Help Centre

No. Grounded has no account system, no sign-up, and no password. Your identity is a random ID stored locally on your iPhone. Nothing syncs, nothing is tied to your email.

• Screen Time (Family Controls) — required. This is what lets Grounded shield the apps you choose. Apple reviewed and approved Grounded for this entitlement.
• Health (read steps + workouts, write mindful minutes) — optional. Steps and workouts are two of the four earning paths; skip Health during setup and you can still earn through focus sessions and nature check-ins. You can grant it later from Settings › Permissions in the app.
• Location (Always) — optional. Only used to detect when you arrive at a park for a check-in. Denying it just disables that feature.
• Notifications — optional. Reminders for daily goals and end-of-window alerts.

None of these are transmitted off your device.

1. Open Grounded, go to Settings › Blocked Apps.
2. Tap Choose Apps. Apple's system-level picker appears — search for or select the apps you want to block.
3. Confirm. Your selections are now shielded until you earn and spend credits.

Free tier can block up to 3 apps. Premium is unlimited.

1 credit = 1 minute of unlock time. You earn credits four ways:

• Walking: 10 credits per 1,000 steps (read from Apple Health).
• Workouts: cycling, swimming, strength training, HIIT, yoga, rowing, elliptical, and stair climbing logged in Apple Health earn 1 credit per 2 minutes. Walking and running workouts are excluded — your steps already count those. Workout credits share the daily movement cap with steps (60 free / 120 Premium), with steps filling the cap first.
• Focus sessions: 1 credit per 2 minutes across all session types. Premium boosts Mindfulness to 1 credit per 90 seconds. Preset durations: Deep Focus 25/45/60/90 min; Mindfulness 5/10/15/20 min; Movement 10/15/30/45 min (Premium unlocks the longer durations). Free tier is capped at 3 completed focus sessions per day; Premium is unlimited. Sessions shorter than 5 minutes earn zero credits — the floor is there to stop a flood of 30-second "sessions" from gaming the score.
• Nature check-ins: 15 to 30 credits per verified visit to a park, trail, or outdoor spot. Two limits to prevent geofence farming: you can only check in at each unique spot once per day, and there's a 30-minute global cooldown between any two nature check-ins — so a "big nature day" needs 6 different locations with real travel time between them.

When you unlock, you pick a window length: 15 or 30 minutes on the free plan, with 60-minute windows available on Premium. The blocked apps open for that full window. Lock early and any unused credits come back (the only exception is Strict Mode — a Premium toggle that commits the window to its full length, no early lock). Need less? Quick Checks open a 5 or 10-minute micro-window instead — see the Quick Checks question below. Free tier also has two daily limits: 60 total unlock minutes/day and 2 standard windows/day. Premium removes both.

Streaks speed up earning: hold a 7-day streak and every source earns ×1.1 (free and Premium alike); hold a 30-day streak on Premium and it rises to ×1.25. The boost applies before each daily cap — you reach the ceiling faster, but the ceiling doesn't move.

Grounded reads steps from Apple Health. If steps aren't showing up:

1. Open iOS Settings › Health › Data Access & Devices › Grounded — confirm "Read" is enabled for Steps.
2. Your steps need to actually be in Apple Health. Open the Health app and check the Steps card — if it's empty, the iPhone or your watch isn't logging them.
3. Grounded batches HealthKit reads — it can take up to a minute for your daily total to refresh. Pull-to-refresh on the Home tab forces a re-read.

Both. Workouts logged in Apple Health — from your watch, a gym app, or a manual entry — earn 1 credit per 2 minutes, the same rate as a focus minute.

Types that count: cycling, swimming, traditional and functional strength training, HIIT, yoga, rowing, elliptical, and stair climbing.

Types that don't: walking and running. That's deliberate, not an oversight — those workouts already raise your step count, and counting them twice would pay double for the same movement.

