Live better. Control your digital life.
Digital Control blocks distracting apps, websites and endless feeds — on your rules: by profile, schedule, place, Wi-Fi network or a single tap. Then it shows you, honestly, how your screen time is changing.
Three steps, about four minutes
A fresh install blocks nothing at all. You decide what, you decide when, and the app asks for only what those two answers actually need.
Pick what to block
Choose apps from a list, whole categories like Social or Games, websites by address, or just the distracting parts of apps you want to keep — short-video feeds, Stories, comment threads.
Choose when
Block right now with one tap and a timer, or set a rule that follows your day on its own: a weekly profile, a dated schedule, a place on the map, a Wi-Fi network, or a daily minute budget.
Grant what it needs
A guided checklist explains each permission in plain language, marks the optional ones, and warns you later if one gets switched off. Nothing is requested that your rules do not use.
Rules you set. Enforcement you can trust. Nothing you didn't ask for.
Digital Control never starts blocking on its own — a fresh install blocks nothing until you switch a rule on. Your phone app, calls and settings always stay reachable, even under "Block all". And when the app isn't sure — an unknown location, a stale reading — it lets things through rather than guessing against you.
Blocking that follows your life
Set a rule once and let context do the work — the right apps go quiet at the right times, in the right places, without you touching anything.
Profiles
Weekly repeating rules like "no social apps on weekday mornings". Each profile carries its own apps, websites, days and time slots. Workout, Work, Home and Weekend come ready to customise — all switched off until you say so.
Schedules
Date-bounded rules for a holiday, an exam week, a single evening. They run only inside their dates and expire on their own when the dates pass — no forgotten blocks lingering afterwards.
Places
Draw a circle on the map — the library, the office, home — and block automatically when you're inside it, or only when you're away. If your position is unknown or stale, nothing is blocked: the app never guesses.
Wi-Fi networks
Block while connected to a named network — or only while off it. "Office Wi-Fi means work apps only" runs entirely off the network name, the zero-battery alternative to place rules.
When you need quiet right now
Not everything can wait for a schedule. One tap blocks instantly — for exactly as long as you choose.
Deep focus
A timed session that blocks everything on your list at once. Set a length, press play, and nothing on the list opens until the timer ends — with a countdown that survives restarts. Only sessions you finish count towards your focus badges; abandoning one earns nothing.
Pick a calm backdrop for the session — rain, beach or café. It changes how the screen looks, and nothing else: no audio is played, so it can never fight your music.
Silence
A blocked app shouldn't be able to pull you back with a buzz. Silence takes away the notifications of apps that are currently blocked — and only those. Everything else arrives untouched.
Manual control: one tap commits — every option shows the clock time the block ends. Running timers extend by +15, +30 or +60 minutes without a gap.
Budgets, not bans — and feeds that finally end
Sometimes the answer isn't blocking an app. It's blocking the part of it that eats your evening.
Daily usage limit
A budget instead of a ban: give an app — or a whole category — a number of minutes a day, and it blocks itself once you've spent them, until midnight. Progress comes from real measured usage, never guesses.
Dopamine reset
Block the addictive surfaces inside apps you otherwise keep: short-video feeds like YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and TikTok, Stories, comment threads, recommendation pages and infinite-scroll feeds — while the rest of the app keeps working.
Feed detection reads the parts of the screen an app puts in front of you, so it can vary with an app's own updates. When a surface can't be recognised, nothing is blocked rather than the whole app.
Website blocking
Type an address — reddit.com, a news site — and it's blocked in the browser too, so quitting the app doesn't just move the habit. Snoozing a site lifts only that site, never the whole browser.
Two layers, and you choose how far to go: the browser layer works out of the box, and the network layer below covers every app on the phone.
Block a site in every app New
Reading a browser's address bar only works in browsers. A site opened inside another app, or in a game's built-in browser, slips straight past it. This closes that gap.
Network-level site blocking Optional
Switch it on and blocked sites stop loading anywhere on the phone — in any app, in any browser, in any embedded web view. It also keeps working when the accessibility permission is off, which is what makes it the sturdier of the two layers.
Android delivers this through its VPN interface, so the system shows a VPN consent dialog. Only one VPN can be active at a time.
Worth being exact, because "VPN" is a word that deserves suspicion.
