Anchor
EN
Get Anchor

Stop doomscrolling. Start anchoring.

Anchor blocks the apps and sites that steal your time — with real accountability, zero forced accounts, and everything running locally on your device.

Get AnchorSee how it works

Free to start. No account required.

Doomscrolling isn’t a willpower problem — it’s a design problem. Anchor puts real friction back where it’s missing.

How it works

Three steps to a phone that works for you

Set it up once. Anchor holds the line even when future-you doesn’t want it to.

  1. 1

    Build a Blocking Profile

    Pick apps, websites, keywords, or just the addictive part of an app, like Reels or Shorts. Then add conditions: a schedule, a time or launch limit, Wi-Fi, a location, or a goal.

  2. 2

    Choose how strict it is

    Hold makes you wait and pay attention. Earn makes you spend a token or type out a challenge. Seal gives you no way in. You choose per profile.

  3. 3

    Let Anchor hold the line

    Guard Mode, a single free toggle, makes it hard to loosen your own rules later: no uninstalling Anchor, no quick edits in a weak moment.

Strictness

Hold, Earn, or Seal

Every profile has its own level of friction, from a speed bump to a locked door.

Delay and attention

Write why you want in, then wait out a short timer while staying on the screen and tapping the attention checks. Access lasts a few minutes, then the block comes back. You can cap how many times you get in, per day or per hour.

Every mode is free. Everyone can choose per day or per hour. Free uses fixed numbers for each; Premium lets you tune them both ways, stricter or looser.

Features

Everything you need, nothing you don’t

Built around real mechanics, not gimmicks.

  • Blocking Profiles

    Block any app, websites, and URL keywords. An on-device filter handles adult sites. New installs can be added automatically with Premium.

  • Block just the feed

    Block only the addictive part: Instagram Reels, Stories and Explore, YouTube Shorts, TikTok For You, Facebook Reels and Watch, Snapchat Spotlight, X For You, WhatsApp Status. The rest of the app keeps working.

  • Conditions that stack

    Schedule, time limit per day or per hour, launch limit, goal first, Wi-Fi network, or location. Combine them: all must be true for the block to start.

  • Quick Blocking

    A detox session in one tap: block everything except the apps you allow, or only a list you pick, and silence notifications. Lock Me Out locks your phone to Anchor until the timer ends.

  • Pomodoro Timer

    Work and break cycles built in, so you don’t need a separate app.

  • Local backup

    Export and restore your setup as a file you control. Nothing syncs to a server.

Local-first Analytics

Screen time, top apps and websites, unlocks, pickups, notifications, and your longest session. Insights like which app starts your scrolling, plus a weekly digest. All computed on your device and free.

Streaks and Share Cards

A streak for each profile, and a daily-average card you can share. Generated on your device.

Guard Mode

You vs. past-you Free

One toggle that protects your setup from your own weak moments.

  • Choose its scope

    Cover all profiles or just the ones you pick, on the days of the week you choose.

  • Block the escape routes

    Stops you from uninstalling Anchor (via Device Admin), and can lock Android Settings and Anchor’s own settings too.

  • Make it hard to turn off

    Turning it off takes a trusted password, retyping a long random text, a timed hold, a QR code or NFC tag you paired, a timer you set in advance, or a mix of them.

  • Stricter is always free

    Only changes that loosen a block need a challenge. Making a block stricter never does.

There is no recovery if you can’t pass your own method. That’s by design, and Anchor warns you before you turn it on.

Why Anchor

No account. No hard paywall. A free tier that really works.

You can use Anchor fully before you ever create an account or pay a cent. Onboarding shows one optional offer, and closing it drops you straight into the free app. None of the sensitive data your permissions give Anchor access to — the apps you use, your location, your browsing activity — ever leaves your phone, and there’s no cloud sync to opt into. Anchor earns the upgrade; it doesn’t demand it.

Evidence

Methods backed by research

Anchor uses methods that have been studied. The studies tested the methods, not Anchor itself.

These studies tested the methods, not Anchor itself, and results vary from person to person. Tap a study to read the paper.

  • A pause before you open

    57% fewer app openings after six weeks

    In a six-week field study of 280 people, a short pause plus an easy way to back out cut how often they opened the apps they'd picked by 57%. In 36% of attempts, people closed the app right away. Being able to back out mattered most.

    Read the studyGrüning, Riedel & Lorenz-Spreen (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

  • Deciding in advance

    Setting limits ahead of time substantially cut use

    In a randomized experiment, giving people a tool to limit their future screen time substantially reduced their use. The researchers estimated that self-control problems account for about 31% of social media use.

    Read the studyAllcott, Gentzkow & Song (2022). American Economic Review.

  • If-then plans

    A medium-to-large boost in reaching goals

    Across 94 tests with more than 8,000 people, deciding the when and where in advance ("if it's a weekday morning, social apps are off") helped people reach their goals (d = 0.65). A profile's conditions are that kind of plan, carried out for you.

