Frequently Asked Questions

You earn 5 minutes of screen time for every hour you stay focused and away from your protected apps.

Daily earning caps:

• Free: 45 minutes per day
• Premium: 90 minutes per day
• Pro: 120 minutes per day

Your scroll time is tracked in real-time and ready to use guilt-free whenever you want.

Every tier gets daily free time that resets at midnight:

• Free: 1 minute daily
• Premium: 2 minutes daily
• Pro: 5 minutes daily

This is separate from your earned time and does not roll over. It is meant for quick checks without using your hard-earned time.

Free Tier:

• Daily earning cap: 45 minutes
• Daily free time: 1 minute
• Rollover: Same-day only
• Stats: Today only
• Ledger: 7 days
• Cooldown after blocking: 2 hours
• Max blocked apps: 3
• No-Go Zone minimum: 8 hours

Quiet Hours Add-on ($0.99/mo, included free in Premium/Pro):

• Scheduled app blocking with automatic start/end times
• Up to 10 different modes (Work, Sleep, Study, Custom, etc.)
• No penalties for peeking (unlike No-Go Zones)
• Overnight schedules supported

Premium Tier ($4.99/mo):

• Daily earning cap: 90 minutes
• Daily free time: 2 minutes
• Free emergency time: 3 x 1-minute tokens per month
• Rollover: 3 days
• Stats: 7 days
• Ledger: 30 days
• Cooldown after blocking: 1 hour
• Max blocked apps: Unlimited
• No-Go Zone minimum: 4 hours
• 7-day trends
• Quiet Hours included
• Focus Challenges
• Milestones tracking

Pro Tier ($8.99/mo or $69.99/year, save 35%):

• Daily earning cap: 120 minutes
• Daily free time: 5 minutes
• Free emergency time: 3 x 5-minute tokens per month
• Rollover: 7 days
• Stats: 30 days
• Ledger: 90 days
• Cooldown after blocking: 30 minutes
• Max blocked apps: Unlimited
• No-Go Zone minimum: 2 hours
• 30-day trends plus behavioral patterns
• Quiet Hours included
• Focus Challenges
• Milestones tracking
• Progress Score (0-100 self-control metric)

Unused time rolls over based on your tier:

• Free: No rollover (expires daily at midnight)
• Premium: 3 days (up to 45 minutes per unused day)
• Pro: 7 days (up to 60 minutes per unused day)

Welcome bonuses do not roll over and expire daily.

No-Go Zone is the strictest mode. Not for everyone. Once activated, you cannot access your protected apps until the timer ends. No exceptions unless you purchase emergency time.

Minimum durations (varies by tier):

• Free: 8 hours
• Premium: 4 hours
• Pro: 2 hours

Emergency time (15 minutes per token) can be purchased if absolutely necessary. We do not recommend taking this mode lightly.

Quiet Hours uses a completely separate app list from your protected apps. It doesn't interact with your wallet or credit system at all. Just block and start on schedule. When Quiet Hours ends, apps are completely unblocked.

Key differences:

• Quiet Hours: Separate app picker, scheduled blocking, no wallet involvement, up to 10 modes. When it ends, apps are unblocked. $0.99/mo add-on or free with Premium/Pro.
• No-Go Zone: Works on top of your protected apps. Zero access during the zone. When it ends, apps stay protected and still need credits to access. Emergency fees apply, minimum 2-12 hours depending on tier.

Use Quiet Hours for daily structure (like 9-5 work blocks or overnight sleep protection) without affecting your earning system. Use No-Go Zones when you need absolute commitment. After a zone ends, your apps remain protected by the credit system.

Yes! You can create up to 10 different Quiet Hours modes. For example:

• Work Mode: 9 AM to 5 PM on weekdays
• Sleep Protection: 10 PM to 7 AM every night
• Study Sessions: Custom times for exam prep
• Weekend Focus: Different schedule for Saturdays

Each mode has its own separate app list, schedule, and automatic start/end times. This doesn't affect your protected apps for earning credits. Overnight schedules (like 10 PM to 7 AM) are fully supported.