Workout credits share the daily movement cap with steps (60 credits/day free, 120 on Premium). Steps fill the cap first; workouts top up whatever headroom is left. Workouts land within the hour via Apple Health's background delivery, or immediately when you open the app. If you granted Health access before workouts were added, re-visit Settings › Permissions in the app to grant the workout read — Grounded never re-prompts automatically.

Grounded uses Apple Maps to find real parks, trails, beaches, and outdoor spots near your current location. When you physically arrive at one of those spots (we use Core Location geofencing), the Nature tab offers a check-in button. A verified check-in adds 15-30 credits to your balance.

With Premium, you can add your own custom spots — a local park that Apple Maps doesn't know about, for example — and extend the search radius from 5 km up to 20 km.

Yes — and there are two kinds: how many credits you can earn in a day, and how many you can spend.

Earning caps:

• Movement (steps + workouts): one shared cap — up to 60 credits/day on free (~6,000 steps, or any mix of steps and workouts), 120 on Premium. Steps fill the cap first; workouts top up the remaining headroom.
• Focus: up to 240 credits/day across all session types. Free is also capped at 3 completed sessions/day; Premium is unlimited and unlocks the longer durations (60 + 90 min Deep Focus, 15 + 20 min Mindfulness, 30 + 45 min Movement).
• Nature check-ins: up to 30 credits/day on free (~2 visits), 90 on Premium (3-6 visits depending on the spot). Parks and gardens give 15 credits; trails, beaches, and lakes give 20; forests, lookouts, and nature reserves give 25; mountains give 30.

Spending caps (free tier only):

• 60 unlock minutes/day total, across however many windows and quick checks you open.
• 2 standard unlock windows/day max — locking early refunds the unused credits but the window still counts toward your 2.
• 3 Quick Checks/day — the 5/10-minute micro-windows have their own count, separate from the 2 standard windows, but the minutes still draw from the same 60.

Premium removes all three spending caps. A streak boost (×1.1 from day 7; ×1.25 from day 30 on Premium) applies before the earning caps, so it gets you to the ceiling faster without raising it. Most days you won't get close to the earning ceiling — and note that on the free plan credits don't bank across days: each day's earnings reset at midnight. Premium carries up to 30 unspent credits into the new day; anything above that resets like everyone else's.

A Quick Check is a 5 or 10-minute micro-window — for "I just need to reply to one message" moments where committing 15 credits feels like overkill. Same rules as a normal window: 1 credit = 1 minute, spent up front, apps re-shield when the clock runs out.

Free plan gets 3 Quick Checks per day; Premium is unlimited. They don't count toward the free plan's 2-standard-windows limit, but their minutes do count toward the 60 daily unlock minutes. And like standard windows, a Quick Check slot is spent the moment you open it — locking early doesn't give the slot back.

On the free plan, no — each day's earnings reset at midnight. The trade is daily on purpose: today's walk pays for today's scroll.

Premium carries up to 30 unspent credits into the new day. Finish the day with 45 in the bank and you wake up with 30; finish with 12 and you wake up with 12. The cap stops credit-hoarding from turning into an all-day unlock — the system stays a daily rhythm, just with a little cushion.

A streak day requires at least one meaningful activity — 3,000+ steps, a focus session of 15+ minutes, or a nature check-in. Miss a qualifying day and the streak resets to zero on the free plan.

Streaks aren't just decoration: from day 7 every earning source gets a ×1.1 boost (free and Premium), and from day 30 on Premium the boost rises to ×1.25. Boosts apply before the daily caps.

Premium adds Streak Freeze. One rest day per rolling 7 days is forgiven automatically — missed Tuesday stays forgiven until the following Tuesday. Miss two days in a week and the streak still breaks.

About reminders: Grounded sends a few — an optional daily reminder, a streak nudge on days a streak is at risk, and a gentle check-in if you've been away a while. All of them respect quiet hours (nothing between 10 PM and 8 AM local time), most are optional, and you can switch notifications off entirely in Settings or iOS at any time.

Strict Mode is a Premium feature for the "just five more minutes" trap. Turn it on in Settings › Commitment and the End-early button on focus sessions + the Lock-now button on active unlock windows are disabled. The session or window runs its full length — that's the whole point.

