How PhoneStop works

Most screen time apps show you a number at the end of the day, when it is too late to matter. PhoneStop works in the moment.

Last checked August 2026 · Read this page as Markdown

Set your budget

Pick the screen time you want per day. Onboarding suggests a realistic starting point based on what you use now.

Watch it drain

One ring on the home screen, emptying as you use your phone. One glance tells you where you stand.

Get warned in time

Notifications reach you at roughly 60, 30 and 10 minutes left — inside whatever app you are using, not buried in a weekly report.

A warning that arrives inside the app you are scrolling is worth more than a report you read the next morning, because by then the decision has already been made. This is the step nothing else does.

Get stopped

At zero, a full-screen reminder takes over and asks you to put the phone down.

Let the urge pass

Over your limit, PhoneStop offers something to do with the urge rather than a nag: a fifteen-second breathing timer, a set of squats, or push-ups. They buy you nothing, and that is the point — move first, then lock your phone with one tap.

And if you genuinely need your phone — driving, work, an emergency — one tap extends the window and the warnings go quiet. An intervention that cannot be escaped honestly gets uninstalled, so this one can be.

Not a blocklist

PhoneStop does not keep a list of apps to block. There is one number for the whole phone, every app spends from it, and when it is gone it is gone — whatever you were using.

Why blocking one app does not lower your screen time — the longer argument, with what the displacement looks like in practice.