Tonic for runners

Lock Instagram
until you've run.

Your running app tracks the miles. Tonic helps you keep the streak: your doomscrolling apps stay locked until today's run lands in Apple Health. Finish the run and they open on their own. Skip it, and they stay locked.

Strava
Today's run unlocks the feed
saved to Apple Health, any run app counts
14 of 20 min
then they open: TikTok Instagram
Nike Run Club
Or bank it for rest days
run minutes roll over into rest days
28 min banked
28 min run today

Where plans actually die

Nobody quits mid-run.
They quit between runs.

Most days it's easy to talk yourself out of the next run: one more scroll on the couch, then the plan quietly slides a week, and then it's a restart in January. Tonic points the phone the same direction as the plan.

Your rules

Two ways runners set it up.

The run always comes first. Once a day, or banked for rest days: your call.

Apps all day after the run

Run first

Until today's run is saved, your scroll apps stay locked. Instagram, TikTok, whatever pulls you to the couch. Run, and they open on their own for the rest of the day.

Strava A run → Apps all day

Bank minutes for rest days

Earn & spend

Run minutes become scroll minutes, and the balance rolls over. A 28-minute run pays for tonight's scroll, and a good week carries you through the rest days.

🏃 28 min run → 28 min banked

How locked is "locked"? You pick.

A pauseA count of taps before it opens, and about 15 minutes inside if you push through. Then the lock is back.
A pause that growsMore taps each time you reach for it that day.
Full lockNo way in until the run is saved.

Nothing to log

You never open Tonic to unlock.

Finish the run in the app you already use. Apple Health has it a moment later, and Tonic lifts the lock from the background.

No check-ins, no proof photos. Nothing to start and nothing to log. Your run app already saved it.
Unlocks from the background. Usually within a minute of the save. One notification, and the app is open when you reach for it.
Any app that saves to Apple Health. Strava, Nike Run Club, Garmin, C25K, the Apple Watch. Nothing new to install.

Works with the app you run with, including

Strava Nike Run Club Runna Garmin Connect C25K Apple Fitness

and any other app that saves to Apple Health

Apple Health Apple Health
Workout done. Instagram is unlocked. You earned it. now

One-time setup: turn on the Apple Health connection in whatever records your runs. An Apple Watch does it out of the box.

Runners set up things like this.

Quick answers

Which running app does this work with?

Almost all of them. Tonic never talks to your running app directly. It watches Apple Health, so the run just has to land there: record it on an Apple Watch, run with an app that saves to Apple Health (Strava and Nike Run Club both do), or if you follow a program like Couch to 5K, turn on that app's own Apple Health connection if it has one.

Do I need an Apple Watch?

No. A watch is the easiest way to get a run into Apple Health, but any run app that writes workouts to Apple Health works without one.

Does Tonic see my pace or route?

No. Tonic only sees that a workout finished and landed in Apple Health. Your pace, route, and splits stay inside your running app.

What about rest days?

Two good options. Let run minutes roll over as scroll time, so a run day covers the rest day after it. Or earn with steps instead: a run clears it easily, and on rest days an easy walk does.

What does it cost?

Free to start: lock two apps and earn with one habit, 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.

More questions answered at Support →

Start with two apps and this week's runs.

1
Pick the apps that talk you out of itInstagram, TikTok, the one that eats the hour you meant to run in.
2
Pick the dealFull lock until the run is saved, banked minutes that roll over, or a pause that grows.
3
Run the plan, not the feedThe runs happen, and the apps are simply open when you get back. See you out there.
Get Tonic free Free to start · no account needed

Tonic is an independent companion and isn't affiliated with any running app or training program.

Other ways to earn: lock Instagram until you've read · any productive app · all of them