Earn with a language app

Lock TikTok
until you've done
your Duolingo.

Tonic keeps doomscrolling locked until you've put your minutes into Duolingo, or Babbel, Pimsleur, Busuu, any language app you choose. It counts the minutes the app is on screen and unlocks your apps on its own.

Duolingo
Practice 15 min in Duolingo
counted while the lesson is on screen
9 of 15 min
then they open: TikTok Instagram
Babbel
Or bank it for later
minutes of practice become minutes of scroll
18 min banked
18 min practiced today

One lesson for the streak, then TikTok.

You do the one-minute lesson that keeps the flame alive and call it Spanish. Tonic counts minutes, so that lesson opens nothing. TikTok waits for however many minutes you call real practice.

Duolingo
The one-minute lesson
your streak is safe
1 of 15 min
still locked: TikTok Instagram
Duolingo
Fifteen minutes of practice
counted while the lesson is on screen
15 of 15 min
now they open: TikTok Instagram

Tonic sees the minutes Duolingo is on screen and nothing inside them: no lessons, no XP, no streak.

Practice daily, or practice ahead.

Hit your daily goal

Practice first

Until today's fifteen minutes are in, the scroll apps stay locked. Practice, and they open on their own for the rest of the day. Tomorrow the lesson comes first again, streak freeze or not.

Duolingo 15 min → Apps open all day

Build a balance

Earn & spend

Minutes of practice become minutes of scroll, at a rate you choose, from three for one to one for three. Use them the same evening, or let the balance build so a long weekend session covers the days you only have time for the streak.

Babbel 20 min → 20 min banked

TikTok's lock has a button for your lesson.

"Open Duolingo" sends a notification that opens the app, so the lesson is the easy way forward. "Please let me in" is there for the day you need TikTok: 15 taps by default, about 15 minutes, then the lock again. Or pick "Make it impossible", and the practice is the only way in.

Lessons before scrolling

Open Duolingo
Please let me in

Nothing to log

You never open Tonic to unlock.

Keep learning in Duolingo. Nothing to log and nothing to wire up; your other apps open on their own.

No lesson to log. Finish the lesson in Duolingo. Screen Time already records the minutes, and Tonic reads them.
Unlocks from the background. When the fifteen minutes are in, TikTok opens by itself, whether Tonic was open or not.
Any language app you pick. Duolingo, Babbel, Pimsleur, Busuu, or the one you already learn in.

Works with the language apps on your phone, including

Duolingo Babbel Pimsleur Busuu LingQ Anki

and any language app you pick

Tonic Tonic
TikTok Lesson done. TikTok is unlocked. You earned it. now

One-time setup: pick the language app, pick the apps it unlocks. An app cannot be on both lists.

Learners set up things like this.

"The fact that I have to do 30 minutes gets me in the groove and I almost always end up doing even more. But my favorite thing is tonic makes me comfortable with how much control I have over getting into the locked apps." App Store review, July 2026

Quick answers

Does Tonic know when my lesson is done?

No. Tonic counts the minutes Duolingo is on screen, not lessons, XP or your streak, because Apple's design keeps what happens inside an app private. Pick a minute goal that matches a real session and change it whenever you like.

What about Babbel, Pimsleur or Busuu?

Any language app counts: you pick the one that earns. Minutes count while the app is on screen, so a Pimsleur lesson counts while you follow it on the phone and stops if you lock the screen and only listen.

I do Duolingo on my laptop.

Tonic lives on your iPhone and iPad and locks nothing on a Mac, so a laptop session has no lock to lift. If you study at a desk, keep a small daily goal on the phone for the days you never sit down.

Does it work on my iPad?

Yes. Tonic has an iPad app: a lesson there counts, and a lock there holds, on its own. With Screen Time's Share Across Devices on for your Apple ID, iOS pools app minutes, so a lesson on the iPad can unlock the phone.

Do I have to open Tonic when the lesson ends?

No. You get one notification, "Lesson done. TikTok is unlocked.", and TikTok is open whether Tonic was or not. Very rarely iOS runs late, and tapping that notification unlocks it right away.

What does it cost?

Free to start: lock two apps and earn from one language app, for as long as you like. Tonic Unlimited lifts the limits on apps and ways to earn, for $29.99 a year or $9.99 a month, with the first 7 days free.

How earning works, step by step → · Why Tonic asks you to name your apps

Checked against the app on November 1, 2026.

Start with two apps and tonight's lesson.

Get Tonic free
Free to start · no account needed · iPhone and iPad, iOS 17.4 or later

Tonic is an independent companion and isn't affiliated with Duolingo, Babbel, Pimsleur, Busuu, LingQ or Anki.

Other ways to earn: do your Anki reviews first · any productive app · all of them