You can switch Strict Mode off at any time when you don't have an active session or window. Turning it off mid-session isn't possible — otherwise it wouldn't be strict.

Protected Time is a recurring schedule — say, weeknights 9 PM to 7 AM, or weekday work mornings — during which your shields stay enforced and credits can't be spent, no matter how many you have. Earning continues as normal; you just can't cash in until the window ends.

Each schedule picks its days of the week and start/end times (it can cross midnight), with a 15-minute minimum length. The free plan includes 1 schedule; Premium is unlimited. Schedules are enforced even when the app is closed — the same system-level machinery that re-shields your apps after an unlock window.

Monk Mode is the nuclear option, and it's Premium. Instead of shielding just your blocked list, it shields everything on your phone except an essentials list you choose — Phone, Messages, Maps, whatever you decide you genuinely need — until an end time you set.

There's an optional strict variant: once started, a strict Monk Mode session can't be ended early, and Pause Protection is rejected while it runs. The non-strict variant can be ended from inside the app if you genuinely need out.

The Settings Passcode is an opt-in, Premium 4-digit code that gates the actions that weaken your own commitment: pausing protection, removing apps from your blocked list, disabling or deleting Protected Time schedules, and turning the passcode itself off. You set it once (entered twice to confirm); after that, those actions ask for the code first. Five wrong attempts triggers a calm 1-minute cooldown — never a permanent lockout. A code set while subscribed keeps protecting even if your subscription later lapses.

Important — there is no recovery. The code is stored only as a hash on your device; there's no email reset, no support backdoor, and we couldn't recover it for you even if you asked (no servers, remember). If you forget it, the only way out is Settings › Privacy Settings › Delete Account & Data, which erases everything and starts you fresh. That escape hatch never asks for the code — so you're never permanently locked out of your own phone, but you do lose your local data. Pick digits you'll remember, and treat it like a commitment device, because that's exactly what it is.

They measure different things:

• Activity streak — consecutive days you did at least one meaningful activity (3,000+ steps, 15+ minute focus session, or a nature check-in). This is the streak that drives the ×1.1 / ×1.25 earning boosts and Streak Freeze.
• Commitment streak — consecutive days you kept your blocking commitment intact: no pausing protection, no removing apps from your blocked list. Spending credits on unlock windows is fine — that's the system working. Weakening the system is what breaks it.

You can have a long activity streak and a short commitment streak (active, but kept poking holes in the shield), or the reverse. Both live entirely on your device.

Premium unlocks the same earning loop, just with the ceilings lifted:

• Unlimited blocked apps + whole-category blocking (Social, Games, Entertainment) — free picks up to 3 individual apps; categories like "Social" are Premium because one tap shields dozens of apps at once.
• 60-minute unlock windows (free = 15 or 30).
• Unlimited daily unlock minutes (free = 60 min/day total).
• Unlimited unlock windows per day (free = 2/day).
• Unlimited Quick Checks — the 5/10-minute micro-windows (free = 3/day).
• Unlimited focus sessions per day (free = 3/day).
• Credit rollover — up to 30 unspent credits carry into the new day (free balances reset at midnight).
• Faster Mindfulness earning — 1 credit per 90 sec (free = 1 credit per 2 min, same as Deep Focus).
• Higher daily movement credits — steps + workouts up to 120/day (free = 60).
• Higher daily nature credits — up to 90/day (free = 30).
• Bigger streak boost — ×1.25 earning from a 30-day streak (free caps at ×1.1 from day 7).
• Unlimited Protected Time schedules (free = 1).
• Monk Mode — shield everything except an essentials list you choose, until a time you set.
• Settings Passcode — a 4-digit code gating the actions that weaken your commitment (no recovery; see the Protection & commitment section).
• Longer focus sessions — 60 + 90 min Deep Focus, 15 + 20 min Mindfulness, 30 + 45 min Movement (free gets the shorter, most popular lengths).
• Full Progress history — Week, Month, and Year time ranges plus full credit-history charts (free = Week range and today's credit summary only).
• All 6 nature themes for focus sessions (free = 2: Beach and Forest).
• Custom nature spots — drop your own pin anywhere on the map.
• Extended search radius up to 20 km (free = 5 km).
• Streak Freeze — one rest day per rolling 7 days keeps a missed day from resetting your streak to zero.
• Strict Mode — once an unlock window or focus session starts, you can't end it early. Helpful for beating the "just five more minutes" loop.

