Free iPhone app · iOS 16.4+

Your thumb opened Instagram. You didn't.

Beat is a metronome that steps in for ten seconds before the app you picked. One breath in, one breath out, then you decide. Most of the time you walk away.

Download on theApp Store Free. No account.
No ads. No tracking.

The app has 8 colours Cobalt

10second pause
drag the weight

Try it

Go on. Open Instagram.

This is what Beat does on your iPhone, minus the real Instagram. Tap the app, wait out the count, and see what you do when the choice is yours. The length is whatever the weight on the metronome says.

0urges let go on this page

↳ tap the Instagram tile in the phone

9:41

Tuesday

PSMC

Instagram09:41

Breathe.Instagram can wait.

Instagram09:41

Still want Instagram?

That was 10 seconds.

Open for5 minutes

Urge let go.

Instagram stays closed. Your thumb did what thumbs do, and you didn't follow.

Instagram isn't installed on this website.

Nice try, though. You waited the whole count and still went in, and that's allowed. Beat only asks. It never blocks.

The real app

Five screens. That's about it.

The pause screen: a swinging metronome, a countdown and a button to open Kindle instead — 01The pauseSwings right to breathe in, left to breathe out.

The choice screen: Still want Instagram? with options Not now and Open Instagram — 02The choiceClose it, or allow it for a few minutes.

The Today screen: 5 of 7 urges let go and a list of guarded apps — 03TodayA quiet count of the times you walked away.

Guard settings for Instagram with a draggable metronome weight that sets the pause length from 5 to 30 seconds — 04Per appDrag the weight. 5 to 30 seconds.

The Shortcut tab, a six step guide to creating the Shortcuts automation — 05Set up onceA built-in guide walks you through the automation.

What's inside

Small app. Strong opinions.

5–30s

You set the pause

Drag the weight on the metronome. Longer for the apps that eat your evening.

Open Kindle instead

Offer a better app, or a call to someone you pick, before the guarded one.

24h

Strict windows

Work, study, bedtime. There's an emergency pass, and loosening a window only counts after 24 hours.

Accounts, ads, trackers

Your guarded apps, counts and settings live on your iPhone and nowhere else. Contacts are only read when you pick someone to call.

Colours, light and dark

Eight app icons and a colour you can tune yourself. Try them at the top of this page.

19 seconds

Beat, at 128 BPM.

How it works

One minute of setup. Per app.

Pick what to guard

Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, whatever steals your evening.

Add the Shortcut

iOS only lets an app step in through Shortcuts. "When Instagram is opened, open Beat". The app shows you each tap.

Take a beat

Next time you open it, Beat takes over: swing, count, choice. That's the whole product.

Beat needs the Shortcuts app that comes with iOS and doesn't block apps by force. It asks. You answer.

Support

If something is off.

An app opens with no pause

Check that the automation says "Is Opened" and "Run Immediately", and that the Guard App action is set to the same app.

iOS asks me every time

Switch the automation to Run Immediately and choose Always Allow when iOS asks to open Beat.

An app is not in the Shortcuts list

Add it in Beat first, then open Beat once.

Where does my data live?

On your iPhone. No account, no ads, no analytics. Read the short privacy policy.

Something else, or a bug

Write to developer@antoni.work. A real person answers.