u/NoText6895

TL;DR

━━━━━

WHAT: Refrain is an Android app that pauses you before opening distracting apps (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, etc.) AND again mid-session, before the scroll spiral takes over.

HOW IT HELPS: Most tools only pause you at app open. Refrain intervenes again during the session when your daily limit or timer hits, so you don't blow through your own limits silently. 100% on-device — no accounts, no tracking.

PROMO: Launch week — Lifetime tier is $15 (normally $30, 50% off, ends Aug 19). Free tier controls 1 app forever.

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.pause.mobile

━━━━━

Just launched after 6 months of nights/weekends. Built it to solve my own Reels/Shorts loop after every existing tool failed me.

HOW IT WORKS

• Pick the apps that pull you in (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Reels — whatever yours are)
• Set a daily limit per app — you decide
• When you open one, Refrain pauses you with a breath and asks: short timed session, or close the app?
• Mid-session re-intervention: when your timer or daily limit hits, it steps in again. No silent overruns.
• Brief switches to another app don't reset your session — check a text, come back, no re-pause

WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT

• The mid-session re-intervention is the piece I couldn't find in other tools that worked the way I wanted. The pause-at-open moment matters, but the doomscroll actually happens 5 minutes in, once the algorithm hooks you. Refrain steps in there too.
• The grace window is small but changed everything for me. If you pop out of Instagram to check a text and come back within 60s, no re-pause. Sounds trivial; it's the difference between "usable" and "uninstalled in a week."
• It asks you to decide, doesn't hard-block. If you need Instagram for work/family, hard-blocking breaks that. Refrain caged mine without cutting me off from it.

PRIVACY

• Nothing leaves your device. No accounts, no servers, no analytics SDKs, no ads.
• Refrain only knows WHICH app you opened — not what you see, type, or scroll. It can't read messages, screen content, or credentials.
• Uninstall wipes everything.

PRICING

• Free: controls 1 app (real free tier, not a trial)
• Monthly: $2.99
• Yearly: $12.99 with 30-day free trial
• Lifetime: one-time, no subscription
  • Launch week: $15 (normally $29.99, 50% off, ends Aug 19)

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.pause.mobile

Happy to answer questions. Also open to bug reports and DMs. Genuinely looking for feedback from people who'll use it.