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ScrollCop: App Blocker

Block the apps that eat your time — and let a friend hold the key

Every blocker has an off switch, and at 11 p.m. you will find it. ScrollCop is built around the one thing people who quit scrolling keep saying worked: someone else holds the key. Tap the apps, pick a length, and they vanish from your Home Screen. Give a friend your key and only they can end a block early. Not even you can get around it.

ScrollCop is on the App Store Free · no subscription, no account, no ads · iPhone, iOS 18 and later

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Free, with no subscription and no in-app purchases. Built in Edmonton by The Big Head. Not medical advice.

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Real blocking

Built on Apple's Screen Time. Blocked apps disappear from the Home Screen and show a shield instead of opening. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whole categories, or any website. Held by iOS, not by the app.

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Who can end it early

Start a block and pick: you, nobody, or a friend. A friend gets a one-time 6-digit PIN by text, and only that PIN ends the block early. They need no app. For the strongest lock, give them your friend key: codes only their phone can make.

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SOS for the urge

When the pull hits, SOS asks what you're escaping right now, gives you something better to do for five minutes, then checks whether the pull dropped. It learns which things work for you. SOS sits at the top of More, on Home and the lock screen while a block runs, and in the widget.

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Boredom Gym

Twenty-two short exercises for sitting with nothing, each with its source. Today’s one is picked for you: one tap, phone face down, a buzz when time’s up. Thirty seconds first, then longer.

What it actually looks like

Real screens from ScrollCop 3.0, straight from the app. Light mode shown, the default; pick Light, Dark or Match iPhone in Settings, and the city skyline in the header lights up at night.

New in 2.4 Locks with no back doors: changing the date or time won’t end a locked block, you can add apps but not remove them, and ScrollCop can’t be deleted while a locked block runs.

Coming in 3.0 Reset becomes ScrollCop, a friendly cop who pulls you over before the scroll does. Every block starts as “Nobody can end it early”, every main screen fits on one page, Insights read in plain words, plus over 5,000 quotes and 165 things to do instead of scrolling.

ScrollCop Home: All clear, a Block for 4 h button with four apps and a category picked, the next schedule, a ScrollCop says quote and quick starts. — **Home**One card to block, a line from ScrollCop, and quick starts.

Block apps: 4 h chosen and Nobody picked under Who can end it early, with Me and A friend one tap away, and a Lock it button. — **Block apps**Pick how long and who can end it. Nobody is the default.

Send Maya the PIN: a ready-written message with the unlock PIN, and three steps — send it, the block starts, ask Maya to end it early. — **A friend holds the PIN**ScrollCop writes the message; only your friend can end the block.

A running block: Locked up, 3:56:28 left, “Nobody can end this early. Not even you.”, a ScrollCop quote and an I feel the urge button. — **Locked up**The countdown, and nobody can end it early. Not even you.

ScrollCop schedules: Bedtime 9 PM to 7 AM every day with Instagram, TikTok and YouTube closed, and quick ones to add — Mornings, Work hours, Study time, Dinner, Slow weekends. — **Schedules**Each schedule blocks its own apps, every day, even with ScrollCop closed.

SOS: What are you escaping right now? — I’m bored, stressed, tired, avoiding something, want stimulation, feel lonely, or don’t know. — **SOS**Name the feeling and ride the urge out.

Do something else: picks for 15 minutes like Go for an easy run, Write someone a note and Make tea properly, and 165 ideas to browse by category. — **Do something else**165 things to do instead of scrolling, picked for the time you have.

ScrollCop insights: You blocked apps for 14 h 30 min in the last 7 days, a simple week chart, and three numbers — 45 min today, 20 days in a row, 3 h longest block. — **Insights**One sentence about your week, a simple chart, three numbers.

Captured on iPhone 17 Pro Max. The app names shown are the ones you pick; ScrollCop ships with no list of what you use.

How a block works

Two taps on a good day. A phone call to a friend on a bad one. That difference is the whole product.

1. Pick what stays closed

Tap big app tiles for the usual suspects, or “Choose from your phone” to open Apple’s Screen Time picker: every app you have installed, whole categories and websites. Calls, Messages, Maps and banking stay open unless you add them.

2. Pick how long

Thirty minutes, an evening, until 7 AM, a whole day, or "until unlocked". Or set a schedule that runs by itself every day, with its own apps: YouTube and Reddit during study time, everything at bedtime. Start from Bedtime, Mornings, Work hours, Study time, Dinner or Slow weekends, or make your own.

3. Shut the door

The apps disappear. Open one from a link or Spotlight and you get a Screen Time shield with no Ignore button. Add apps mid-block, or add thirty minutes, but never remove any while a friend lock holds.