Yes! ScrollOff keeps your commitment alive with timely notifications:

• Motivational quotes appear on the dashboard to keep you inspired
• While using your time, you will get reminders every 7 seconds as it runs low
• When time expires completely, gentle nudges help you stay on track
• No-Go Zone sends supportive reminders throughout your session

These notifications are not locks or punishments. They are supportive reminders to honor your goals and build better habits.

Every shield has an "Open ScrollOff" button. When you tap it, the shield closes and a notification appears. Tap the notification to open ScrollOff.

This is a two-step process because Apple does not allow apps to open directly from a shield.

For this to work, notifications must be turned on:

1. Go to Settings on your iPhone
2. Tap ScrollOff
3. Tap Notifications
4. Turn on Allow Notifications

If notifications are off, tapping "Open ScrollOff" will close the shield but nothing else will happen. You will see a note on the shield reminding you to enable notifications.

Notes to self are "if-then" strategies that appear when you try to open a blocked app. Based on implementation intention research, they help you redirect urges with pre-planned alternatives.

How they work:

• You create notes like "I'm lying in bed, I'll stretch instead"
• When you try opening a blocked app, a random note appears on the shield screen
• The note reminds you of the alternative action you committed to

Why they are effective:

• Pre-decided actions bypass in-the-moment willpower battles
• Seeing the app name and your plan creates awareness
• Implementation intentions (if-then planning) increase success rates by 2 to 3 times in behavioral research

Create 3 to 5 notes for best results. You can manage them in Settings under Notes to Self.

Your stats are tracked automatically and snapshots are saved daily at midnight.

Trends show "Today vs 7 days ago" comparisons once you have a week of data.

Stats history (how much data you can see):

• Free: Today only
• Premium: 7 days
• Pro: 30 days

Ledger retention (how long detailed records are kept):

• Free: 7 days
• Premium: 30 days
• Pro: 90 days

Trends and patterns:

• Free: No trends or patterns
• Premium: 7-day trends
• Pro: 30-day trends plus behavioral patterns (late-night spikes, strongest days, weekend patterns)

"Your Progress" is a Focus Score from 0 to 100 that shows how well you are managing your screen time. It appears at the top of the Self-control checkpoint in Stats, and as an emoji on the Dashboard.

The score is made up of 4 parts:

Restraint (35% of your score): How much of today's peek time cap is remaining? If you did not peek at all, you get full marks. If you used up your entire daily cap, you get zero.

Discipline (30% of your score): How many times did you give in to temptation? This counts the number of times you opened a blocked app, not how long you spent. Peeking once is better than peeking 8 times, even if the total time is similar. Fewer peeks mean stronger willpower.

Consistency (20% of your score): How many days did you stay completely clean? Days with zero peeks count toward your consistency. On the Dashboard, this looks at the last 7 days to give a rolling trend.

Commitment (15% of your score): How many apps did you commit to blocking? More blocked apps mean stronger commitment. Blocking 5 or more apps gives you full marks. Free tier users can block up to 3, so the max Commitment score for Free is 60%.

The emoji on the Dashboard changes expression based on your score, from sad (0 to 19) to ecstatic (85 to 100). Tap it for a motivational message! On first launch it shows a welcoming face until your score is ready.

Note: The score only appears after 10 minutes have passed since midnight, to avoid misleading numbers early in the day.

Data Tools (Pro-only) help you manage your ScrollOff history with four options:

Export Notifications: Creates a CSV spreadsheet of your credit history. Great for analysis in Excel or Google Sheets. Shows all earn, spend, bonus, and penalty transactions. This is a read-only snapshot and cannot be restored.

Create Backup: Archives all your ScrollOff data (notifications, notes to self, stats). Saved to Files app on your device under ScrollOffArchives. Your current data stays intact. It just makes a copy.

