Unhook: App Blocker & Limits

You don't need another app that blocks you. You need a second to think.

Unhook puts a short pause in front of the apps that pull you in. Open Instagram and instead of the feed you get a breath, or a countdown, and a choice. You can always continue — that's the point. Hard blockers get uninstalled by lunchtime. Friction changes what you do.

WHAT IT DOES

• Pause screens — pick an app, pick a pause. A countdown or a breathing timer, 5 to 60 seconds, before the app opens. Every time you open it, or only once you're past your limit.

• Daily limits — set a limit per app, or on your total screen time. Unhook warns you about a minute before you reach it, and tells you when you pass it.

• Progress — a calendar of your days, coloured by whether your limits held. Streaks for the days you kept, and a nudge on the days you came close. Weekly and monthly rewards for getting most of them right.

• Honest numbers — see exactly where your time went today, and across the week.

NUMBERS YOU CAN CHECK

Most screen time apps use Android's summary API. It doesn't do what it looks like it does: its "daily" buckets aren't aligned to midnight, so yesterday evening leaks into today. It can report an hour for an app you used for two minutes.

Unhook reads the raw event stream instead and reconstructs your day properly. Open your phone's own Digital Wellbeing next to Unhook and compare, app by app. The numbers match. Nothing else here is worth anything if the numbers are wrong.

PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION

There is no account, no sign-up, no analytics, and no ads. There is no server — your usage never leaves your phone, because there's nowhere for it to go. Uninstall and it's gone.

Unhook does request internet permission. It's used by Google Play's billing library for the optional upgrade, and by nothing else.

FREE AND PRO

Free covers 2 apps and one month of history. Pro removes both: as many apps as you like, and your full record. Pro is a one-time purchase — no subscription, because you shouldn't have to keep paying to be left alone.

PERMISSIONS, PLAINLY

• Usage access — the only way Android lets an app measure your time in other apps. This is the whole product.
• Display over other apps — draws the pause over an app you chose. Never over anything else.
• Notifications — the limit warning and the alert.
• Background service — a limit can pass, or an app open, at any moment. Unhook has to be watching or it can't help. It pauses entirely while your screen is off.

WORTH KNOWING

Some apps ship as part of your phone's system — on many Samsung devices Chrome is one — and Android won't let any app set a limit on those. Unhook's "screen time" counts your apps, not the system's, so its total reads lower than Digital Wellbeing's. That's a difference in what's counted, not a difference in the measurement.

Unhook is the hook in your pocket, and the way out of it.