Lock Instagram, TikTok or any app until you've worked out

Tonight, at 6

The workout first. Instagram after.

One session, from the first reach for the phone to the saved workout.

6:05 PM

You reach for Instagram

The lock asks whether you have worked out. Tap it and Tonic checks Apple Health on the spot, so a lunchtime lift that already saved opens Instagram right there.

Movement before screens

Have you worked out?

Not yet

6:10 to 6:35 PM

You train

Start the session in Hevy, on the Watch, or in the app you already use. Tonic reads nothing until the workout saves to Apple Health, then it reads how long it lasted.

Work out 20 min today

saved to Apple Health from any app

0 of 20 min

counts when it saves

then they open: Instagram

6:36 PM

Instagram opens on its own

You end the session in Hevy and it saves. By the time you have changed, Instagram is usually open, with no tap in Tonic. On the rare day iOS is slow, tapping Tonic's notification opens it.

Your rules

Two ways to set it up.

A session a day, or a balance that builds through the week.

Apps all day after the workout

Workout first

Ask for a minute goal, like twenty, or for any finished workout, so ten minutes on a bad day still counts. Once it saves, Instagram and TikTok stay open until your reset time, 5 AM unless you move it, and the next day asks again.

A workout → Apps open all day

Bank minutes

Earn & spend

Each minute you train becomes scroll time at the rate you set, from three minutes per minute trained down to a third. Set the balance to roll over and it waits until you spend it, so Sunday's long ride still covers Monday; or have it clear every morning or every Monday.

45 min workout → 45 min banked

How locked is "locked"? You pick.

A pauseA short wait before it opens, and about 15 minutes inside if you push through. Then the lock is back.

A pause that growsThe wait gets longer each time you reach for it that day.

Full lockNo way in until the workout is saved.

What counts

A workout saved to Apple Health from any app: Strava, Nike Run Club, Peloton, Strong, Hevy, or the Watch's Workout app.
Short sessions, added together. A twelve and a ten make twenty-two.
With an Apple Watch, minutes at brisk-walk pace or harder count too, workout or not.
A session your app never saved to Health: log it from the rule and it counts right away.

What doesn't

Reps, sets, form or the camera. Tonic counts the minutes of a saved workout, not what happened in it.
Brisk minutes without an Apple Watch. They need Watch activity in Apple Health, so without one, set the rule to count workouts.
Yesterday's session. A new day starts at your reset time, 5 AM unless you move it.

Nothing to log

You never open Tonic to unlock.

The app you already use saves each workout to Apple Health, and Tonic reads it from there. A workout started on the Watch saves itself, with next to nothing to switch on.

No check-ins, no proof photos. Finish the workout in Hevy or on the Watch. Apple Health has it, and Tonic reads it there.

Unlocks from the background. Usually within a minute of the save, with nothing to tap in Tonic.

Any fitness app that saves to Apple Health. Strava, Peloton, Strong, Nike Run Club, the Watch's Workout app. Nothing new to install.

Reads workouts from

and any app that saves workouts to Apple Health

Apple Health

Once: turn on Apple Health sharing in the app you train with (tracker apps like Garmin and Fitbit keep it off until you do), then allow Workouts under Read for Tonic. Watch workouts are already in Health; they only need the Read switch.

Watch or no watch

Where the session comes from.

A workout counts from whichever app or watch saved it. Tonic reads the entry, never the device.

iPhone, no watch

Every workout you start in an app that shares with Apple Health counts in full, whatever the type. Only brisk minutes are missing, because they come from a Watch.

Apple Watch

A workout started on the wrist saves by itself. The Watch also notices brisk minutes, with no Start button. A phone-app workout still counts on a day the Watch stayed in the drawer.

Garmin

Garmin Connect can share with Apple Health once you turn it on (More, Settings, Connected Apps, Apple Health). The session shows up after the app syncs; if you are waiting on one, opening Garmin Connect usually does it within a minute or two.

Fitbit (now the Google Health app)

With sharing on, the Google Health app writes each session to Apple Health on its next sync, a change that came with its August 2026 update.

Whoop

If Whoop shares a workout to Apple Health, it counts here. If it does not, start the session in a phone app that saves to Health.

Oura

A sleep and readiness ring with limited workout sharing, so the surer route is a phone app that saves to Health.

iPad

An iPad has no Watch or iPhone of its own feeding it; sessions from yours arrive through iCloud once the Health app has been opened there.

Quick answers

Does it work with Strava, Hevy, Strong or Nike Run Club?

Yes, and with any app that saves workouts to Apple Health, the Apple Watch's own Workout app included. Make sure the app's Apple Health sharing is on and allow Tonic to read Workouts. Tonic never talks to the app itself; it reads the saved workout, so a session counts once you finish it and it saves.

Do I need an Apple Watch?

No. A workout saved from any app on your iPhone counts. An Apple Watch adds a second way to count: minutes at brisk-walk pace or harder, whether or not you pressed Start. Those brisk minutes need Apple Watch activity in Apple Health.

Do gentle, low-impact or physio workouts count?

Yes. A physio session or a slow yoga class counts by its minutes, the same as a hard one, once it saves to Apple Health. No reps are counted.

Does a walk or a yoga session count as a workout?

If you start it as a workout and it saves to Apple Health, yes, whatever the type. Started that way, a slow stretch counts by its full minutes.

What happens on rest days?

On a daily rule the apps stay locked until you train, so give rest days a way through. Bank the minutes with the balance set to roll over, and a long session covers the day after it. Or give the same rule a second way to earn, like 6,000 steps, so either one opens the apps.

Why didn't my workout unlock my apps?

Usually the session never saved: it was not ended in the app, or the app's Apple Health sharing is off. If you train with a tracker such as Garmin, opening its app usually pushes the latest session across within a minute or two. Then check that Tonic may read Workouts, in iPhone Settings, Health, Data Access & Devices, Tonic, under Read rather than Write.

Can I just cheat it?

Tapping the lock screen's question only checks Apple Health, so that is not a way in. Logging a session by hand is on the honour system: Tonic asks one factual question afterwards and applies no penalty either way. The lock is yours to set, so if you want it firm, choose Full lock and keep the logging honest.

Is it on Android?

No. Tonic runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17.4 or later.

What does it cost?

Free to start: lock two apps and earn from one source, workouts included, 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.

Workout not counting? The checks, in order → · Which watches and trackers work

Checked against the app on September 28, 2026.

Start with two apps and today's workout.

Pick the apps that win at 6 PMInstagram, TikTok, whatever you open instead of changing.

Pick the goalTwenty minutes, any finished workout, or a bank that grows a minute per minute trained.

Finish the sessionInstagram opens on its own once it saves.

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 Apple, Strava, Nike, Peloton, Hevy, Strong, Garmin, Google, Fitbit, Oura or Whoop.

Other ways to earn: today's steps · today's run · any productive app · all of them

Ways to earn

By habit

Help

Lock Instagram
until you've
worked out.

The workout loses to the phone in your hand at six.