    Read the studyGollwitzer & Sheeran (2006). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.

  • Friction and fewer triggers

    Habits change when the context changes

    Habit research shows habits respond to context more than to intentions. Making the habit harder to do and removing the cues that trigger it are among the most reliable ways to change it. Blocking adds the friction; muting notifications removes the cue.

    Read the studyWood (2024). Current Directions in Psychological Science.

  • Time fully offline

    Better attention, mood and well-being in two weeks

    In a randomized trial with 467 adults, blocking mobile internet for two weeks improved sustained attention, mental health and well-being. 91% of participants improved on at least one of these.

    Read the studyCastelo et al. (2025). PNAS Nexus.

  • Structured breaks

    More concentration than breaks taken ad hoc

    Students who took fixed, timed breaks reported more concentration and motivation and less distraction than students who decided their own breaks. Later studies are more mixed on fatigue.

    Read the studyBiwer et al. (2023). British Journal of Educational Psychology.

  • Habits take time

    66 days on average, anywhere from 18 to 254

    Following 96 people building a daily habit, researchers found it took 66 days on average to become automatic, with a wide range between people. Missing a single day didn't set the process back, which is why a streak has a grace period.

    Read the studyLally et al. (2010). European Journal of Social Psychology.

  • Seeing your own numbers

    Tracking progress helps people reach goals

    Across 138 experiments with nearly 20,000 people, getting people to monitor their progress helped them reach their goals (d = 0.40). The effect was larger when progress was written down or shared.

    Read the studyHarkin et al. (2016). Psychological Bulletin.

Pricing

Simple pricing, no games

Use Anchor fully before you ever pay a cent.

Free

  • Every mode and feature, including Guard Mode
  • Every blocking condition
  • Hold, Earn, and Seal
  • Up to 3 active profiles
  • 5 apps and 5 websites or keywords per profile
  • All analytics insights, streaks, and share cards
  • Quick Blocking, Lock Me Out, and Pomodoro
  • Ads supported

Premium

MonthlyYearlyLifetime

  • Everything in Free, with no ads
  • Unlimited active profiles, apps, and websites
  • Tune Hold and Earn to your routine, stricter or looser
  • Custom analytics date ranges
  • Custom block-screen message
  • Block new apps automatically

Choose what fits — exact pricing shown in the app.

FAQ

Questions, answered honestly

Do I need an account?

No. Anchor is fully usable without ever creating an account. Even a Premium purchase goes through your Google Play account, not an Anchor-specific one. Want a backup of your setup? You can export and import it locally, any time — nothing syncs to a server automatically.

Does Anchor send my data anywhere?

None of your usage or blocking data ever leaves your device. Everything Anchor’s permissions can see — the app you’re using, your location, browser addresses, who’s notifying you — is processed on-device. A few small things do go out, and none of them identify you: the website name you type when adding a site (for its icon and autocomplete), an anonymous purchase ID to RevenueCat, an advertising ID and diagnostics to Google AdMob if you’re on the free tier, and a weekly download of a public adult-site blocklist. Full details in our Privacy Policy.

What happens if I try to bypass a block?

It depends on the strictness you chose. Hold makes you state why, wait out a timer, and pass attention checks. Earn gives you a limited allowance of tokens per day or per hour, then challenges, or a challenge every time, depending on the mechanic you picked. Seal doesn’t offer a bypass at all. Go back always works.

Can’t I just turn Anchor off?

Not easily, if you turn on Guard Mode. It blocks uninstalling Anchor and can lock Android Settings, and turning it off takes the password, challenge, or timer you chose. Like any blocking app, nothing can stop a determined factory reset, so Anchor is a productivity aid, not a security guarantee.

Is Anchor free?

Yes. The free tier has every mode and feature, including Guard Mode and all analytics, with up to 3 active profiles, 5 apps and 5 websites per profile, and ads. Premium removes the limits and ads, lets you tune Hold and Earn, and adds custom analytics ranges and block messages, as a monthly, yearly, or lifetime purchase.

Why does Anchor need Accessibility access?

It’s the only way Android lets an app see which app is open and read your browser’s address bar, which is how Anchor can show the block screen in time. This happens on your device and nothing is collected or shared. Anchor explains it and asks for your agreement before sending you to Settings.

What platforms does Anchor support?

Android 10+ is fully supported today. iOS 16+ support is planned but not yet available — we’ll update this the moment it ships.

Help us test Anchor

Anchor is still in testing. Join the early tester group to try new versions before everyone else and tell us what to fix.

Become an early testerReport an issue

Found a problem? It takes about two minutes to tell us.

Ready to anchor your attention?

Anchor earns the upgrade; it doesn’t demand it. Try it free, right now.

Get Anchor