Allow Short <15Min App Time Limits/Blocking Apps Entirely

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#1

Hello, it would be great if you could set a time limit that’s less than 15 minutes. I would also like to have the ability to block an app 24/7. For example, I don’t want to have access to the twitter app or website on my phone ever. I wish I could set the time limit to 0 hours 0 minutes and deep focus

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#2

Just curious, if you want to block an app 24/7, why don’t you uninstall the app ?

1 Like
#3

I’m mainly talking about websites like mobile twitter. Can’t delete safari. I’m not even sure that Id want to block them 24/7 but my id definitely like the ability to set the time limit below 15 minutes

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#4

Please can the lower limit on apps be reduced to less than 15 mins.

I have some apps that I would like to limit to a shorter time, like 10 or even 6 mins. 15 is actually quite long!

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#5

Hello!

Not sure if this is a bug or feature request.

Currently Opal does not let me start itself to block apps after 5 min. The minimum increment seems to be 15min (I can’t scroll to 5min - see video attached)
However the website opal.so states that it is possible to do increments of 5,10,60 minutes. So I assume this is a bug and not a missing feature?

However, If it is a missing feature, I would love to lobby for Opal go add blocking to start at any time increment (not min 15min) - here’s why:

Currently my settings possible are:

  • after 15min
  • block for 1 hour

This is why it isn’t ideal:

  • when I am doomscrolling on a distracting app like IG, I would like to be cut off within <5min, and not be allowed to scroll for up to 15min
  • also, sometimes I will use a distracting app like IG for 14 min (doesn’t trigger the 15 min). But later I will pick it up for 1 min and suddenly get blocked when I actually need to use the app to msg people. This is annoying and the workaround is that I have to use skippable cooldown and I can’t set the “unskippable cooldown” feature

The problem I would like to solve:

  • stop my doomscrolling as early as possible and cut the loop (ie be able to block apps in <5 min after a single usage)
  • cooldown time can be short also, just 30min is ok for me. Would prefer unskippable but I can’t use that feature bc the blocking timer accumulates over 1 day
  • [bonus] blocking timer restarts every time I pick up my phone (and not every day).

TLDR - perfect settings for me right now (which I can’t do - see video attached)

  • 5 min block app, starting every time I pick up my phone (not daily cumulative)
  • 30min cooldown // unskippable
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#6

I want to set individual limits for certain apps but if i were to select 15min for each, they still add up to more than an hour of screen time each day. If I could limit each individual app to between 1-5min I could keep the overall screen time down to less than 20min instead.

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#7

Definitely need to be able to lower that time limit to stop doom scrolling is 99% of the thing I’m searching for in an app like this I’m good with my phone if I can air myself get off it after a few mins it’s the getting stuck on it that kills me

#8

Thank you for sharing your requests here.

The short answer is: there are technical limitations with Screen Time API which make short limits (under 15min) more risky (it risks the API crashing and Opal freezing).

However ajj1807_jsr have you tried this:
Create an all-day recurring schedule for the entire day, blocking your apps 24/7. Then, use breaks to use the apps?

TLDR - perfect settings for me right now (which I can’t do - see video attached)

  • 5 min block app, starting every time I pick up my phone (not daily cumulative)
  • 30min cooldown // unskippable