Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Lock In Squad is the new name for Lock In. The App Store and Google Play list it as Lock In Squad: App Blocker, and it shows up on your phone as Lock In Squad.

Yes. Lock In Squad is free on the App Store, and you can use it as a guest without making an account. It blocks apps through Apple's Screen Time controls, so it needs iOS 16 or later, and it puts no limit on how many lock-ins you run.

Yes. Make a free account, then add friends by name, by their user ID or with a link you share that adds you as a friend. You can lock in together in a group lock-in, where live standings show how long each of you has been locked in, and its organizer can share a link to join it. You can also keep a friend streak that grows each time you both lock in on a focus day you share. A weekly leaderboard ranks you and your friends by time locked in, counting up to 16 hours a day, and each week's winner wears a crown next to their name all the next week. You can send a friend a nudge to lock in or a cheer.

Yes. The organizer of a group lock-in can set its times for the whole group, once or weekly on the days they pick, until a date or until canceled. Each member accepts the times before their phone blocks anything, and then the apps they chose on their own Block tab are blocked at those times. If the organizer changes the times, a member's blocks for that group stay off until they accept the new ones. Members can skip the next block or leave the schedule and stay in the group. The time each member is locked in during the blocks counts in the group's standings and earns minutes.

Yes. Activity, on the Friends tab, shows your friends' updates: lock-ins of 15 minutes or more, streak milestones, new friend streaks and group lock-in wins. A This week card at the top shows your friends' streaks and how long they've locked in this week. You can like an update, and each liked update shows who liked it.

Yes. Lock In Squad runs full screen on iPad in portrait, and it blocks apps through Screen Time the same way it does on iPhone.

Yes, on iPhone and Android. Lock In Streak shows your own lock with your streak, and Today's Focus shows it with the minutes you've locked in today. The lock's face and line change through the day. With your streak on the line, it gets worried at 6 PM, sweats at 9 PM and cries from 10:30 PM until you lock in. On iPhone, Lock In Streak also comes in two Lock Screen sizes.

Yes. Every screen tells VoiceOver and TalkBack what each control is called, what kind of control it is and whether it's on, off or selected. Double tap Lock In to lock in. To lock out, double tap Lock Out. The hold then runs for your lock out delay and locks you out. Double tap again during the hold to stay locked in.

Yes. Choose a timer or a stopwatch, and in timer mode pick how long the lock-in runs. The Lock out delay in Settings, from 1 to 30 seconds, sets how long you hold Lock Out to end a lock-in. New accounts start at 5 seconds.

Yes. On the Block tab, tap Add a schedule, name it and pick the days it repeats and its start and end times, such as weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM. You can have up to 5 schedules, and the apps you picked on the Block tab are blocked at those times on iPhone and Android, even with Lock In Squad closed. You earn minutes for that time as you do in a lock-in. To end a running block early, hold End early on the Lock In tab for your lock out delay, and later blocks still start on time.

The free version shows ads in these cases:

• In stopwatch mode, an ad can show when you lock out.
• In timer mode, locking out before the timer ends can show an ad.
• If you lock out after your timer ends, no ad shows, because you earned it.
• No ad shows in your first 3 lock-outs, after a lock-in under 30 seconds or within 3 minutes of the last ad. After that, an ad shows at most every other time.
• Tap Earn +10 min in the top left of the Lock In tab to watch an ad and earn 10 bonus minutes.

Premium ($4.99): a single purchase that removes ads, with a switch to turn them back on.

Your streak counts your focus days in a row that each have at least one lock-in. You pick your focus days in the Your week card on the Block tab. Miss one and the streak starts over. You can share your streak, your week or a group win as a card made for stories.

Yes. The Your week card on the Block tab has a daily goal, from 15 minutes up to 8 hours, or Off. Your profile shows how close you are today, and its heatmap marks the days you hit your goal.

Settings > Privacy has the controls. Share usage data turns off the usage analytics the app collects. It starts off in the EEA and Switzerland, where the app asks you once, and on everywhere else, the UK included. Ad preferences and Reset ad consent change your answers on Google's ads consent form, and on iPhone you can change tracking in the Settings app. Friends lets you hide when you're locked in and manage the people you've blocked. Crash reports stay on. Our Privacy Policy lists what each one covers.

