PausibleThe pause before the scroll.
Pausible puts a short pause in front of the apps that pull you in — and offers something better on the other side.
Free to block unlimited apps. Pro is one payment.
You open a blocked app.
Instead of a wall you get a moment: a countdown, a breath, a one-line question about what you're actually opening it for.
Two minutes, then in.
Finish an instead — a breathing pace, a four-move stretch, three short questions, a puzzle, a page of something you saved — and the wait is waived.
You still get in.
Pausible never decides for you. You just get in on purpose, for the length you chose.
Something better on the other side.
Blocking alone just moves the itch. Pausible answers it with a two-minute alternative right at the moment you'd have scrolled. Tell a profile which one you want first and the pause screen offers it in one tap. And the wall remembers what you said last time: the shield quotes your last intention back to you.
- BreatheA 4-7-8 pace, drawn for you. Seven cycles, no sound.
- StretchFour moves, thirty seconds each: neck, shoulders, wrists, a forward fold.
- ReflectThree short questions and a typed intention for what you're opening it for.
- PuzzleProFour numbers, one target. Enough to wake the part of you that decides.
- ReadProThe next page of an article you saved. Share anything to Pausible and it waits for this moment.
You set how hard it is.
Five levels from a nudge to a lock. Waits grow with each reopen that day, so the fifth open of the afternoon costs more than the first. Off-limits times raise the level on a schedule. Everything is per profile, so your social apps and your news apps can have different rules.
- 1Nudge5 s, up to 1 min
- 2Pause15 s, up to 1 min
- 3DeliberatePro30 s, up to 5 minOne more breath. Asks for an intention every time.
- 4FirmPro1 min, up to 10 minAlways asks for an intention. Eight opens a day.
- 5StrictPro2 min, up to 15 minFour opens a day. An active off-limits window doesn't open at all.
The one that keeps working.
iOS drops Screen Time permissions and expires app tokens more often than anyone admits. Most blockers go quietly dark when it happens. Pausible tells you.
- Protection StatusOne honest line on the home screen: protected, or what's wrong and the two taps that fix it.
- WatchdogChecks the permission and every token on every open and every minute the app is on screen, with a daily Screen Time schedule as the backstop, and re-applies the block the moment it can.
- Self-testA built-in test confirms the block is really up, so “Protected” means something.
- Belt and bracesSchedules, each unlock's own timer and the shield are three layers, not one. If iOS drops one, the others hold.
That stays put.
A blocker you can switch off at 2 am is a blocker you switch off at 2 am. Pausible makes tightening instant and loosening slow — and never holds your phone hostage.
- Slow to loosenTurn a dial down, drop a window, pause for a holiday: it waits until the next morning (or 24 hours). Undo is free, always. Tightening never waits.
- Weekly quick unlocks“5 more minutes” on the block screen (iOS 26.5 and later) works three times a week, not thirty. Opening Pausible always works.
- Your own passcodeiOS can lock Pausible's settings behind your Screen Time passcode. We show you the four steps, in order, and take your word for it — Pausible never sets a passcode of its own.
- Someone you trustA six-digit code you hand to someone else. The hardest settings ask for it. It lives on your phone as a hash; lose it and you reinstall.
- Tap a tagProAny NFC sticker on the fridge or the desk, with an automation you set up once in Apple's Shortcuts app. Touch your phone to it and a focus session starts or ends. No hardware to buy beyond the sticker; Settings → Automations has the steps.
Pausible only stops apps being deleted if you turn that on, and Settings can always take its Screen Time access away, which lifts it. Delete it and every block is gone, along with every code and every setting. That is the deal, and it's why none of this can hold your phone hostage.
It learns, privately.
Every pause you pay for goes into a log that stays on your phone, and Pausible reads its own log so you don't have to.
- HistoryEach day's pauses, insteads and minutes open, with the intentions you typed quoted beneath. Seven days free, all of it on Pro. No streaks, no scores.
- A patternWhen a profile's opens cluster in the same two hours every evening, Pausible offers an off-limits window there. When one profile is opened far more than the rest, it offers the next level up. One suggestion at a time, and “Not now” means not for a fortnight.
- The wall remembersThe shield quotes the last intention you typed for that app, so the next pause starts where the last one ended.
- Say why in one tapBored, lonely, avoiding something, checking something, habit, someone messaged. A chip at the pause, and History reflects the week back: “Mostly bored · mostly after 22:00.”
- Your weekly letterProThree calm sentences about your week, in the second person, never a verdict. Written on your phone by Apple's on-device model where your iPhone has one, and from a plain template everywhere else. It may not invent a number.
- Nothing leavesAll of it is arithmetic over the app's own log, on the device. The only model that ever reads your week is Apple's, on the phone. No server, no upload.
Free to block, forever. Pro is one payment.
No weekly plan, no subscription, no free trial that turns into a charge, no “founder” pricing games. Blocking never goes behind the paywall.
Free
$0Everything you need to put a pause in front of an app, and to trust that it's there.
- Block unlimited apps and categories, forever — with one off-limits window per profile, which can raise Nudge to Pause
- Friction levels 1–2: Nudge and Pause, with escalation
- One profile
- One focus session a day
- Breathe, Stretch and Reflect insteads
- Seven days of history
- Slow to loosen with undo, three quick unlocks a week, the Screen Time passcode guide
- Protection Status, the watchdog and the self-test
- No account, no email, no quiz, no ads. Set up in under two minutes.
Pro
$29.99 onceOne payment, yours for good. Family Sharing included, so one purchase covers the household.
- Deliberate, Firm and Strict: longer waits that double on every reopen, up to fifteen minutes, and a typed intention every time
- A daily cap on opens — eight at Firm, four at Strict
- A daily budget of minutes per profile — spent means spent until morning. Pausible counts the minutes it unlocked, not what you did with them
- Off-limits times that go above Pause, or refuse entry instead of delaying it
- Up to 15 profiles, and unlimited off-limits times
- Unlimited focus sessions
- Your own quick-unlock limit, set lower — down to none
- The Puzzle and Read insteads
- Full history, all of it, and your weekly letter
- Automations: a Focus filter, Shortcuts recipes, the Action button
- Siri, Control Center and Live Activity controls for focus sessions
Purchases go through your Apple Account. Refunds are Apple's, and they're fair about it. If Pro is refunded, nothing is deleted: profiles above Pause step down to it, the rest stays put, and blocking keeps working on the free levels.
Pausible collects no data.
It runs entirely on your phone. Apple's Screen Time framework never shows us which apps you use — we couldn't collect it if we wanted to. No server, no analytics, no tracking, no ads.
Delete the app and every block it set is gone. Read the privacy policy — it fits on one screen.