Lockmode — Support

Almost always this is the Screen Time permission. Lockmode blocks apps through Apple's Screen Time system, and until you grant that permission iOS quietly ignores every block — the app looks like it is working and nothing is restricted. The home screen shows a banner when it detects this. To fix it, open the iPhone Settings app, go to Screen Time, and allow Lockmode.

iOS only asks for that permission once per install, and a refusal cannot be undone from inside the app, which is why it has to be changed in Settings.

At the first moment you do something that needs it: arming the lock, choosing apps, or adding a schedule. It is deliberately not asked during setup, on a blank screen with nothing explaining it — Apple's own wording for that prompt says the app will be able to restrict the device, and it deserves context.

No, and this is not a policy choice — it is not technically possible. You pick the apps in a picker that belongs to Apple, and what comes back to the app is a set of sealed tokens that only Apple's system can resolve. The app hands them back to iOS and says "shield these". It never learns a single app name, and it cannot read your Screen Time reports or your usage history.

The lock is the one the app is for: it blocks until you have done something. Your apps stay shut while anything on today's list is still unticked, and open the moment the last one is ticked off. A quick block is a saved set of apps shut by a tap and opened by the same tap — no countdown to wait out. A schedule blocks by the clock: your apps lock at the hours you set, on the days you choose, and unlock when the window closes. A daily limit blocks by usage: your apps work until you have spent that day's allowance, then lock until tomorrow.

You can use all four. See the next answer for what happens when they overlap.

Nothing conflicts. The lock, quick blocks, schedules and the daily limit each hold a shield of their own, so an app stays shut while any of them says it should be, and ending one never unlocks something another is still blocking. Run all four at once if you want.

Write the habits the day is for and pick the apps to hold back, then arm the lock from the row on Home. While anything due today is still unticked — your own habits and any challenge you are carrying — those apps are shut. Tick the last one off and they open immediately.

There is no timer in it at all, which is the point — you cannot wait it out, only finish it. Habits come back on the weekdays you chose for them, so the lock comes back the next morning without you setting anything up again. If you need out, turn the lock off from the same row on Home.

Schedules are run by a background component that iOS wakes at the hours you set, so they work whether or not Lockmode is open. If one starts late, check that the schedule is switched on, that it repeats on today's weekday, and that it has apps selected — a schedule with no apps chosen sits in the list waiting rather than blocking. Anything else running alongside it — the lock, a quick block, the daily limit — holds its own shield and never holds a schedule up.

Arm the lock from the row on Home, or tap a saved quick block. While the lock is up you'll see it on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.

Open Lockmode and turn it off there. The shield you meet when you open a blocked app has only a Close button on purpose — unlocking happens inside Lockmode, so that the decision takes a moment rather than a reflex.

No. Lockmode is a self-control aid. Anyone holding the phone can end a block, turn the permission off in Settings, or delete the app. It is built to add friction to a habit, not to stop a determined person. For real parental controls, use Apple's own Screen Time with a passcode.

Use your judgement, and please do not block anything you might need in an emergency — phone, messages, maps, medical or banking apps. A block can be ended, but that takes a moment you may not have. This is set out in section 6 of the Terms of Use.

Yes — you choose websites in the same Apple picker where you choose apps, and they are shielded the same way.

There are seven: your streak, today's list, the state of the lock, a single habit you keep losing, the whole run as a grid, your six pillars, and a line worth reading first thing. They read a small snapshot the app writes on your device and make no network connections at all. While the lock is up it also shows on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.

No. The only notification the app sends is the reminder you set on a habit yourself, at the hour you chose, on the days that habit is due. Blocking says nothing: the lock, quick blocks, schedules and the daily limit all start and end silently — if you want to know where a block stands, the lock widget shows it without opening the app. Everything works without them. Reminders are scheduled on your device by iOS — there is no push server and we cannot send you anything remotely.

Yes. Open it and tap Share, and the app draws it as a picture you can send anywhere — the quote, who said it, and the app's name on it. Nothing of yours is in that picture: not your name, your habits, your streak or your record. The lines are old enough to be out of copyright, so you can post one wherever you like.

Yes — Settings → Appearance, where you can pick System, Light or Dark.

No. Lockmode is a subscription, and the subscription covers everything in the app — there are no separate purchases and nothing else to buy. The plans and any free trial are shown before you pay.

In the iPhone Settings app, under your name → Subscriptions. Cancel at least 24 hours before the period ends, or it renews. Deleting the app does not cancel the subscription.

Tap Restore purchases on the subscription screen, while signed in to the Apple Account you originally bought with. If it still doesn't find anything, email us and tell us roughly when you subscribed.

Apple processes all purchases, so refunds go through Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. We cannot issue them ourselves.

Your subscription does — restore it with the same Apple Account. Your habits, challenges, streak, schedules, limits and statistics do not: they live on the device and there is no account or sync behind them. App selections in particular cannot transfer, because the tokens Apple gives us are only meaningful on the device that made them, so you'll pick your apps again.

Deleting the app removes everything held on your device — your habits, challenges, record, schedules, limits, app selections and statistics — and stops anything further being sent. You can also erase your habits, your challenges and every day on record from Settings inside Lockmode, without deleting the app — that one leaves your blocking rules and your app selections alone, and you remove those on their own screens. For the anonymous usage records and the setup answers held by our providers, email us with roughly when you used the app and we will delete what we can identify. The full detail is in the Privacy Policy.

Email abeto.studio@gmail.com. Tell us your iOS version and the app version from the bottom of Settings, and what you expected to happen — it usually saves a couple of back-and-forths.