Smart select's suggestions are always removable — for a small, fixed set of apps Night Lock never allows at all, see the next question.

Night Lock has one rule Smart select does not: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, X, TikTok, and any app Android identifies as a game can never be added to a Night Lock's allowed apps. The picker shows a forbidden icon instead of a checkbox for these apps, and the rule cannot be worked around by copying an allowlist from Focus Block or by any other saved state — it is enforced even if a lock's stored data is somehow restored, imported, or migrated with one of these apps already in it. Focus Block and Quick Lock do not have this rule; you can still allow any of these apps there.

Morning Guard is an automatic 15-minute extension that starts the instant an enabled Night Lock occurrence reaches its configured end time — every occurrence, including a daytime or unusual-time Night Lock, not just an overnight one. During those 15 minutes it blocks the same curated social/video apps and Android-identified games Night Lock already blocks, without changing that Night Lock's allowed-app list. It cannot be turned off, shortened, lengthened, or configured with different apps, and it never applies to Focus Block or Quick Lock. If another Night Lock is already active when a Morning Guard window would start, that active Night Lock stays in control and the guard does not extend or weaken it. Emergency and request-more-time behave exactly as they do during the source Night Lock's normal window — Morning Guard does not add a new bypass, cooldown, or Protection Log event. One exception: Morning Guard is skipped when that Night Lock occurrence began on a Rest day or a Vacation mode day (they do not change the Night Lock itself). Extreme Alarm is a separate, optional feature: both meet at the same end time, but Morning Guard runs whether or not Extreme Alarm is turned on for that schedule.

After you solve a real Extreme Alarm, the app chooses a random 3–8 minute Wake-up Check. Two minutes before its deadline, an ongoing notification appears with one “I’m up” action, and an on-screen overlay with a live countdown offers the same action over whatever app you're using. That notification cannot be swiped away; tapping “I’m up” in either place cancels this one check. If you do not use it, the full 15-problem Extreme Alarm returns. This is alarm-only: it is separate from Morning Guard's automatic 15-minute app blocking. If the first returning alarm is solved without using “I’m up”, the app schedules one final Wake-up Check; after that second check, the cycle ends.

Any combination of Monday through Sunday — these are the days the schedule starts on. An overnight schedule keeps going past midnight until its end time the next morning, so a Friday-only 10 PM–7 AM schedule runs from Friday 10 PM until Saturday 7 AM. You must select at least one day before saving.

Yes. Set the end time earlier than the start time and the schedule runs from its start time on a selected day until the end time the next morning. The days you pick are the days the window starts on, so the hours after midnight still belong to that night.

A full-screen block screen appears over that app. It shows the app's name and that the schedule is active until its end time, tells you to use an allowed app until then, and has a Go back button. If Request more time or Emergency is turned on for that schedule, those options appear too; both are off by default.

Yes. Each schedule has its own allowlist. Apps on the allowlist remain accessible while the schedule is active, and apps not on the list are blocked — except phone, dialer, home, and accessibility apps, which always pass through. A schedule needs at least 8 allowed apps before it can be turned on, and a Night Lock can never allow social, video, or game apps.

A schedule that is turned on is locked for editing, even outside its window: the editor shows a warning banner and every field is greyed out until you turn the schedule off. Turning it off asks you to confirm that the change will be recorded, and can require your Strict Mode passcode. You cannot turn a schedule off while its window is active or for about an hour after it ends; while it is active you can only block more apps.

When a block screen appears during a Focus Block or Night Lock and Request more time is turned on for that schedule (it is off by default), you can request a short extra-access window by completing a three-minute typing challenge and giving a reason; Strict Mode can also require its passcode. Requests are counted per app and per schedule, and the app's own more-time allowance in Per-app limits (0 turns requests off) also applies. The first request grants 3 minutes, the second 2 minutes, and the third 1 minute each week.

Yes. Every enable and disable is written to the Protection Log with a timestamp, and re-enabling also records how long the schedule was off. The next settings history entry also captures that the schedule was disabled at that moment and highlights it in red in the PDF. If you leave a schedule off, the app also sends up to 3 reminder notifications before its upcoming windows, each with a Turn back on button; using it re-enables the schedule and is logged as re-enabled from a reminder.

