Tonic: go outside before you scroll

The work-from-home trap

Bed to desk to fridge, and the day's already gone.

The commute used to put you in daylight twice a day whether you planned it or not. Take it away and it's suddenly 4pm, the light's gone flat, and the only walking you did was to the kitchen. The phone makes it worse: you tell yourself you'll step out at lunch, open Instagram for a second, and lunch is over and you're still inside.

How it works

Make the walk
the price of the feed.

The setup

Keep Instagram and TikTok locked until you've gotten outside. Two ways, and they're genuinely different. If a step count is enough, every iPhone counts your steps on its own, so a real walk around the block opens your apps. If you want it to be actual daylight and not laps of the hallway, that reads sunlight off an Apple Watch. No watch, use steps. Watch on your wrist, you can make it real sun on your face before the scroll.

🚶 3,000 steps → Apps open

☀️ 20 min sun → Apps open

A boundary, not a hack

This isn't a productivity nag. It's a boundary you set on yourself, to do the thing the old commute used to make you do. The phone just refuses to hand you the feed until you've been outside. And because it reads steps from your iPhone and sunlight from your watch on their own, there's nothing to start and nothing to log. You walk, it notices, the apps open.

Steps

Counted by your iPhone. No Apple Watch needed.

Sunlight

Measured by an Apple Watch, so it's real daylight, not a bright room.

People set it up like this.

Keep Instagram and TikTok locked until I've walked 3,000 steps.
Don't let me into social media until my watch registers 20 minutes of sunlight.
Make the feed pause longer each time I reach for it before I've been outside.
No scroll in the morning until I've gone for a walk, then bank steps for the afternoon.
Redirect me to a walking playlist when I reach for Instagram at my desk.

Quick answers

Do I need an Apple Watch?

Not for steps. Every iPhone counts your steps on its own, so you can gate your apps behind a step count with no watch. Sunlight is the one that needs a watch, because the phone in your pocket can't tell daylight from a bright room.

Is this just for remote workers?

No, but it fits them especially well, because working from home removes the commute that used to force you outside. Anyone who wants a daily push out the door can use it.

Is this a parental control?

No. Tonic is for adults setting rules for themselves. There's no parent, no admin, and no rule you can't change.

What does it cost?

Free to start: gate two apps behind one habit, for as long as you like. Tonic Unlimited covers your whole phone for $29.99 a year or $9.99 a month, with the first 7 days free.

Start with one app and one walk.

Pick the app that keeps you at the deskInstagram, TikTok, the one you open instead of standing up.

Set a step count or some daylight3,000 steps on your phone, or 20 minutes of sun on your watch.

The feed becomes your reason to go outWalk, the apps open. Stay in, they stay shut. That's the whole trick.

Get Tonic free Free to start · no account needed

Bed to desk to fridge, and the day's already gone.

Make the walkthe price of the feed.

People set it up like this.

Quick answers

Start with one app and one walk.

Make the walk
the price of the feed.