Why limits get ignored and unlocks do not
A limit arrives at the worst possible moment. You are already in the feed, already comfortable, and a box appears asking whether you would like to stop. You would not. You tap the box away. Nobody has ever thanked a dialog for interrupting them.
An unlock arrives before any of that. The app is shut when you reach for it, which means the decision happens while you are still capable of making it, not fifteen minutes into a scroll. That is the whole difference, and it is a difference in timing rather than willpower.
This also explains the odd thing people report after switching: they open their phone less without feeling restricted. Nothing is being taken away. It simply was not handed over yet.
How the unlock actually works
You choose which apps are the problem. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whichever one you already know the answer to. Those go on the blocked list, and Broc shows your habit list instead of the feed when you open one early.
Then you attach habits, and minutes to each one. Read for twenty minutes, earn fifteen. Train, earn thirty. The numbers are yours. When a habit is done, the minutes land and the apps open.
Two unlock modes exist because two kinds of people exist. Per-habit gives you a chunk of time for each habit as you finish it. All-habits-first keeps everything shut until the whole list is done, which is stricter and better if you negotiate with yourself.
What stops you just lying about it
Honest answer: not much, if you are determined. Broc offers a timer that has to genuinely run, and an AI photo check that looks at what you point the camera at. Both are tripwires for the half-second of self-deception, not vaults. Anyone committed to cheating a habit tracker will cheat a habit tracker.
What they do is remove the easy lie. Tapping a box takes no effort, so people tap it. Sitting through twenty minutes, or pointing a camera at the thing you said you would do, costs enough that the lie stops being free. That turns out to be sufficient most days.
Where an unlock app is the wrong tool
If your problem is one specific app at one specific moment, a pause app like one sec is lighter and might be enough. If you want to see where the hours went before changing anything, the measurement in Digital Wellbeing is free and already installed. The comparison with screen time limits goes through when each one fits.
Unlock apps suit people who already know which app is the problem, already tried limits, and already watched themselves dismiss them. If that is not you yet, start cheaper.
Setting it up
Five minutes, once. Install, pick the apps to lock, add one habit you would do anyway, and set the minutes it is worth. Broc needs Usage Access to notice which app is open and Display Over Apps to show the habit list instead of the feed. Both are Android permissions you grant during setup, and the full tour covers exactly what each one does.
Start with one habit and one app. People who block eleven apps on day one turn the whole thing off by Thursday. One habit that actually happens beats a system you resent.
Locked by default. The minutes are yours when the habit is done.
Get Broc on Google Play