It is a "Before you continue" confirmation shown every time you turn on a schedule or start a Quick Lock. Before proceeding, review the apps, websites, features, and duration that may be restricted. Make sure the calling, messaging, emergency, safety, and other communication methods you may need remain available under the lock rules, or that you have another reliable way to reach emergency services and essential contacts that the lock cannot block. Timelapse is not an emergency service or safety system and cannot guarantee that calls, messages, apps, networks, or third-party services will remain available; availability also depends on Android, your device, carrier, and network. You confirm that this is your device and that you are using the feature voluntarily. If Master Focus is off, confirming also turns it on. You cannot dismiss the dialog without confirming or canceling. Before it appears, the app checks that battery usage is Unrestricted and that Usage Access, overlay permission, and auto-resume are on; if one is missing the lock does not turn on and a banner points you to the Start tab.

Yes. Both sets of rules apply simultaneously. An app is blocked if either the schedule or the Quick Lock would block it.

The stricter rule wins. If one schedule allows an app and another does not, the app is blocked during the overlap.

The block screen is removed and the app becomes accessible again when the window ends, unless something else still blocks it. One exception: when a Night Lock ends, Morning Guard keeps social, video, and game apps blocked for 15 more minutes.

A break window is a short, scheduled time slot inside a Focus Block where specific blocked apps are temporarily permitted. For example, a 30-minute break at noon lets you use chosen apps only during that slot, without turning off the whole schedule.

Only Focus Block schedules support break windows. Night Lock does not.

Open a Focus Block schedule editor, scroll to the Breaks section, and tap "+ Add break." Set the start time and duration, optionally pick which apps are allowed during that break, then tap Save break. The break repeats at that time on every day the schedule runs. It is only stored when you also save the schedule, and a schedule that is turned on is locked for editing, so add or change breaks while the schedule is off. Pick a time inside the schedule's window: the app does not check, and a break outside the window does nothing.

Yes. Each break window has its own optional app list. Only the apps you add to a break are unblocked during that break, in addition to any apps already on the schedule's main allowlist (those are always allowed, so the break's app picker does not list them). If you leave the break app list empty, no extra apps are unblocked during the break. A break only affects app blocking: it does not lift a block from another active schedule or lock, and the schedule's website blocking, short-form feed guarding, grey filter and Do not disturb stay on during the break.

The break budget is a cap on the total break time a schedule can have. It prevents a schedule from being bypassed by stacking back-to-back breaks — if breaks could cover the entire window, the schedule would be on paper but not in practice.

The budget is 30% of the schedule's active window, rounded down to the nearest minute. For example, an 8-hour Focus Block (480 minutes) has a 144-minute break budget. Schedules with a window of 10 minutes or less have a zero-minute budget and cannot have any breaks.

The Save break button in the break editor is disabled when the new break would push the total over budget. The editor shows a live budget line (minutes used out of the total allowed, marked "over limit" once you pass it), and the Breaks section shows how many minutes are used out of the total. If the schedule's window is 10 minutes or less, the section says the window is too short to add breaks.

The app does not prevent overlapping break times. While breaks overlap, apps from either break's list are unblocked, but the overlapping durations count against the budget twice. A 30-minute break and a 20-minute break that overlap count as 50 minutes toward the budget, not 30.

30 minutes per break window, and at least 1 minute. A break does not carry over midnight: one that would run past it ends at midnight.

If shortening the window leaves the total break time over the new budget, tapping Save schedule shows a "Break budget exceeded" dialog that lists the breaks that need to be removed or shortened, and the schedule is not saved until the total fits. Nothing is removed or moved for you, and the app does not check that breaks fall inside the window, so a break that ends up outside it just does nothing.

A Quick Lock is a manual, countdown-based lock that blocks all apps not on its allowlist until the timer runs out. Unlike schedules, it does not repeat — it starts when you tap Start Quick Lock and ends when the timer expires (5 minutes to 23 hours 59 minutes). It needs a subscription. Once it is running it cannot be stopped early.

Schedules repeat on a calendar pattern (specific days and times). Quick Lock is a one-shot countdown you start manually whenever you want a focused sprint. Use a schedule for recurring routines; use Quick Lock for a focused block without a recurring commitment.

On the Focus tab, tap Quick Lock under Focus tools. Pick 15 min, 30 min, 1 hr, or Custom (5 minutes to 23 hours 59 minutes), then check the allowed apps: you need at least 8, and Smart select fills in a starting list. You can also turn on website access, short-form feeds, Do not disturb, the grey filter, Request more time, or Emergency for this lock. Tap Start Quick Lock. Without a subscription you get an upgrade prompt, and if a reliability setting is missing (battery Unrestricted, Usage Access, Display over other apps, or the auto-resume accessibility service) the start is refused with a message. Then confirm the "Before you continue" dialog with "I understand and agree"; if Master Focus is off, confirming also turns it on.