It makes blocked sites much harder to reach, not impossible: a browser configured to use encrypted DNS can still resolve them. The browser layer stays on to cover that.
The nudge before the wall
Blocking is blunt, and bluntness gets switched off. So the app also does the quieter thing: it puts a moment of thought between you and the reflex.
Mindful nudges
A small card that appears over a distracting app when the moment calls for it: a 20-second eye break, a note of how long you've been sitting there, a reflection prompt after an hour, a reminder to move after two, and a gentler one late at night.
One at a time, never twice for the same reason in a day, with a quiet period after each. A lot of scrolling brings the next one forward — the app watches the behaviour, not just the clock. Switch them off in Settings whenever you like.
Friction that grows
Snoozing a block should get harder the more you do it. The first time is a tap. Later attempts on the same day cost a deliberate swipe, then a twenty-second wait, then a question you have to answer about why you're opening it.
The ladder also reads your day: on a heavy screen-time day it starts a rung higher, and on a light one it stays lenient. Strict mode and Deep focus refuse to be snoozed at all.
See yourself clearly — then watch it improve
Screen time today, hour by hour. Your most-used apps. How much of your day went to the addictive ones. All read from Android's own usage figures — and it never leaves your phone.
At the centre is your digital wellbeing score: a single number that falls as screen time climbs, banded by honest thresholds. A "View health impact" panel explains what research associates with each band — better sleep, higher focus, more meaningful time — and where the score comes from, with no medical hand-waving.
Plus focus badges and personal records — best day, longest streak, longest focus session. Badges only count finished, real days: sample data and half-finished mornings unlock nothing, and once a badge is earned it is never taken back.
A blocker that plays fair
Self-control tools only work if you trust them. These choices are deliberate.
- The block screen names its reason. Every block card tells you which rule caused it — the Work profile, a place rule, a timer — so a block is never a mystery.
- Sound stops with the screen. When a video app is blocked mid-play, the audio underneath is paused too — no Shorts soundtrack playing behind a block card.
- App lock is a speed bump, not a vault. Your fingerprint, face or device PIN stands in front of your own settings, so switching rules off takes more than two taps. Strict mode can add a PIN of its own — and even then your PIN is never stored, only a salted hash it cannot be recovered from. The app is also honest that determined-you could still uninstall it.
- Setup that proves itself. A guided checklist walks through each permission blocking depends on, shows what's optional, and a home-screen warning appears if something blocking needs gets switched off later.
- Restores itself after a restart. Reboot the phone or update the app — your rules come back on their own.
- Yours to read. Light and dark themes that follow the system, right-to-left layout support, and a guided tour of every screen. More languages are on the way — see below.
What it can't do
Every blocker on Android has the same ceilings. Most don't mention them. Knowing them before you rely on the app is the difference between a tool and a disappointment.
- It can't stop you uninstalling it. No Android app can. App lock makes the impulsive path slower; it isn't a lock on the door.
- It can't slow another app's scrolling. Android gives no app control over another's scrolling. What it can do is notice a long run and interrupt it — which is what the nudges do.
- Feed blocking can break when an app updates. Recognising a Reels player or a comment sheet depends on how that app is built today. When a surface can't be recognised, nothing is blocked rather than everything.
- Encrypted DNS gets around the network layer. A browser using its own secure DNS resolves names somewhere the app can't see. That's why the browser layer stays on as well.
- Some phones stop background apps aggressively. On several manufacturers' builds the system can pause the blocker when the app is closed. The checklist points you at the setting that prevents it.
- It isn't medical advice. The wellbeing score describes screen-time habits. It doesn't diagnose anything, and it doesn't treat anything.
Watching your habits is intimate. So nobody else gets to.
A digital-wellbeing app sees which apps you open and when. That is exactly why this one is built to keep it on your phone.
No ads. No analytics. Really.
Digital Control ships with no advertising SDK and no analytics SDK. There is no tracking to opt out of, because none was built in. No account is needed to use any feature.
Seen, compared, thrown away
To know when to step in, the app reads the name of the app in front of you — and, only while a web or feed rule is on, the browser address and the names of the parts on screen. It is compared against the rules you set, on this phone, and then thrown away: not saved, not recorded, not sent anywhere.
One exception, named
Screen-time figures, your rules and your last position stay in the app's own storage on the device. The single thing that leaves is a website name, and only if you switch on network-level blocking: names you haven't blocked go to the DNS server your own network already provides — never to us, and nothing is kept.