Restore Backup: Brings back a previously saved archive. Replaces your current data with the backup. Restores notifications, notes to self, and all stats.

Reset History: Permanently deletes all local data. Removes notifications, notes to self, stats, and wallet balances. Cannot be undone without a backup. Use for fresh starts or before giving away your device.

Best practice: Create weekly backups before major changes, export monthly for analysis.

The app name and icon only appear in Recent Activity, Notifications, and Stats if the app is currently in your protected apps list.

If you see "Protected App" instead of the real name, it means the app was removed from your protected list after the peek was recorded, or the entry was created before app name tracking was added.

To see names and icons again, make sure the app is in your protected list. ScrollOff can only show names for apps it currently recognizes.

Backups store the app identifier, so if you restore a backup and the app is in your protected list, the name will appear automatically.

Restoring a backup replaces all your current data with what was saved in the backup file.

What gets restored:

• All wallet balances (earned time, saved time, emergency tokens, No-Go Zone tokens)
• All notification history (ledger entries)
• Notes to self
• Stats snapshots

Important to know:

• Clean time tracking restarts from the moment you restore. Any time earned between midnight and the restore is lost.
• The app treats the restore moment as a fresh start for today's earnings.
• Your subscription tier is not affected (it comes from the App Store).

If your backup was created with an older version of ScrollOff, some newer wallet fields may not be in the backup. These will default to zero, but your earned and purchased tokens from the backup will still be restored correctly.

Best practice: Always create a fresh backup before restoring an older one, so you have a safety net.

Yes! ScrollOff automatically blocks matching websites on Safari for all tiers (Free, Premium, and Pro).

When you block an app (like Instagram or TikTok), ScrollOff also blocks the matching website (instagram.com, tiktok.com) so you can't bypass the block through Safari.

What to know:

• Works on Safari only. Apple does not allow third-party apps to block websites in Chrome, Firefox, or other browsers. This is an Apple limitation.
• Covers approximately 40 popular apps and their associated websites automatically
• The blocking page may show Apple's Screen Time restriction page or ScrollOff's custom page. Both mean the site is blocked.
• If a website you want blocked isn't covered, contact us and we'll add it

We're doing our part to block what takes most of your time. Now it's your turn to stay true to yourself.

Milestones celebrate your progress by showing meaningful achievements throughout your day. They are available in Premium and Pro tiers.

How milestones are recorded:

• After 8 hours, a new milestone is selected and recorded
• Maximum 3 milestones per day (perfectly spaced throughout 24 hours)
• Milestones are chosen based on your best achievements at that moment

If you have "Focus score 94" and later increase to 100%, the milestone stays at 94 for the full 8 hours. This prevents constant changes and makes milestones feel meaningful, not random.

Milestones track Focus Challenges completed, hours protected by No-Go Zones, personal records, streaks, and overall progress. They appear on your Dashboard to keep you motivated.

If restrictions do not lift immediately:

1. Reinstall ScrollOff from the App Store
2. Open the app once (this clears all restrictions)
3. Delete the app. Restrictions will be lifted.

ScrollOff automatically handles reinstallations and clears restrictions when reopened.

The number of apps you can block depends on your tier:

• Free: Up to 3 apps
• Premium: Unlimited
• Pro: Unlimited

After blocking apps, there is a cooldown period before you can change your list:

• Free: 2 hours
• Premium: 1 hour
• Pro: 30 minutes

Absolutely. ScrollOff processes everything locally on your device. We have no servers, no accounts, no analytics, and no tracking. We literally cannot see your data. Your usage patterns, blocked apps, and habits never leave your phone.

ScrollOff is currently available on iOS only. Android support is planned. Follow us on GitHub or check back for updates on the Android release timeline.

Subscriptions are managed through Apple's App Store. To request a refund, go to Settings, then Apple ID, then Subscriptions on your iPhone, or visit reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple handles all subscription billing directly.