Yes. The allowed-apps list is part of the Quick Lock editor: Smart select pre-fills a starting list, and you can add or remove apps, copy a list from elsewhere (see the copy question below), or use Remove all. You need at least 8 allowed apps to start. Any app not on the list is blocked for the full duration, except the phone, dialer, home screen, and accessibility apps, which always pass through. Night Lock's forbidden-app rule does not apply to Quick Lock.

No. Once a Quick Lock is running, the app does not let you stop it; active protection cannot be weakened until it ends. While it runs you can only block more apps, so pick a duration you are comfortable with before you start. The only exceptions are an Emergency pass or an approved pause, each of which is logged.

You cannot start a new one while one is running. Opening Quick Lock shows a message that it is active until it ends and that you can only block another allowed app now; use Block another app on the Master Focus screen for that. When the timer runs out, you can start a new one.

Yes. Starting one writes a "Quick Lock started" event to the Protection Log with its duration, and captures a settings history entry unless one was taken in the last 3 minutes. When the timer runs out, a "Quick Lock completed" event is written the next time the app checks the lock: right away if the app is open, otherwise when you next open it.

Yes. If a schedule is already active, both sets of rules apply. An app is blocked if either the schedule or the Quick Lock would block it.

Yes. Under the allowed apps, the editor shows "Copy from Night Lock" and "Copy from Focus Block" buttons when you have a schedule of that kind, and "Use last lock's apps" once you have run a Quick Lock before. Tapping one replaces the current list with that one, and you can still edit it before you start.

The Protection Log is a timestamped record of significant protection events: permission changes, unexpected app or service interruptions, Focus switched off and on, schedules turned on, off, or switched off automatically, Quick Lock starts and completions, break windows used, Emergency pass use, Strict Mode and approval events, Social Cooldown and Adaptive Protection actions, settings history deletions, app data clears, and the log being opened or cleared. Entries are chained together with hashes, so the screen warns if any may have been modified. It gives you an audit trail of what happened to the accountability system. Subscribers can clear the whole log, but clearing it is itself recorded.

Examples: Usage access removed, Overlay permission removed, Battery optimization changed, App closed unexpectedly, Background service interrupted, Always-on monitoring turned off or back on, Focus Block or Night Lock schedule turned on or off (including automatic switch-offs and re-enable reminders), Quick Lock started or completed, Break window used, Emergency pass used, Strict Mode turned on, off, or approvals granted or blocked, Short-form Accessibility Service turned on or off, settings history deleted, Protection Log opened or cleared, and App data cleared externally. Each row shows a category, the event name, when it happened, and a severity chip for anything above plain information.

An emergency pass is a rare, deliberate override for exceptional situations. You must tap Emergency? first, then confirm the pass. It cancels all active blocks for 24 hours from the moment you confirm: apps blocked by schedules, Quick Lock, or Morning Guard become available, though Social Cooldown is not lifted. After you use it, the confirmation screen shows a live hours, minutes, and seconds countdown for the 60-day recharge. The use is logged in the Protection Log as "Emergency pass used."

Not one by one. Individual entries cannot be removed. With a subscription, the Protection Log screen has a Clear log button (its confirmation is titled "Clear protection log?") that wipes the whole log, but clearing it is treated as the highest accountability violation: it is recorded and shown in large red text in PDF reports that include the log. That record is permanent: it is never pushed out by the 200-event limit, and clearing again keeps the earlier ones. Reports you already generated may still contain the old events.

Up to 200 events are stored. When the log is full, the oldest entry is evicted automatically to make room for the new one, except "log cleared" records, which are never evicted. Without a subscription, the Protection Log screen shows only the 2 most recent events; a subscription shows them all.

There are two different entries. "App closed unexpectedly" appears when Android reports that the Focus service was stopped by a user-requested action, such as tapping Force stop in Android Settings. "Background service interrupted" appears when the service ended for any other reason, such as the system reclaiming memory or a crash. In both cases monitoring was not active during the gap, and the app warns you the next time you open it.

Someone used "Clear app data" or "Clear storage" in Android Settings to wipe the app's private storage. That erases everything the app saved, including your schedules, settings history, and the log itself, so earlier entries are gone. When the app next opens, it notices the reset (if it was installed more than an hour earlier) and writes this entry as the first one in the new log.