Android: Usage access and Display over other apps, which Lock In Squad needs to block the apps you pick. Blocking websites also takes Android's Accessibility service, which reads your browser's address bar while you're locked in or a scheduled block is on. If you schedule blocks, the app asks for Alarms & reminders so each one starts on time with the app closed.

iPhone: Screen Time access to block the apps you pick, plus App Tracking Transparency if you want personalized ads.

In the app, tap Send feedback in Settings. On the web, use the Contact Us page.

Lock In Squad is free to use, with ads. Every feature is free, including blocking, timers, stats, streaks and customization.

Premium costs $4.99, paid once, with no subscription. It removes ads, which you can turn back on at any time, and comes with a Diamond safe and a Premium badge next to your name on your profile.

Premium belongs to the Lock In Squad account you buy it on. On a new phone, sign in to that account and restore the purchase. Another account doesn't get it, even on the same phone.

You can delete your account directly in the app. On the You tab, tap the gear to open Settings, then tap Delete account below Sign out. Type DELETE MY ACCOUNT, tap Delete account, then tap Yes, delete my account. The app then asks why you're leaving. Answering is optional, and Skip deletes the account right away. This permanently deletes your account and its data, and the copies in our nightly backups are gone within 30 days. Our Privacy Policy lists what we keep, such as the record of a Premium purchase. If you can't open the app, use our Delete account page. For anything else, write to us on the Contact page.

No core features are paywalled. All blocking, timers and stats are free, and Shop items cost minutes, which you earn by locking in. Premium removes ads and comes with a Diamond safe and a Premium badge next to your name.

Yes. Whitelist mode, which blocks everything except the apps you choose, works on iPhone and Android. On iPhone the app calls it Allow only these apps. You pick up to 50 apps to keep open, and every other app and website stays blocked during a session. Phone, Settings and anything under Always Allowed in Screen Time stay open.

Many can, and Lock In Squad does on iPhone and Android. On iPhone, any website you pick in Apple's Screen Time picker is blocked along with your apps, though picking a category such as Social covers its apps and not its sites. On Android, you add websites on the Block tab's Websites row, and Lock In Squad blocks them in Chrome, Samsung Internet, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Opera, DuckDuckGo and Vivaldi while you're locked in or a scheduled block is on. Websites that open inside another Android app, such as Instagram, TikTok or the Google app, can't be blocked. The Browsers row blocks every browser in one tap.

No. Ads never show during a lock-in. A full-screen ad can show after you end a stopwatch lock-in or quit a timer early, never in your first 3 lock-outs and at most every other time, and Premium removes all ads. Rewarded ads, which give you 10 bonus minutes, play only when you tap Earn +10 min.

Lock In Squad uses permissions your phone already offers: Screen Time on iPhone, and Usage access plus Display over other apps on Android, with the Accessibility service for websites. When you open a blocked app, iPhone shows its Screen Time shield, while on Android Lock In Squad comes to the front with a banner that names the app. To end a lock-in early, you hold the Lock Out button for the time you set, anywhere from 1 to 30 seconds.

Yes. Lock In Squad follows Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) rules and lets you reset consent inside the app. We don't sell your information, but ads come from Google AdMob, which receives your IP address, a rough location based on it, and your device's ad identifier, as our Privacy Policy explains.

Yes. Holding the Lock Out button for 1 to 30 seconds, however long you set, ends a lock-in at any time. The hold gives you a pause to reconsider without stopping you from leaving when you truly need to.

Yes. By default, Apple lets you ignore a Screen Time limit once you reach it, and a passcode helps only if someone else knows it. Lock In Squad has no ignore button, so your chosen apps stay blocked until you hold the Lock Out button for the length you set, even after a timer reaches zero.

Stopwatch mode runs until you stop it, which makes it great for tasks without deadlines (what Tim Urban calls long-term procrastination). Timer mode runs for a length you set and keeps counting as bonus time after it reaches zero. Both block distractions during the session.

Yes, if you're signed in with an account. Your stats, streaks and minutes sync across iPhone and Android, so you keep your progress when you switch phones.

Yes. Settings > Appearance switches between dark and light mode. Dark mode can be easier on your eyes in a dim room because it cuts the glare from a bright screen, while light mode is easier to read in bright conditions.

A timer at zero keeps your apps blocked on purpose, and the time after zero counts as bonus time. Hold Lock Out to end the lock-in and open your apps.