Consent before capability: the three sensitive permissions — the accessibility service, notification access and network-level blocking — each get a plain-language disclosure screen inside the app before Android ever asks, with equal-weight Agree and No thanks buttons. Decline any of them and the rest of the app keeps working.
Read the full privacy policyWhat is read, what stays on your phone, what leaves itEvery permission, why it's there, and what you lose by saying no
No permission is requested "just in case". This is the complete list, including the ones Android grants silently — and for each optional one, exactly what declining costs you.
| Permission | What it is used for | If you decline |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility service OptionalBIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE | Notices the moment a blocked app, website or feed opens so the block screen can appear instantly. Reads the foreground app's name, and — only while a web or feed rule is on — the browser address and the names of on-screen parts. | App blocking still works through usage access, slightly less instantly. Website and feed blocking need this, unless you switch on network-level blocking for sites. |
| Usage access RecommendedPACKAGE_USAGE_STATS | Real screen-time statistics, the wellbeing score, daily usage limits, and the fallback blocking path when the accessibility service is declined. | No statistics, no score and no daily limits. Blocking then depends entirely on the accessibility service. |
| Network-level site blocking OptionalBIND_VPN_SERVICE | Blocks a site in every app rather than only in browsers, by answering website-name lookups on the device. Off unless you switch it on. See the section above for exactly what it sees. | Nothing else changes. Sites are still blocked in browsers the app can read. |
| Notification access OptionalBIND_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SERVICE | Powers Silence only: holds back notifications from apps that are currently blocked. It checks which app sent each notification — titles and text are not read, stored or sent. | Silence does nothing; every notification behaves exactly as it does now. Everything else works. |
| Display over other apps OptionalSYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW | Draws the block card instantly on top of the blocked app, and shows the mindful-nudge cards. | The block screen opens as a normal full screen instead — a fraction slower, and nudges can't appear. |
| Do Not Disturb access OptionalACCESS_NOTIFICATION_POLICY | Lets a Deep focus session mute the whole phone for its length, then hand your settings back. | Deep focus runs normally without muting the phone. |
| Location OptionalACCESS_FINE_LOCATION · ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION | Place rules, and reading the connected Wi-Fi name (which Android gates behind location). There is no all-the-time background-location request: position is read only inside the app's own foreground service, and the last fix is kept on the device. | Place and Wi-Fi rules can't run. Every other kind of rule is unaffected. |
| Nearby Wi-Fi devices OptionalNEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES · Android 13+ | Wi-Fi rules: compares the connected network's name against your rules. Declared as never used for location. | Wi-Fi rules can't run on Android 13 and newer. |
| Notifications OptionalPOST_NOTIFICATIONS | The Deep-focus countdown, the ongoing "blocking is on" row, and a warning if a permission blocking needs gets switched off. | Blocking still works, but silently — you lose the countdown and the warnings. |
| Run in the background Optionalbattery optimisation exemption | Asks the system not to pause the app, so blocking survives with the app closed on phones that stop background work aggressively. Opened as a system list — the app requests no special permission for it. | Blocking may be paused by the system while the app is closed, and resumes when you open it. |
| Device authentication Optionalsystem biometric prompt | App lock: your fingerprint, face or device PIN stands in front of your own settings. It is the system's dialog, and the app never sees the biometric. | App lock stays off and settings open normally. |
| Foreground service RequiredFOREGROUND_SERVICE · _SPECIAL_USE · _LOCATION | Keeps the blocker and the Deep-focus countdown alive with the app closed. The location type exists so place rules can run inside that same service instead of needing background location. | Granted at install; not a prompt. It is why you see an ongoing notification while blocking is on. |
| Network and Wi-Fi state RequiredACCESS_NETWORK_STATE · ACCESS_WIFI_STATE | Reads which network you are on for Wi-Fi rules, and which DNS servers your network provides so network-level blocking can pass unblocked lookups to them. | Granted at install; not a prompt. Reads network identity only, never traffic. |
| Run at start-up RequiredRECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED | Restores your rules after a reboot or an app update, so a schedule that should be running comes straight back. | Granted at install; not a prompt. |
| The list of your apps Requiredqueries, not QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES | To show you the apps you can choose to block. The app deliberately does not request broad access to your installed-app list: it asks only for apps that have a launcher icon, plus browsers and mail apps so they can be categorised. | Not a prompt. An app with no launcher icon simply never appears in the list. |
Being built, and not pretending otherwise
These are named here because they are planned, not because they are ready. Nothing on this list is in the current version.