A permission the app depends on was turned off: Usage Access, overlay permission (Display over other apps), or the battery optimization exemption (the app is no longer Unrestricted). The app compares them with the last known state about once an hour while Focus is running and whenever you open it, so the time shown is when the change was noticed. Monitoring may have been degraded or interrupted in between. Turning the permission back on lets the next revocation be recorded again.

The app records when monitoring (or a schedule) was turned off and calculates the total inactive time. This is included in the matching re-enable event, for example "It was off for 2h 15m", so you can see exactly how long protection was paused.

Every time a Focus Block or Night Lock schedule is turned on or off, an event is written with the schedule name and timestamp; a schedule can also be turned off automatically, for example when subscription access ends. Re-enabling shows how long it was off, and if the schedule is still off, its log row shows a "Still disabled" chip and the Focus analytics PDF highlights it. While a schedule stays off, up to three reminder notifications can be sent, and each reminder is logged too.

It records that a Quick Lock ran until its timer expired, including its original duration. It is written the next time the app checks the lock (right away if the app is open, otherwise when you next open it), so its time can be slightly after the lock actually ended.

Only if they have physical access to the phone and open the app. The log is stored locally and is not shared anywhere unless you open or share a PDF report. The Settings history, session summary, and Focus analytics PDFs all end with an appendix listing the Protection Log events, and a Settings history PDF also shows the 10 most recent ones up front.

The Protection Log is an event stream — events are written as they are noticed, up to the 200 most recent. Settings history is a point-in-time freeze-frame of your schedules, Focus state, Quick Lock, and Strict Mode setup, captured automatically when a schedule is turned on or off or a Quick Lock starts (up to 50 entries). The log tells you what happened; a Settings history entry shows the complete setup at that moment.

A settings history entry is a freeze-frame of your Focus setup at a specific moment. It captures every schedule (days, times, whether it is on, its allowed apps, break windows, and break budget usage), whether Focus is on, Quick Lock state and its allowed apps, and your Strict Mode setup (whether it is on, the trusted contact, and whether a passcode is set — never the passcode itself). It does not include per-app limits, website lists, or lock add-ons such as Do not disturb. The PDF you open from an entry also shows the 10 most recent Protection Log events and a full Protection Log appendix. Entries are taken automatically — you do not need to do anything to create them.

A settings history entry is taken automatically each time a lock is toggled: when you enable or disable a Focus Block or Night Lock schedule, or when a Quick Lock starts. There is a 3-minute cooldown — if an entry was just taken, the next toggle within 3 minutes is skipped to avoid duplicate reports from rapid on/off changes.

All of your schedules (including whether each is enabled or disabled, its days and times, allowed apps, break windows, and break budget usage), the Focus monitoring state, whether a Quick Lock was active with how much time remained and which apps it allowed, and your Strict Mode setup (on or off, trusted contact, and whether a passcode is set or in recovery). Opening the PDF also compares the entry with the one before it and lists each change.

The Protection Log records individual events as they happen (e.g. "schedule disabled at 3:14 PM"). Settings history is a full freeze-frame of all settings at once — not just the event that triggered it. Use the log to track what changed; use settings history to see the complete state at each moment.

Open the Focus tab, scroll to the Protection section, and tap Settings history. Tap any entry in the list to generate and open its PDF.

Yes. Tapping an entry opens the PDF in your device's PDF viewer, and you can share it from there with the viewer's own share option. The app has no separate share button. Keep in mind the PDF includes your Protection Log events.

Up to 50 entries. When the limit is reached, the oldest entry is removed automatically. Without a subscription the Settings history screen shows only the 2 most recent entries; a subscription shows them all.

Yes. Swipe left on any row in the Settings history screen, then tap Delete permanently in the confirmation dialog (Keep cancels). The entry and its PDF are removed and cannot be recovered, and the dialog warns that the deletion will be logged. The entry after it then has nothing to compare against and shows "First snapshot".

Yes. Every deletion writes a "Settings history deleted" event to the Protection Log, saying how many entries were deleted. In a Settings history PDF, that event is shown in red with a warning mark in the list of the 10 most recent events, and it also appears in the full Protection Log appendix.

It is the number of changes found between that entry and the one before it. For example, "3 changes" might mean one schedule was enabled, the number of allowed apps in a schedule went up, and a break window was added. The comparison looks at totals, so swapping one allowed app for another is not counted. Opening the PDF shows a full delta section listing each change.

It means that schedule was disabled at the time the entry was taken — monitoring for that schedule was not active when the entry was captured.

