Coach for phone habits

You don’t need more willpower.
You need a moment to wake up.

Mindless scrolling isn’t a moral failure—it’s autopilot. Grounded interrupts the trance, helps you see what you’re really after, and rewards the choices that give your life back.

Download for iOS See the method

Coach, not a lockout Apple Screen Time Usage data stays on-device

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Grounded garden with a growing tree and weekly progress

You’re not broken

Does this sound like your day?

If even one of these is true, the problem isn’t discipline. It’s an automatic loop—and loops can be interrupted.

You open the phone with no plan

A “quick check” dissolves into twenty minutes. You barely remember tapping the icon.

You know what you’d rather do

Read. Stretch. Sleep. Call someone. The feed is just easier than beginning—so you don’t.

Blockers made you sneakier

Hard locks felt like punishment. You found workarounds—then felt worse for needing them.

Willpower dies at 9pm

After a long day the habit wins—not because you’re weak, but because it’s automatic.

People only change with tools that understand their pain better than they can describe it.

What’s missing

Locking the app doesn’t break the habit

A “no” on the screen never asks why you reached for your phone—or what you’d rather do instead.

The cop

Hard lockouts

Block without building awareness
Create friction you fight or bypass
Leave the same urge waiting tomorrow

The coach

Grounded

A short pause that wakes you up
You stay in control of the choice
Rewards walking away and offline wins

The shift

A coach between you and the scroll

When you open a distracting app, Grounded slows the moment down—just enough to notice the urge, name it, and choose what happens next. Not shame. Not a wall. A wake-up.

Break mindless scrolling.
Reclaim your time—and grow something real.

How it works

Three moments that change the loop

STEP 01

Set your limits

Pick the apps that pull you in and when to pause them—work, dinner, before bed. Powered by Apple’s Screen Time API so protection stays on your device.

STEP 02

Pause and reflect

Opening a blocked app triggers a helpful pause—not a dead end. Breathe. Name the trigger. Notice how you feel. The trance breaks.

STEP 03

Choose better—and grow

Walk away and your tree grows. Log offline habits—reading, stretching, a walk—and it grows more. Progress you can see, without rigid streaks that punish a missed day.

Why it works

Awareness. Agency. Reward.

Coach, not cop

You stay in control. Grounded offers a moment to think instead of harsh lockouts you can’t change—or spend all day fighting.

Awareness builds change

Short exercises surface why you picked up the phone—bored, stressed, lonely—so the next choice is easier.

Double the rewards

Get rewarded for habits you stop and habits you start. Your tree is a living scoreboard of time reclaimed.

Privacy & control

Your data stays yours

We only use what powers your experience—reflections and habits you enter yourself. We never collect, see, or access private device usage data.

Powered by Apple Screen Time Official API to securely pause distracting apps
Zero usage tracking by us Screen Time data stays sandboxed on your device—invisible to Grounded

On-device by design

Your scroll story never leaves your phone through Grounded.

A note from the founder

I kept losing hours to mindless scrolling. I wanted to stop—but free moments still ended with my phone in hand.

Blockers always came up short. I didn’t want something that only shouted “no.” I wanted something that asked, “What would you rather be doing instead?”

I’m building Grounded so we can reclaim time for what we actually care about. I hope you’ll try it.

Blake Founder of Grounded

Questions, answered

Will this block my social apps?

You choose which apps to pause and when. During a block, Grounded guides a short pause—then you decide whether to continue or walk away. You’re always in control.

How is this different from a normal blocker?

Blockers lock the door. Grounded coaches the moment: breathe, name a trigger, check in—and rewards better choices, including offline habits.

How do you handle my data?

Privacy-first. We don’t access or collect your screen time usage data. Apple keeps that on your device. See our privacy policy.

Is Grounded available now?

Yes—download for iOS via the link on this page. We’re iterating with early users and welcome feedback.

Grounded uses Apple’s standard EULA. See also our terms and privacy policy.

Start today

Stop scrolling on autopilot. Start living on purpose.

Interrupt the trance. Choose better. Watch your tree grow.

Download for iOS

You don’t need more willpower. You need a moment to wake up.