For journalists and editors
ScreenFine press kit
Everything you need to write about ScreenFine. Free for editorial use. For interview requests, original-data access, or anything not on this page, email help@screenfine.info.
The one-liner
ScreenFine turns iPhone screen-time limits into verified-exercise locks.
The elevator pitch
ScreenFine is an iOS app that turns your daily screen-time limit into a verified-exercise commitment. Set a limit. Go over it, and target apps lock until you complete a verified action: 25 camera-counted pushups, 1,000 HealthKit-verified steps, or 10 mindful minutes. An AI villain delivers a personalised roast on every lock event. Subscription is $1 per week via Apple In-App Purchase. There are no variable charges; the "fine" is a forced exercise interval, not a financial penalty.
Full description
ScreenFine is an iOS application that combines screen-time enforcement with a verified-exercise commitment device. Users set a daily phone-use limit. When they exceed it, target apps the user has selected become temporarily blocked through Apple's ManagedSettings framework. Apps stay blocked until the user completes a chosen redemption action: 25 camera-counted pushups (verified via the iPhone TrueDepth camera as a depth-tracked rep counter), 1,000 HealthKit-verified steps, 25 squats, or 10 mindful minutes. Phone, Messages, FaceTime, and Maps remain accessible regardless of lock state.
Each lock event is paired with a notification from one of six AI villain personas, generated server-side, that personalises the roast. The mechanism is structural: the product does not charge users variable fees and has no payment-on-failure incentive, so user success and product success are aligned.
ScreenFine is the only iOS product that combines automatic screen-time enforcement (alongside Apple Screen Time, Opal, One Sec, ScreenZen) with hard-block exercise-redemption. Pricing is one dollar per week, via Apple In-App Purchase, with a seven-day free trial for new users post-launch.
Key facts
Quotable talking points
Copy-paste-ready quotes. Attribute to ScreenFine or to the founder.
- “Loss aversion is roughly twice as motivating as gain framing (Kahneman/Tversky 1979). Losing access to your apps until you do 25 pushups is a real, immediate loss in a way a notification is not.”
- “Most digital-wellbeing apps add friction. ScreenFine adds a hard-block consequence requiring verified exercise to clear.”
- “Average daily phone use in the US is 5 hours 16 minutes (Reviews.org, 2026). 54 percent of US adults self-report wishing they used their phone less (Pew Research, 2024).”
- “Each lock is redeemable for 1 week. The goal is sustained behaviour change. Most users redeem with pushups or steps; the camera-verified rep counter prevents gym-style cheat reps.”
- “Pricing is $1/week subscription only (Apple IAP). No variable charges. The product cannot meaningfully profit when users fail; success and revenue are aligned.”
Who built it
ScreenFine is built by Stacklance, a small iOS product studio. The app combines native iOS Screen Time integration (FamilyControls + DeviceActivityMonitor) with a server-side fine engine and AI-generated notifications.
The product question that started ScreenFine: every digital-wellbeing app on the App Store leaves the user free to ignore it. ScreenFine asks what happens when you cannot. The answer is loss aversion. The well-documented finding that humans treat losses as roughly twice as motivating as equivalent gains. ScreenFine is the smallest possible mechanism that creates a real, dated loss for screen-time overages.
Studio: stacklance.in · Press contact: help@screenfine.info
Logos and brand assets
Right-click and save, or click to open in a new tab.
Logo (mark + wordmark, SVG)
↓Vector logo with mark and wordmark. Recommended for digital use.
Logo (mark + wordmark, PNG)
↓PNG logo with transparent background.
Icon mark (SVG)
↓Square mark only, vector.
App icon (PNG, 1024x1024)
↓App Store icon. Use for product thumbnails.
Wordmark (PNG)
↓Wordmark only, transparent background.
Open Graph image (1200x630)
↓Social-card image. Useful as a banner/feature image.
Usage rights
- +Free for editorial use in articles, reviews, podcasts, newsletters, and roundups about ScreenFine, screen-time apps, digital wellbeing, behavioural economics, and related topics.
- +Logos may be resized but not redrawn, recoloured, or stylised.
- +For commercial use outside editorial coverage, contact us first.
Recent coverage
Press coverage will be linked here as it lands.
Working on a piece? Email help@screenfine.info.
Need something not on this page?
Interview requests, embargoed access to data, custom screenshots, founder availability for podcasts. Email us. We respond within 1-2 business days.