A pause that grows

Make Instagram
harder to open
each time.

Tonic makes you pause before Instagram, TikTok or any app you pick opens, and the pause grows each time you come back that day: 10 taps, then 20, then 30. It's counted in taps you make yourself rather than seconds on a timer, and it goes back to 10 at your daily reset.

Instagram
InstagramMake it hard
A pause each time · no time caps

Taps to open it today

Try it. Ten taps to get in.

This lock counts like the real one. Each tap drains the bottle, and the button moves from Tap to enter to I'm sure to Yes, really. "Not worth it" takes you home at any point. Reach the end and the app opens, and the next time costs twenty.

Making the unconscious conscious Good things first

First time today: 10 taps.

"It's like a speed bump for those mindless moments when you're about to open the app you always open without thinking." App Store review, July 2026

It only grows when you go through with it.

Change your mind and the number stays put. Reply to a text and come straight back, and you're still in the same sitting.

You reach for itIt asks forYou
First time today10 tapsGo through
Next time20 taps"Not worth it"
Next time20 tapsGo through
Within about 3 minutes of leavingNo pauseBack in
Next time30 tapsYour call

Those are the numbers it starts with. You can set where it begins, from 5 to 100 taps, and how many it adds each time.

Three places to put it

On its own, after a limit, or before a habit.

The rule stays the same in all three, and each one starts from its own number.

After a daily limit · Between visits · Before a habit

Quick answers

Is there an app that makes me wait before opening Instagram, and the wait gets longer each time?

Yes. In Tonic, add a limit, choose "Start gentle", pick the apps and set it to "Make it hard": 10 taps the first time, then 10 more each time you come back that day. Apple's pages show no growing delay in Screen Time.

Is the pause a timer?

No, it's taps. If you want a clock as well, a limit with a visit length can add a wait between visits: 5 to 60 minutes from the end of a visit, with no way through until it's over.

How high does it go?

There's no ceiling. The tenth time in a day is 100 taps. It goes back to 10 at your daily reset, 5:00 AM unless you move it.

Does opening it again right away cost more taps?

Not if you're back within about 3 minutes of leaving. That counts as the same sitting, so there's no pause at all.

Can I still get in if I really need to?

Yes. Every pause ends if you keep tapping. If you want no way through, that's a different setting: Cut me off once a limit runs out, or Make it impossible on a rule you earn.

What does it cost?

Free to start: limits are included in full, with two locked apps across everything you set up. 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.

Why an app locks again: pauses and waits → · How to remove Tonic

Checked against the app on November 1, 2026.

Start with one app and ten taps.

Get Tonic free
Free to start · limits included · no account needed · iPhone and iPad, iOS 17.4 or later

Tonic is an independent companion and isn't affiliated with Apple, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, X or Headspace.

More limits: all of them · minutes a day · minutes per visit · opens per day · how Tonic works