FrictioYour phone is winning. Turn it around.
Frictio locks your apps once your daily limit is used up. The only way back in is a real task: push-ups, squats, mental maths.
For iPhone, iPad and Android. Subscription through Apple or Google Play, 7 days free on the yearly plan.
Three steps, then the lock holds.
No iron will required. Just a little friction at the right moment.
Pick your apps
TikTok, Instagram, whatever holds you. Plus a daily limit from 5 minutes to 6 hours.
Limit reached
When time's up, the apps lock, even with Frictio closed.
Buy it back
Still want in? Pay with a task. Or walk away, which counts as a win.
How much time do you get back?
Move the sliders. Same maths as in the app.
Waking = 16 hours. A good first goal: one hour a day.
You pay with yourself, not with money.
Every lock draws at random from the tasks you picked.
A limit you can't just tap away.
iOS Screen Time
- Limit reached? One tap on “Ignore Limit”.
- Just as easy the tenth time as the first.
- No reason to pause for a second.
Frictio
- Limit reached? First a real task.
- Every further time that day costs more.
- Walking away counts as a win, and you see it.
A little friction works.
A field experiment by researchers at Heidelberg University and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, published in PNAS in 2023, tested exactly this idea: a short hurdle before an app opens. 280 people, six weeks.
Grüning, Riedel & Lorenz-Spreen (2023), PNAS. The study looked at the app one sec, not Frictio, but the same mechanism: friction before opening. Read the study ↗
Everything you need. Nothing that distracts.
A lock that holds
Frictio uses Apple's Screen Time on iPhone, and usage access plus an accessibility service on Android. The lock holds while Frictio is closed and can't simply be swiped away.
Pay with movement
The camera counts push-ups, squats and the plank right on your phone. No image ever leaves it.
An alarm with a task
The alarm rings through silent mode and Focus and only stops once you've done the task.
Streak and week
How often the lock stopped you and how often you held out, day by day.
Pricier every time
Every further unlock on the same day costs more and buys less time, so it never becomes routine.
Widgets
Streak, week and lock on your home screen and Lock Screen.
What happens on your phone stays there.
Frictio is built so that as little as possible leaves your device. Read the privacy policy
- No camera image is ever stored or sent.
- Frictio never learns which apps you picked.
- No ads, no tracking, no selling of data.
- Your account and settings copy live on servers in the EU.
Good to know
How does buying back work?
You pick apps and a daily limit. Once it's used up, they lock. Open one and Frictio offers a task, say 15 push-ups. Do it and the app is open again for a few minutes.
Can Frictio see which apps I use?
No. On iPhone, Apple only hands Frictio anonymous tokens, no names; your usage times are shown by iOS itself. On Android, Frictio reads the minutes of your picked apps on the phone only. Either way, none of it reaches us.
What happens to the camera image?
Movement is recognised on the phone itself. Nothing is recorded, stored or sent.
What does Frictio cost?
Frictio Pro is a subscription you take out in the App Store or on Google Play: yearly with 7 days free, monthly or weekly. Current prices are shown in the app. Payment and cancellation run through Apple or Google Play.
How do I cancel?
In your iPhone settings under your name → Subscriptions, on Android in Google Play under profile picture → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions, or in Frictio under Settings → Your subscription. Deleting the app does not end a subscription.
Is Frictio on Android?
Yes. Frictio is coming to Android through Google Play. There, the lock runs on usage access and an accessibility service.
Take your time back.
Frictio is coming to the App Store soon. The link and QR code will be right here.