The idea in one paragraph
Every limit-based tool treats screen time as the default and your goals as the interruption. Earned screen time reverses that. Your distracting apps start the day locked. You do a real habit: read, train, study, clean. The habit unlocks minutes. Scroll them guilt-free, and when they're gone, the wall comes back until the next habit. The apps you crave stop competing with your day and start paying for it.
Why this beats rationing
A daily limit answers the wrong question. "How much scrolling is too much?" invites negotiation, and you always win negotiations against yourself. Earned time answers a better question: "what has to be true before the feed opens?" That's not a negotiation, it's a checklist. It also fixes the guilt problem: scrolling you earned feels like a break, not a relapse.
There's a name for the pattern this borrows: reward substitution. Put the payoff you want today (the scroll) behind the behaviour that pays off in a year (the habit), and the habit inherits the craving. Casinos use the trick against you. This points it the other way.
How it works in Broc
Block the apps that pull you in
Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, games. Opening one shows the wall: your habits and what each earns.
Set habits with a price
Read 10 pages: +15 minutes. Work out: +30. You set the rates. Custom durations let you make the gym worth more than making the bed.
Prove it happened
AI photo verification checks a photo of the finished habit. Timer verification counts the minutes while you stay in the app. Ticking a box from bed doesn't work here.
Spend the minutes, or bank the day
Per-habit mode opens a timed window after each habit. All-habits-first keeps everything locked until the day's list is cleared, then the evening is yours.
Apps that use the earn mechanic
The idea is catching on, with different definitions of "earning":
- Broc (Android): earn time by completing verified daily habits. The habit itself is the currency.
- Unrot habit app (iPhone): a coin-based version of the mechanic. Habits earn coins through timers or photo checks, and coins unlock your apps. Its official site currently links only to the App Store. A separate Android product that used the name is now branded Untap.
- Forest and other gamified blockers: "earn" virtual trees or points for staying off the phone. The stake is imaginary, which is exactly why it stops working once the novelty fades.
- ScreenZen / one sec: not earning at all. They add pauses and prompts before the app opens. Better than nothing; still a delay you can outlast.
Honest comparison of all of them in the app blocker comparison.
Common questions
What counts as a habit?
Anything concrete and finishable: pages read, a workout, a meditation, a study block, dishes done, the dog walked. "Be more productive" is not a habit. "20 flashcards" is.
What stops me lying?
Verification. The photo check wants to see the open book or the gym before the habit counts. The timer pauses the moment you leave the app. And the streak makes honesty cheaper than the shortcut, day after day.
What does Broc cost?
Broc is a subscription with a 7-day free trial. One plan, everything in: unlimited habits, custom unlock durations, AI photo verification and full history. No ads.
iPhone?
Android only for now. Leave your email on the homepage and you'll hear when iOS lands.
Stop rationing the scroll. Start earning it.
Get Broc on Google Play