Frequently Asked Questions

When you turn a rule on, TimeBack registers the block with iOS right away. The shield you see on a blocked app, though, is drawn by iOS itself — and iOS can take a few seconds (occasionally longer) to refresh it, especially right after several quick changes. If the shield hasn't appeared yet, the block is still already in place. Give it a moment; toggling the rule repeatedly can actually make iOS take longer.

When a break ends, the app locks again, and TimeBack waits for you to tap Continue instead of unlocking silently in the background. Part of this is a platform rule — the screen that shows the lock isn't allowed to complete an unlock on its own. And part of it is intentional: that one small tap is a moment to decide whether you really want to go back in.

A Daily Limit is a time budget: an app stays available until you've used up the minutes you allowed for today, then it locks. A Schedule is a time window: the apps it covers are locked during the hours you set (for example 22:00–08:00), no matter how little you've used them. They work independently, and one app can be covered by both.

1) Open TimeBack once — rules re-sync with the system every time the app comes to the foreground. 2) Make sure Screen Time permission is still granted (iOS Settings → Screen Time). 3) Open the rule and confirm it is enabled and still has apps selected. 4) For Schedules, double-check the time window and the repeat days. 5) Still stuck? Email us from Settings → Support — the message comes pre-filled with your app version, so we can help faster.

No. Your usage data stays on your device. TimeBack has no accounts and no analytics. Apple's Screen Time framework is also built so that TimeBack itself only works with anonymous app references — not a readable list of what you use.

Screen Time permission (Apple's Family Controls) is the only mechanism iOS offers that lets one app limit another. Everything TimeBack does — shields, minute counting, schedules — is built on it. Without the permission nothing can be blocked, and if it is revoked later, all rules stop until it is granted again.