Clearing app data wipes everything the app stored, including settings history and the Protection Log itself, and none of it can be recovered. When the app next opens, it notices the reset (if it was installed more than an hour earlier) and writes an "App data cleared externally" event as the first entry of the new log. It is an ordinary log entry, so it is eventually pushed out once 200 newer events have been recorded.

Local Insights are short, rule-based observations about your own focus activity today. They appear as a LOCAL INSIGHTS card on the Review tab when a simple condition is met: an app came to the foreground at least 3 times today (your top distraction), a Night Lock was turned off today, or the Emergency pass was used twice or more today. There are no streaks or long-term pattern reports here.

No. Insights are generated entirely on the device from local data; the insights themselves are not sent to a server. Optional Product Analytics is separate and sends limited product events and technical app details to Firebase only if you enable it. No AI model is used.

Your detailed Focus history, Protection Log, schedules, and app choices stay on your phone and are not included in Product Analytics event parameters. If enabled, Product Analytics may send limited milestone events and technical app details to Firebase; these are separate from the histories Local Insights uses. The insights are generated locally and are not uploaded.

Insights are not stored. They are recalculated from today's activity (since local midnight), at most every 15 minutes while the app is open, so they disappear once the condition no longer applies or the day rolls over. The first time insights appear each day, the app adds a "Local insight generated" note to the Protection Log. Your dismissal choices are kept until you change them.

Tap Dismiss on the insight card, then choose "Dismiss for today" or "Don't show this type again". The first hides that type until tomorrow; the second hides it permanently and is noted in the Protection Log.

Weekly Rhythm is a local 7 × 24 heatmap on the Review tab showing screen-on time, or your app labels, for each local-clock hour of a week. Swipe the card to switch views and use Previous week and Next week to look back; up to 52 weeks are kept on the phone. It uses Android Usage Access and Timelapse's own local ledger, applies the labels that were in effect at that time, and leaves Timelapse itself out. It does not read screen content, typed text, browsing history, VPN traffic, or Accessibility data. A read-only home-screen widget shows the same heatmap.

Android does not guarantee detailed event history for every past hour, especially before this feature began recording a local ledger, and without Usage Access nothing can be read at all. Unavailable means the app cannot prove the history; it never means zero use.

It means that at the app's hourly check, protection was planned for that hour (a schedule's window was open, even if that schedule was turned off) but nothing was actually covering it, for example because the schedule was off or Usage Access was missing. The check only runs while the Focus service is running, so hours without a check show no mark. It does not mark ordinary hours where you never planned a lock.

No. Weekly Rhythm's suggestions only open App labels or Schedules for review, and any label or schedule change still needs your own explicit save. The card can also show a "We changed something" notice when Adaptive Protection automatically added a late-night time limit (Master Focus must be on); that change comes from Adaptive Protection, not Weekly Rhythm, and you can review or turn those limits off, except while one is blocking an app outside its Allowed hours.

On first launch the app walks you through six short screens: why screen time matters, the minimum standard for using Timelapse (the shared 30-minute timer for social and video apps, which you must agree to), a preview of the session loop, the full accountability loop, a suggested screen-away window for Night Lock, and a three-step demo of a session. Labels, Focus features, and everything else can be adjusted later from their own tabs. If you close the app midway, setup resumes where you left off.

Not currently: setup has no skip button, and you must agree to the minimum standard (the shared 30-minute timer for social and video apps) to continue. It is only six short screens, you can step back with Android's Back button, and nothing in it locks you in: the suggested Night Lock hours can be changed ("No, let me set it") and every setting can be changed later from within the app.

After the introduction, optional tutorial cards point out Start, permission details, Focus, Review, and Settings when each one is useful. You can skip them at any time. Open Help and tap Replay tutorial whenever you want to see the tour again; replaying it does not reset your sessions, permissions, Focus setup, or plan.

During setup the app suggests a screen-away window for Night Lock: 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM every day. It is meant as an ideal but realistic time away from your phone, not necessarily bedtime. Tap "Yes, that works" to accept it, or "No, let me set it" to choose your own start and end times. Setup creates or updates your Night Lock with those hours and Smart select's allowed apps, and the app says it will be "all set and ready to go". After setup, check the Night Lock switch and Master Focus on the Focus tab to make sure it is on; you can change the hours or rules later.

Open the Review tab and tap Review app labels on the App labels card. You can add or remove apps from the Distraction category at any time; installed apps are labeled automatically and any of them can be recategorized in the label picker. Some label edits are scheduled for local midnight, and your current labels stay active until then. The Settings tab no longer repeats that shortcut.