Pawl: App Blocker With a Key

Most blockers can be turned off by the person who set them up, at the exact moment they most want to. Pawl is built for that moment.

Pawl blocks the apps and websites you choose. Social feeds, games, shopping, news, adult sites, betting, anything. It uses Apple’s Screen Time. The block screen has no unlock button. To open anything, you need your key.

HOW IT WORKS

Pick what to block: apps from Apple’s own Screen Time picker, websites you type in, or a website category.
Pair a physical FIDO2 security key once. Then put it somewhere hard to reach.
To unblock, you need the key, then a wait (15 minutes to start). After a set open time, the block comes back on by itself.
You choose the timing: any wait from none to 24 hours, any open time from 15 minutes to 12 hours, or until you lock it. A longer wait applies at once. A shorter one needs your key and the current wait first.

YOUR KEY IS YOUR ACCOUNTABILITY
Whoever holds your key decides when Pawl can open. Give it to a sister or friend across town, or put it in a time lock box or your desk at work. They don’t need to install anything.

It is 1am and you open the app you told yourself you were done with. Your key is at your sister’s place. By the time you could get it and wait, the urge has usually passed. That is the whole idea.

ALLY APPROVALS (PRO)
The person who holds your key can say yes from their own phone instead of handing it over. You tap Ask, their phone shows “wants to unlock Pawl,” they tap Approve and confirm with Face ID. Their yes starts the same wait your key starts. Nothing is skipped. It goes through your own iCloud, never a Pawl server, and your ally never sees what you block. Adding an ally takes your key and the wait. Removing one is instant. Your key always works. Only you need Pro.

FOR THE HARD MOMENTS

An “I’m tempted” button: a ten-minute wait, your own notes, and a one-tap call to someone you trust. It never leads to an unblock.
A streak that survives deleting the app. It lives in your iCloud.
A private log. Slips are part of changing a habit, and nothing in Pawl scolds you for one.

WHILE PAWL IS PROTECTING YOU

Deleting Pawl is blocked through Screen Time, and automatic date and time is required so the clock cannot be moved ahead to skip the wait.

PAWL PRO

Ally approvals, above.
Scheduled sets: a Work set that blocks social apps 9 to 5, or an Evenings set after 8pm. Up to ten. Loosening one needs your key and the wait.
The weekly report: days Pawl was on, hours back, blocked attempts, urges resisted, the hardest time of day, and your own words. It never grades you.

HONEST ABOUT THE LIMITS
Pawl adds friction. It is not a cage.

iOS lets the owner of a phone turn Screen Time off. No app can stop that. Pawl notices and says so. For a firmer lock, have someone you trust set your Screen Time passcode in person.
No blocklist is complete. The optional gambling list has 167 sites.
Pawl makes the 1am version slow, not impossible.

PRIVACY
Pawl collects no data. No account, no Pawl server. Screen Time gives Pawl only anonymous tokens, so it never learns which apps you picked. Everything stays on your phone and in your own iCloud. Ally requests live there too, shared only with the person you chose, and are deleted after each answer. No ads. No tracking.

OPEN SOURCE
Public under the Mozilla Public License 2.0: github.com/jasonepage/Pawl. No independent audit yet.

FREE CORE, OPTIONAL PRO
Blocking, the key, the wait, your streak, the “I’m tempted” tools and the log are free. Pawl Pro adds ally approvals, new scheduled sets and the weekly report. Sets made before Pro keep working free. Pro is $29.99 a year with a 7-day free trial, or $3.99 a month, and renews until you cancel.

WHAT YOU NEED
iPhone or iPad on iOS 18 or later, and any FIDO2 security key with a USB-C plug. An ally needs only Pawl and iCloud.

Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Privacy Policy: https://getpawl.com/privacy