Help, when you need it.

It's an iOS app that gives you a set amount of screen time each day — say an hour. You choose which apps it covers: social, games, video, browsers, whatever tends to take your time. You spend that hour down as you use them, and when it's gone, those apps rest until tomorrow. The idea is a limit you can actually feel, rather than one that's a single tap away from being ignored.

You pick a daily total and the apps you want to limit. Those apps stay closed by default. When you want to use them, you start a session — which draws from your budget as the clock ticks. You can split your time across the day and move it around, but you can't go over your total. When it runs out, the apps close until the next day.

It actually blocks them. Ration uses Apple's built-in Screen Time system to close your chosen apps when your time is up — not a notification you can swipe away. When the budget's gone, the apps genuinely won't open until tomorrow (unless you use one of your passes).

Just one: Apple's Screen Time permission, which you'll be asked for the first time you open the app. That's what lets Ration limit your other apps. It doesn't need your contacts, photos, location, or anything else.

Yes — completely. Everything stays on your device. There's no account, no cloud, and no tracking, and we never see which apps you use. You can read the full details in our privacy policy.

No — and that's deliberate. While an app is resting, its notifications rest too. You won't get pings or badges pulling you back to something you can't open anyway. When your budget resets or you start a session, everything comes back to normal.

Passes are a small number of overrides for the moments that genuinely can't wait — you need to check something urgent after your time's gone. You get a few, and once they're used they're gone until your budget resets. They're deliberately limited, so they stay a last resort rather than an easy escape hatch.

Yes. A parent can set the daily allowance and hold the passes, while the child gets the freedom to spend their time themselves. Their settings and usage stay on their device — nothing about their day is collected, stored, or sold.

Yes. Once you've set things up, Ration keeps your limits running in the background — you don't need to keep the app open. When a session's time is spent, the apps re-lock on their own.

Room tags are small stickers you can place around your home. Tapping one starts a session for that room — twenty minutes in the lounge, five in the kitchen — so your phone use has a natural place and pace. Details on getting a set will be shared at launch.

Nine times out of ten it's one of two things: the Screen Time permission wasn't granted (you can turn it on in the app or in iOS Settings), or no apps have been selected to limit yet. Check both first. If it still isn't working, email us and we'll help.

Open Ration, go to Settings and tap Remove all blocks — that clears every shield Ration has put in place. Once you've done that, you can delete the app like any other. Doing it in this order is the important part: it means nothing is left blocked behind you.

Don't worry, this is fully recoverable. It can happen if the app was deleted before its blocks were cleared. The quickest fix is to reinstall Ration from the App Store and open it once — it clears any blocks left behind the moment it launches. If you'd rather not reinstall, open iOS Settings → Screen Time and turn Screen Time off; that removes all third-party app restrictions, Ration's included. Either way your apps will open normally again. Still stuck? Email us and we'll walk you through it.

Ration is coming soon to the App Store. Pricing and the launch date will be announced here and on the homepage — leave your email and we'll let you know the moment it's ready.