Rules
A rule blocks without you. Three parts: what starts it, what it blocks, how it blocks.
What a rule is
The trigger
What starts and stops it. 17 to choose from, plus a schedule for when it may run.
What it blocks
Usually a block list, or apps and sites picked inside the rule.
What happens to the apps
Stop them opening, cut or slow their internet, mute their notifications, or dim the screen. Left alone it uses your global default. All five effects.
The block message
Optional. The line shown when this rule is the one stopping you.
Creating one
- From a preset30 ready-made rules across seven shelves. Tapping one opens the editor already filled in. Switch it on as-is, or change anything. Full list in what is predefined.
- From scratchAn empty editor. Your own trigger, your own block list.
The Rules tab also suggests rules built from your own last week of screen time, under From your screen time. Ordinary rules, just pre-filled with the apps that actually took your time.
Saving asks only for the permissions that rule needs. A charging rule never mentions alarms. See Permissions.
All 17 triggers
| Trigger | Starts | What it does | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just the schedule | On a schedule | Blocks the whole time its schedule is on. Days of the week, dates of the month or between two dates, with hours. See below. | Alarms |
| Wake-up | Right after you wake | Blocks for your first N minutes awake. Measures sleep, not the clock, so night shifts work too. | Alarms |
| Pomodoro | Focus and break loops | Blocked for the focus stretch, free on the break, repeating. | Alarms |
| App usage | After too long in an app | Blocks once an app has been used for your limit, then holds it for 30, 45, 60 or 120 minutes, or the rest of the day. A per-app mode asks how long you want each app when you open it. | Usage access |
| Screen time | Cap your screen time | Covers the whole phone once the screen has been on too long. No allow list, on purpose. | Usage access |
| Open limit | Too many opens a day | Past your limit, the app stays shut for the rest of the day. | Usage access |
| Intention limit | At every unlock | Asks what you came for. Only the apps you pick open until you lock the phone. One app per unlock on free, up to five on Pro. | Usage access |
| Tabs | A tab inside an app | Blocks Shorts, Reels and any other tab you name. When one opens, the app jumps to another tab. The rest of the app keeps working. Pro. | Accessibility |
| Meetings | During calendar events | Blocks during timed events on your phone's calendar. All-day events are ignored. | Calendar |
| Charging | While plugged in | Or the inverse: blocks while on battery. | None |
| Battery | On a battery level | At or below a percentage you pick, or at or above it. | None |
| Screen | While the screen is on | Or the inverse, to cut background data while the phone is idle. | None |
| Bluetooth | A device nearby | Blocks near devices you list, or away from all of them. Usually the car. | Nearby devices |
| Wi-Fi | On a network | Blocks on named networks, or off all of them. Campus and office Wi-Fi. | Location |
| Location | At a place | A point and a radius, inside it or outside it. Drop the pin on a map. | Location |
| Movement | While you are moving | Walking, running, cycling or driving. | Physical activity |
| Off topic | Stay on your study topic | The study guardian. Give it your topic and the apps you are still allowed. It reads your screen and pulls you back when you drift. | Accessibility, your AI key |
Off topic is the only rule that uses AI, and it uses your key, not ours. Add a free OpenRouter key in Settings, AI settings. It is stored encrypted on your device. Without one, the rule falls back to plain keyword matching. Free credits run out fast under constant monitoring, often in 15 to 30 minutes, so all-day use wants a little credit on the account.
When you drift, Aurith slides in over the app you are in, wags a finger and says so in a speech bubble. He stays until you tap him. Without the Display over other apps permission you get a notification instead.
A Location rule also asks what to do if Location is turned off: keep blocking, or stop blocking. Keep blocking is the default, so switching GPS off is not a way out.
The schedule
Every rule has a schedule, separate from its trigger. The trigger says what starts the block. The schedule says when the rule is allowed to run at all.
| Schedule | Runs |
|---|---|
| All the time | Every day, all day. The default. |
| Days of the week | Repeats every week. |
| Dates of the month | Repeats every month. Built for payday. Months without that date skip it. |
| Start and end date | Runs between two dates, then stops. |
Each one can be narrowed to hours of the day. A limit inside a schedule only counts while the schedule is on, and starts fresh each time.
A rule that is nothing but a schedule uses the Just the schedule trigger, and that is free. Putting a schedule on top of another trigger, like a usage limit that only runs on weekdays, is Pro.
Running with the app closed
Rules are enforced by a background service, so they keep working with Appcognito closed and come back after a reboot. Two permissions make that reliable:
- Alarms and reminders. Schedules and the clock-driven triggers need exact alarms. Without them, Android drifts by around ten minutes in Doze, so blocks start or lift visibly late.
- Battery optimisation exemption. Some manufacturers kill background work aggressively. This stops them killing yours.
Pausing and stopping
Each card shows its state: blocking now, waiting, or paused with a countdown.
- Pause for 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, tonight or tomorrow. It turns itself back on, and the pause survives a restart. This is the intended escape hatch.
- Stop switches it off until you switch it back on.
- Favourite sorts it to the front of its shelf.
- Select starts, pauses or stops several at once.
- Duplicate, in the rule's settings, makes a copy to edit. A copy always starts stopped.
Pausing, stopping or editing a rule breaks the day for any habit or challenge that watches it. Letting one finish does not. Your Aurith streak is not affected either way.
When one will not budge
| Hold | You can still | To release |
|---|---|---|
| Strict mode | Make it stricter. Add, never remove. | Leave Strict mode. Takes 12 or 24 hours. |
| A running challenge | Make it stricter. | End the challenge. Recorded as a relapse. |
| A parental lock | Nothing, without the other person. | Their 6 digit code releases it. Their master password removes it. |
A block list used by a held rule inherits the hold, so you cannot loosen a block by editing the list behind it instead of the rule in front of it.
Free plan limits
Every trigger except Tabs is free, and so are all 30 presets. The limit is how many run at once: one on free, unlimited on Pro. You can build as many as you like either way.
Pro also adds a schedule on top of a trigger, and more than one app per unlock for Intention limit.
When a Pro trial ends, one rule keeps running, and the one a live challenge depends on wins.