Otto: Strict App Blocker Focus

Otto is a strict app blocker. You tell him which apps eat your day, and how long you are willing to give them. He does the rest.

A DAILY BUDGET, SPENT ON PURPOSE

Give an app fifteen minutes a day and Otto puts a door in front of it. Every time you open it you see how much is left and decide, on purpose, whether to spend some. Tap Start now and the clock runs. Leave the app and it stops. When the budget is gone the door stops opening, until tomorrow.

That is the whole idea. Not a nag after the fact, a decision before it.

HARD BLOCKS, ON A SCHEDULE

Some apps do not deserve a budget. Pick them, pick the hours and the days, and they are simply shut. Nine to five, or all evening, or every weekend.

STRICT MODE

Turn Strict on and Otto stops letting you edit your way out of a rule you set this morning. It is the switch you flip when you already know what you are like.

GREYSCALE

Colour is most of the pull. Otto walks you through setting up your phone's own greyscale switch, once, and after that it is one tap from anywhere.

WHAT YOU GET BACK

A week of bars showing what you actually spent, how many days you have used Otto, your longest run, and sixty days of whether you left your own rules alone. No leaderboards, no streak guilt, just the figures.

OTTO IS FREE, AND HE STAYS FREE

No account. No subscription. No trial that expires. There is a tip jar in settings if you want to, and nothing changes if you do not.

NOTHING LEAVES YOUR PHONE

Otto has no server to send anything to. Your app list, your rules and your minutes are on your device and nowhere else. He cannot read the contents of any screen and does not try.

PERMISSIONS, AND WHY

Usage access, so Otto can count how long each app has been in front. Without it he can count nothing.

Display over other apps, so the block screen can appear over an app you have chosen to block.

Accessibility is optional. With it the block screen arrives the instant you open the app rather than a second later, and Otto can press the greyscale switch for you. Everything works without it, a beat slower.