Tonic is how you earn your screen time. It locks the apps you choose until you earn your way back in: spend time in a productive app like Kindle or Duolingo, or do a healthy activity it reads from Apple Health, like a workout, meditation, steps, or time in daylight. You can also set your own limits.
The idea in one line
Most screen time apps only put up a wall. Tonic works a little differently: it locks the apps you pick, then lets you earn your way in by doing something you already want to do. Read, learn, move, get outside, and the apps unlock. For an app that does not need a habit attached, you set a limit instead. You decide which apps are locked and what unlocking takes.
How earning works
You choose which apps to lock (say Instagram or TikTok), and what earns them back. There are two ways to earn:
- Time in a productive app. Spend time in an app like Kindle, Duolingo, or a study app, and that time counts toward unlocking. Read for a while, and your locked apps open.
- A healthy activity tracked by Apple Health. Finish a workout, complete a meditation, hit a step goal, or spend time in daylight, and Tonic unlocks your apps once Apple Health records it. You do not log anything by hand. Tonic reads what your phone and watch already track.
You set the goal, like twenty minutes of reading or a finished workout. Once you reach it, the locked apps open. Tonic tracks the things that would be too tedious to log yourself, so the habit does the unlocking.
How limits work
Some apps do not need a habit attached. They need a boundary. For those, you set a limit instead of an earn goal: cap how long you can stay, or add a pause before you open the app. You choose how firm it is, from a gentle nudge to a strict wall, with no productive app required.
You choose what "locked" looks like
Locking does not have to mean a hard stop. For each app, you pick the feeling:
| Style | What happens when you open the app |
|---|---|
| A gentle nudge | A pause that points you toward the thing you meant to do. You can still get through. |
| A pause that grows | A moment of pause that gets a little harder the more you reach for the app that day. |
| A firm wall | The app stays locked until you have earned it. No tapping through. |
You can mix these across apps. Reading can unlock one app while another has a daily cap. Every morning the slate resets, and you earn fresh.
Getting started in a minute
- Pick the apps to lock.Choose the entertainment apps you want to put behind a habit or a limit.
- Choose how to earn them, or set a limit.Attach a habit (reading, a workout, meditation, steps, daylight) or, for apps that need a boundary, set a time limit or a pause.
- Grant Screen Time access.Tonic needs Screen Time permission to lock and unlock apps for you. If you earn with a health activity, it also asks for Apple Health access.
- Do the thing.Read, move, or wait out your limit. Your apps open once you have earned them.
A few honest things to know
Some health activities need the right setup.
Meditation counts only when it comes from a meditation app that shares to Apple Health, because most meditation happens with the screen off and Screen Time cannot see it. Time in daylight is measured by an Apple Watch only. Steps and most workouts count from your iPhone or any fitness app that saves to Apple Health, with no watch needed.
While an app is locked, its notifications are held too.
That is iOS, and it is by design: while Tonic is holding an app, the iPhone holds that app's notifications until you have earned it. There is no setting that separates the two. Your notifications flow again the moment the app unlocks.
Tonic is for you, by your own choice. It is not a parental control, and it is not meant to lock anyone else out. You set the rules, and you can change or pause them any time.
Still stuck? Email [email protected].
Related: Will I miss notifications from apps Tonic locks? · I granted Apple Health access but my workouts, meditation, or steps still aren't counting · Does Tonic count steps from a Garmin, Fitbit, or other tracker?