4. Or lock it

Choose who can end a block early. Nobody: it opens when time’s up. A friend: ScrollCop texts them a one-time PIN, and only that PIN ends it (or their code, if they hold your key). Can’t reach them? The emergency unlock waits an hour, four hours or a day. Most urges pass long before that.

What "dopamine detox" means here

It's the phrase people search for at 1 a.m., so it's on the app. It is not a claim about brain chemistry.

No dopamine score

Dopamine neurons signal reward prediction, not pleasure, and nothing you do for a day resets them. ScrollCop never shows a number it made up. Every exercise cites the study it comes from instead.

Win rate, not streaks

Streak counters are the top reason people delete habit apps after one bad night. ScrollCop shows the share of blocks you finished and never resets anything to zero. There are no leaderboards.

A relapse is data

Ending a block early asks one question: what was going on? Bored, stressed, lonely, avoiding something. That answer is the most useful thing you can log, and it's never shown back as shame.

Replace, don't just remove

Blocking leaves the boredom or dread underneath. SOS, fifty-five small activities and the Boredom Gym exist so the gap gets filled with something other than another feed.

We can't see your data. By design.

A tool for getting your attention back shouldn't be another thing harvesting it. ScrollCop has no server, so there is nothing to breach and no terms that can change later.

No account and no server. The app makes no network requests of its own
Apple's Screen Time gives ScrollCop opaque tokens for the apps you pick. ScrollCop never learns which apps they are
Usage numbers in Insights are drawn by an Apple-controlled extension on your phone. The app itself never receives them
The friend key is made on your friend's device and stays there. Your phone keeps only the part that checks a code. Nobody in the middle
No analytics SDK, no advertising identifiers, no third-party code at all
Export everything as JSON or delete it, whenever you like

How it compares

Different tools make different trades. This is about which job each one is for, not which is best.

Tool	How it blocks	The off switch	Needs an account	Price
ScrollCop	Apple Screen Time shields	Your choice: nobody, or a friend’s one-time PIN (with a delayed emergency unlock)	No	Free
Screen Time limits (built in)	Apple Screen Time limits	"Ignore Limit", one tap	No	Free
Delay / breathing apps	A pause before the app opens	Wait it out, then it opens	Varies	Often a subscription
Hardware-token blockers	Screen Time, unlocked by tapping a physical token	Walk to the token	Varies	One-time hardware purchase
Phone in another room	Distance	Walk to the phone	No	Free

Categories describe how each kind of tool works in general; check any specific product's own listing for its current features and pricing.

Questions

Does ScrollCop actually block apps, or just remind me?

It blocks them. ScrollCop uses Apple's Screen Time frameworks, the same system a parent uses for a child's phone. Blocked apps disappear from the Home Screen and show a Screen Time shield instead of opening. The block is held by iOS, so closing ScrollCop changes nothing.

What is the friend key?

When you start a block, ScrollCop asks who can end it early. Pick a friend and ScrollCop texts them a one-time 6-digit PIN. Only that PIN ends the block early, and they need no app. Your phone keeps only a hash, so not even ScrollCop can show the PIN again. For a stronger lock, set up the friend key: it lives on their phone, which makes twelve-character codes that yours can only check. If you can't reach them, an emergency unlock ends the block after a wait you choose: an hour, four hours or a day.

Is this a real 'dopamine detox'?

It is what many people search for, and ScrollCop skips the myth. Nothing you do for a day resets dopamine, and ScrollCop never shows a dopamine score. What it trains is behaviour: noticing the automatic reach, tolerating the gap, and doing something else. Every exercise in the app cites the study it comes from.

Does ScrollCop need an account?

No. There is no sign-up, no server and no analytics. Everything you log stays on your phone. Apple's Screen Time hands ScrollCop opaque tokens for the apps you pick, so ScrollCop never even sees which apps they are.

Can I block websites?

Yes. Apple's picker has a Websites section, and blocked sites are shielded in Safari and other browsers that respect Screen Time. You can also add any app by its bundle identifier if it isn't in the picker.

What does it cost?

Nothing. ScrollCop is free with no subscription, no in-app purchases and no ads. There is no paid tier.

Is it medical advice?

No. ScrollCop is a behaviour-change tool. If phone use is tied up with anxiety, depression, sleep problems or compulsions that are hurting your life, a doctor or therapist can help in ways an app can't.

Can ScrollCop block only Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts?

No. Apple’s Screen Time blocks whole apps and websites, not parts of them, so ScrollCop can block Instagram or YouTube entirely — and their websites — but not just Reels or Shorts.

From the blog

Honest writing on quitting the scroll, with sources at the bottom of every post.

ScrollCop is on the App Store

Free, with no subscription, no in-app purchases and no account to create.

Download on theApp Store

Screen time and scrolling guides

Honest comparisons that include the alternatives, not only our own app.