FocusFlow
Earn your scroll.
FocusFlow locks your distracting apps until you finish what you planned. Snap proof, get it checked, earn your minutes back.
Download on the App Store
Scan to get it on your iPhone.
Free on the App Store. Requires iOS 17 or later.
Get the highlights
Proof, not promises.
Checked in seconds.
Minutes you actually earned.
A cap that holds.
Built for the semester.
How it works
One loop. No loopholes.
The phone screen changes with each step described alongside.
Blocked. Until you're done.
Pick the apps that eat your day. They stay shut, and there is no button that says otherwise.
Do the thing.
The problem set. The reading. The gym. Whatever you put on today's list.
Snap it.
One photo of the finished work. That is the whole submission.
Checked.
An AI model looks at the photo against the task. It takes a few seconds.
Unlocked. For a bit.
You earn 15 minutes. They count down while you scroll, and at zero the lock comes back.
Tasks
Your to-do list. Now with teeth.
Every task is worth minutes. The only way to collect is to finish it.
Today's list, and what each thing pays.
Set what a task is worth, from five minutes to an hour.
Assignments on your calendar show up as tasks.
Miss a day and a streak skip covers it.
Limits
Screen time you're proud of.
Earned minutes are the floor. Caps and quiet hours are the ceiling.
A daily cap per app, on top of what you earn.
Hours when nothing unlocks. Class, practice, bedtime.
A heads up before your minutes run out.
Your week at a glance: tasks finished and minutes earned.
Why proof works
Willpower, outsourced.
Most blockers
A limit pops up. Under it, a button to ignore the limit. You tap the button. Everyone taps the button.
FocusFlow
There is no button. The way back in is a photo of finished work, and a model that checks it is really there.
Students
Made for the semester, not the boardroom.
54%
of U.S. college students say they spend five hours or more on recreational screen time.1
45%
of U.S. teens say they spend too much time on social media.2
237
or more notifications a day reached over half of the young people in one study.3
FocusFlow is built around how a student's day actually runs: assignments with due dates, classes when your phone should be shut, and a night that is yours once the work is done.
Privacy
Your proof is yours.
Checked, and that is all.
Your proof photo goes to Anthropic's Claude to check it against your task. It is not used for ads, not sold, and not used to train models.
Kept until you delete it.
Photos stay in your task history until you remove them. Delete one, or delete your account and everything goes with it.
Only the apps you lock.
FocusFlow knows which apps you choose to lock and how many minutes you spend in them. Not your other apps, not what you do inside them, not your browsing. None of it is sold or used for ads.
Pricing
Free to download.
Every feature for your own phone. Families pay for one plan.
From the founder
I was losing five hours a day to my phone, with assignments due. Every blocker I tried had an off switch, and I always found it.
So I built one where the only way back in is doing the work. I use it every day. It is the reason this got finished.
SL
Spencer Lay
Student, Ohio State
Questions? Answered.
Does it work with any app?
Yes. You choose from every app and category on your iPhone, using Apple's own picker. Social, games, video, anything.
What counts as proof?
A photo that plausibly shows the task done: a finished problem set, your notes, the gym, a clean desk. You can also add tasks that need no photo.
Can I cheat it?
You can try. The model checks the photo against the task and repeat photos are caught. It is built so that cheating takes more effort than the homework.
What if the AI gets it wrong?
It tells you when it is unsure. You can retake the photo, and if it still cannot tell, you can confirm the task yourself. Finished work is never stranded.
What happens to my photos?
They are sent to Anthropic's Claude for the check and stored in your task history. They are never shared, sold or used to train models, and you can delete them.
Why does it need Screen Time access?
Screen Time is Apple's permission for blocking apps. Without it, nothing can be locked. FocusFlow counts minutes only in the apps you choose to lock.
How much does it cost?
FocusFlow is free to download, with every feature for your own phone. The family plan is $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year after 7 days free.
Do the work. Then scroll.
Download on the App Store
Scan to get it on your iPhone.
- Echelon Insights survey of U.S. college students, reported by Inside Higher Ed, December 18, 2025. Source ↩
- Pew Research Center, survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 conducted in fall 2024, published July 2025. Source ↩
- Common Sense Media, “Constant Companion,” 2023. Participants were ages 11 to 17. Source ↩