While an app is locked, iOS holds its notifications too, so texts and DMs from it go quiet until you unlock it. This is how Screen Time works on every iPhone, not a Tonic setting, and there is no way to separate the two. They flow again once the app unlocks.
Why the notifications go quiet
When Tonic locks an app, iOS treats it the way it treats any app held by Screen Time: it pauses that app's notifications too. So while an app is locked, its texts, DMs, and alerts stay quiet instead of buzzing your phone. The moment you unlock the app, by earning time or by opening it within a limit, its notifications flow again and new ones start arriving live.
There is no setting, in Tonic or in any app like it, that keeps an app locked while still letting its notifications through. iOS ties the two together, and there is no way to separate them.
What you will and will not see
| While the app is | What happens to its notifications |
|---|---|
| Locked by Tonic | Held quietly by iOS. No banners, no badges, no sounds. |
| Unlocked (you earned it, or it is open within a limit) | Notifications flow again, and new ones arrive live. |
| Locked again later | Notifications go quiet again until the next unlock. |
Calls and texts are their own apps. Locking, say, Instagram does not touch your Phone or Messages app, so anything you have not chosen to lock keeps notifying you normally.
There is no workaround for this one.
This is standard iOS Screen Time behavior, not something Tonic can toggle off. The upside is that many people come to like it: a locked app that also stays quiet is what makes the focus real. No pings pulling you back is part of earning a calmer phone.
If you do not want an app to go quiet
The choice is yours per app. If there is an app whose notifications you never want held, the simplest answer is to not include it in a ritual or limit. Tonic only holds notifications for the apps you choose to lock.
- Decide which apps truly need to stay loud.Most people keep messaging and calls out of Tonic and only lock the apps they tend to lose time in.
- Remove that app from the ritual or limit.Open the ritual or limit, edit its apps, and take that one out. Once it is no longer locked, its notifications behave normally again.
If you want a quick window to check an app and respond, earning your time or opening it within a limit unlocks it, and its notifications flow again then.
Still stuck? Email [email protected].
Related: How does Tonic work? Earning your way into the apps you choose · Why are my apps still locked after I hit my goal? · How do I add or remove apps from a ritual or limit I already created?