ScreenFine is on the App Store. Here is what it actually does.

It is live. ScreenFine is on the App Store for iPhone, and if you have spent years promising yourself you would cut down and then watched the night disappear into a feed, this is the one that does not let you off the hook.

Here is the whole idea in one line: you set a daily limit, and when you cross it, the apps you chose lock. Not a popup you swipe away. The phone itself stops opening them.

It is a real block, not a reminder

Most screen-time apps show you a number and a gentle nudge. You have seen the nudge. You have tapped "Ignore Limit" so many times the button has muscle memory. ScreenFine uses Apple's Family Controls, the same system-level framework behind parental controls, to actually deny the launch. Instagram does not open. TikTok does not open. The feed is closed until you do something about it.

Phone, Messages, FaceTime, and Maps always work. You will not get stranded. The block is aimed at the apps that own you, not the ones you need.

You earn the unlock with your body, not a tap

When you are locked out, you do not pay to get back in and you do not wait out a timer. You earn it. Pick your redemption during setup:

• 25 camera-counted pushups
• 25 camera-counted squats
• 1,000 verified steps via HealthKit
• 10 mindful minutes, timed in-app
• any Apple Watch workout

The camera counts real reps with the TrueDepth sensor, so half-reps on the couch do not pass. Steps verify through HealthKit. Do the work, the lock lifts. That is the entire deal.

Going over never costs you money

This is the part people brace for, so let us be blunt. The "fines" are behavioural, not financial. When you go over, you owe pushups or steps, never dollars. Nothing is charged to your card for crossing your limit. The only money that ever changes hands is the flat $1 a week to use the app, and the first 7 days are free.

Why charge anything at all? Because free habit apps do not change behaviour. You delete them in a week. A dollar a week is small enough to forget and just real enough to make you take the limit seriously. Cancel anytime, no lock-in.

There is a villain, and the villain has opinions

Every time you go over, an AI character roasts you in the voice you picked. The Banker counts your wasted time as lost capital. The Reaper counts down your hours. The Coach is loud and disgusted. The Ex is passive-aggressive and never lets it go. It is funnier than it has any right to be, and it works, because a number on a chart never made anyone close an app and a roast just might.

If you are brave, your slips can post to the Wall of Shame, a feed of people losing the same fight you are. It is opt-in and private by default. Nothing goes public unless you turn it on.

Get it

ScreenFine is on the App Store now. iPhone only, iOS 16 or later. Set your limit, pick your enforcer, and find out how badly you would get roasted. The first week is free.

Download ScreenFine on the App Store