Lock Instagram, TikTok or any app until you've read

You meant to check one thing first.

Open TikTok before you've read and you get this instead. Two buttons, and the easy one goes to your book.

Open Kindle. Tap it and a notification takes you into Kindle. Tell Tonic once which app you read in, and the button names it.

Please let me in. The way past, if you want one: 15 taps by default, then about 15 minutes in TikTok before the lock is back. Or pick "Make it impossible", and nothing opens until you've read.

Pages before feeds

Open Kindle

Please let me in

Nothing to log

You never open Tonic to unlock.

Keep reading in Kindle. Tonic reads the minutes Screen Time already records for the reading app you choose and opens your other apps on its own.

No timers, no check-ins. Open Kindle and read. The minutes count on their own, with nothing to start.

Unlocks from the background. At minute twenty, one notification, and Instagram is open when you look up.

Any reading app you pick. Kindle, Apple Books, or the one you already read in. Nothing new to install.

Works with the reading apps on your phone, including

and any reading app you pick

Tonic

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

What are you reading on?

The Kindle app, Apple Books, any reading appCounts

Minutes with the app on screen. Two apps add up: ten minutes in each is twenty.

Your iPadCounts

With Screen Time's Share Across Devices on, those minutes count on your phone too.

A Kindle e-readerDoesn't count

It's a separate device, so Tonic can't see it.

An audiobookDoesn't count

The screen is off, so there's nothing to count.

A paperbackOn your honor

Tonic can't see paper. Add reading as a habit you check off yourself.

Every night, or one long Sunday.

Hit your daily goal

Read first

Until tonight's twenty minutes are in, the scroll apps stay locked. Read, and they open on their own for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, the same deal.

20 min → Apps open all day

Build a balance

Earn & spend

Minutes read become minutes of scroll, at a rate you choose, from three for one to one for three. Spend them tonight or let them roll over. A long Sunday read can pay for a week of quick checks.

30 min read → 30 min banked

Readers set up things like this.

After 8 PM, TikTok waits for the book
All day it opens like normal. A morning read still counts toward tonight.
Read first, then thirty minutes of Instagram
When the budget is gone, it locks until tomorrow.
🚶
Read or walk, whichever the day allows
Rainy evening, the book. Nice out, 6,000 steps.
Mix the rules: Instagram waits for the book, YouTube stops at thirty
One needs your reading. The other gets 30 minutes a day, no book required.

"Two weeks in and this actually works. … My phone usage has dropped, and I've been swapping that time for reading and meditating instead." App Store review, July 2026

Quick answers

Does it work with the Kindle app?

Yes. Pick the Kindle app as your reading app and the minutes you spend in it count. Apple Books works the same way, and so does any reading app on your phone: you choose which one earns.

Does reading on my iPad count?

Yes, when Screen Time's Share Across Devices is on for your Apple ID. iOS pools app minutes across your devices, so twenty minutes on the iPad unlocks the phone.

What about a Kindle e-reader, audiobooks, or a paperback?

A Kindle e-reader is a separate device, so it is invisible to Tonic. Audiobooks play with the screen off, so they do not earn. For a paperback, add reading as a habit you check off yourself.

Do I have to open Tonic to unlock my apps?

No. When your minutes are in you get one notification, "Reading done. Instagram is unlocked.", and the apps open whether Tonic was open or not. Very rarely iOS is late; opening Tonic or tapping that notification unlocks them right away.

Does it count pages?

No, minutes. Tonic sees how long the reading app was on screen, not what was on it. Menus count, and so does re-reading a paragraph.

What does it cost?

Free to start: lock two apps and earn from one reading 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 → · Apps still locked after you earned?

Checked against the app on November 1, 2026.

Start with two apps and tonight's chapter.

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 Amazon, Apple or Blinkist.

Other ways to earn: finish your Duolingo lesson first · any productive app · all of them

Ways to earn

By habit

Help

How much

When and where