Make screen time intentional

The apps you overuse,
blocked until you earn them.

Hurdle stands in front of your most distracting apps. Complete a task you choose — a walk, your to-do list, a few breaths — and they unblock. Screen time becomes a decision, not a reflex.

Coming soon on theApp Store
Free forever Private No accounts
How it works

One loop. Blocked, earned, unblocked.

Scroll to watch it happen — the same flow you'll see on day one.

Why it works
“Reward that follows a little effort is easier to feel good about than a reward that follows nothing.”

A healthier loop with your phone.

Distracting apps are engineered around immediate gratification — open, scroll, reward, repeat, with zero effort in between. Do that enough and the effortless hit becomes the baseline, and everything slower starts to feel flat.

Hurdle puts a small, meaningful effort before the reward. You earn your time first. Over days, that reorders the pattern: the reward is still there — it just follows something real, like a walk or a finished task. Same apps, a calmer relationship with them.

baseline
Effortless access Earned access

Illustrative, not a medical claim.

Our mission

We have more than ever.
Are we happier?

Technology has done extraordinary things for the world. It has also gotten very good at holding our attention far longer than we'd ever choose. We may be better off than we were forty years ago in a hundred measurable ways — yet the good life still runs on moderation.

Hurdle exists to make screen time intentional. Not to shame you off your phone, but to put one small, deliberate moment between you and the reach — so the time you spend is time you actually chose.

Your hurdle, your rules

Pick the task that unblocks you.

Choose what earns your time back. Stack a few and each repeat visit costs a little more.

🏃

Hit a fitness goal

Steps, a workout, exercise minutes — set a target that fits you, and Hurdle checks it off automatically through Apple Health.

✅

Finish your to-dos

Tick off the tasks you set for today before you let the feed have your attention.

🧘

Meditate for a minute

Take a short, calming pause to reset your head — then decide if you still want in.

🏷️

Tap an NFC tag

Stick a tag somewhere across the room. Getting your apps back means actually getting up.

🤝

Ask a friend

Someone you trust holds your unlock code — a little accountability, built right in.

🧩

Solve a few puzzles

A quick mental warm-up stands between you and the scroll, so opening an app is a choice.

Private by design

Your business, and only yours.

Hurdle was built to earn trust the honest way — by never having your data in the first place.

Apple hides your app picks

Hurdle literally cannot see which apps you chose to block — Screen Time keeps them private, even from us.

Nothing leaves your phone

No accounts, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. There are no servers to send anything to.

Free, completely

No subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no premium tier. Willpower shouldn't have a paywall.

Questions

Can't I just cheat?
You could — but you'd only be cheating yourself. While a hurdle is active you can't edit or delete it to skip the task, so there's no quiet way around it. Hurdle isn't here to police you; it's a tool to help you build the habits you actually want. Getting around it just borrows time from future you.
Does Hurdle see what I do on my phone?
No. Apple keeps your app choices private — Hurdle can't see which apps you picked, and nothing you do ever leaves your phone. There's no account and no server.
Why is it free?
Because it costs us almost nothing to run — everything happens on your phone, with no servers to pay for. And willpower shouldn't sit behind a paywall.
What if I have a real emergency?
Hurdle only blocks the apps you chose to cut back on — never your phone, your calls, or your messages, which always work. And for the moments you genuinely need an app right now, you get three emergency unlocks each week: one tap opens things up, no task required.
When can I get it?
It's in final testing now, with an App Store release coming soon.

Spend your time on purpose.

Put a hurdle in front of the apps that pull you in — and earn your way back.

Coming soon on theApp Store