Support partner Coming soon
Invite someone you trust to hold the keys: a partner grants a small daily allowance of blocked-app time, so the person who set the rule isn't the only one who can bend it. In development, switched off in the current version, and it sends nothing until it ships.
More languages Coming soon
The app is English today. Translations are being prepared, along with Android 13's per-app language picker so you can set Digital Control's language separately from your phone's. Right-to-left layouts are already supported, so those languages will land properly rather than mirrored badly.
Terms of service Coming soon
A terms page is being written. Until it exists the app deliberately hides the empty link rather than showing one that goes nowhere. The privacy policy is live and covers how your data is handled.
Fair questions, straight answers
Is it really free? What's the catch?
Every feature in the current version is free, and there are no ads and no analytics. There is no catch to disclose — if that ever changes, it will be stated plainly on this page and in the app first.
Couldn't I just uninstall it when I'm tempted?
Yes — and the app is honest about that. App lock puts your fingerprint or device PIN in front of the settings so switching rules off takes more than two taps, but it is designed as a speed bump, not a prison. Digital Control works by making the impulsive path slower than the deliberate one, which is what actually changes habits.
Why does it want the accessibility permission?
The accessibility service is how the app notices, instantly, that a blocked app or website just opened. Before Android ever shows its permission screen, the app shows its own plain-language disclosure: why it's needed, what is read, what happens to it (compared against your rules, then thrown away), and what declining costs. If you decline, app blocking still works through usage access — slightly less instant, still effective.
Why does a blocker need a VPN? Is my traffic going somewhere?
No. Android offers exactly one way for an app to see website-name lookups, and it is the VPN interface — so switching on network-level blocking makes the system show a VPN dialog. What it creates is a connection that exists only on your phone. There is no server of ours at the other end, because there is no other end.
It sees the names of sites your phone looks up and nothing else — not pages, not content, not anything you type. A name you've blocked is refused on the device and never leaves it. A name you haven't blocked is handed to the same DNS server your own network already gave you, exactly as it would have been without the app. Nothing is stored, and nothing is sent to us. The feature is off until you turn it on, and Android only allows one VPN at a time, so it will disconnect another one you're using.
Does website blocking work in every browser?
The browser layer works by reading the address bar, and it knows a long list of browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Samsung Internet, Edge, Opera, Brave and many more. What it can't see is a web page opened inside another app, or a browser built into a game. That's exactly the gap network-level blocking closes, because it works below the app entirely. One caveat, stated plainly: a browser configured to use its own encrypted DNS can resolve names somewhere neither layer can see.
Will it block my phone calls or emergency access?
No. The phone app, calls and system settings always stay reachable — even under "Block all". Blocking is aimed at the apps you asked it to watch, never at the phone being a phone.
Do location and Wi-Fi rules drain my battery?
Wi-Fi rules cost essentially nothing — they only compare the connected network's name when it changes. Place rules read your position on a gentle cadence inside the app's foreground service, with no "all the time" background-location permission requested. And if the position is unknown or stale, the app blocks nothing rather than guessing.
What about network-level blocking and battery?
Only website-name lookups are routed into it — no other traffic of any kind — so it wakes up for a handful of tiny messages rather than sitting in the path of everything your phone does. It has no server to talk to and no connection to keep alive.
What data do you collect about me?
The app ships with no advertising SDK and no analytics SDK, and needs no account. Screen-time figures are read from Android's own usage statistics and stay on the phone; what the accessibility service sees is compared against your rules on-device and then discarded; your last location fix is kept only in the app's own local storage. The one thing that leaves the device is a website name, only while network-level blocking is on, and only to your own network's DNS server. Full detail in the privacy policy.
Is the app available in my language?
Not yet — the current version is English only. Translations and Android 13's per-app language picker are in preparation, and right-to-left layouts are already supported so those languages will read correctly when they arrive.
Does blocking survive a phone restart?
Yes. Your rules are restored automatically after a reboot or an app update — a schedule that should be running comes straight back. On some manufacturers' phones the system can still pause background apps; the setup checklist points you at the setting that prevents it.