In the App: Settings › Premium or tap any locked feature. Yearly is the featured plan; Monthly and Lifetime live under Other plans on the same screen:

• Yearly — US$39.99 after a 7-day free trial. Cancel before the trial ends and you pay nothing.
• Monthly — 7-day free trial, then US$1.99 for your first month (where offered), then US$4.99/month. Cancel anytime.
• Lifetime — US$99.99 once. A one-time purchase, not a subscription: everything in Premium, forever, no renewals. Restorable on a new device via Restore Purchases.

Purchases are handled by Apple via StoreKit 2 — we never see your payment details. Prices shown are USD; Apple converts to your local currency at checkout.

All Apple subscriptions are managed in one place:

1. Open the iPhone Settings app.
2. Tap your name at the top.
3. Tap Subscriptions.
4. Tap Grounded Premium and then Cancel Subscription.

Your current billing period stays active until it expires. You won't be charged again.

Premium Lifetime is a one-time purchase, not a subscription — there is nothing to cancel and it never renews. If you bought Lifetime while a Monthly or Yearly subscription was still running, cancel that subscription using the steps above; Apple does not cancel it for you.

Tap Restore Purchases at the bottom of the paywall, or in Settings › Premium. StoreKit sometimes takes a few seconds to propagate the entitlement to the App.

Refunds for App Store purchases go through Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple reviews each refund request. We can't issue refunds directly because we never touch your payment.

The Monthly plan supports Family Sharing — up to 6 family members can share the subscription via your iCloud Family group. The Yearly plan and the one-time Lifetime purchase are single-user for launch; Family Sharing for those may be added in a future update.

Apple's DeviceActivity framework has known reliability limitations (Apple Feedback FB18061981). Grounded has five fallbacks, but sometimes a reboot fixes things:

1. Open iOS Settings › Screen Time › See all activity. Confirm Screen Time is enabled for your device.
2. Open iOS Settings › Screen Time › App Limits and make sure Grounded has authorisation.
3. In Grounded, go to Settings › Blocked Apps › Choose Apps and re-select the apps (sometimes the Apple tokens go stale).
4. Restart your iPhone.
5. If still broken, email me with your iOS version and a short description of what's happening.

This is rare but can happen if iOS kills the DeviceActivity extension between when you started and when the window ends. Grounded should re-apply shields within a minute of the next app foreground. If it persists, tap the Home tab's lock icon to force re-shield immediately, or open Blocked Apps and tap "Lock Now".

In the App: Settings › Privacy Settings › Delete Account & Data. This wipes SwiftData (sessions, streaks, credits), App Group storage (selections, state), the Keychain UUID, and UserDefaults (display name, goals, settings). Two notes: (1) the delete also removes the Mindful Session entries Grounded wrote to Apple Health — unless you revoked Health access first, in which case you can remove them via Apple Health › Browse › Mindfulness › Show All Data. (2) Subscription receipts remain with Apple; restore them anytime via Restore Purchases.

Uninstalling Grounded from the home screen removes most local data, but iOS Keychain items can persist across reinstall — use the in-app delete above for a guaranteed wipe. Uninstalling also won't auto-cancel an active subscription — cancel via iPhone Settings › Subscriptions first.

No. Grounded doesn't run in the background except when you're inside a focus session or actively in a geofence for a nature check-in. Location updates are batched and Apple's energy-efficient region monitoring is used. Step reads happen via HealthKit observers — Apple delivers updates when the data changes, not on a constant poll.

Grounded is iPhone-only for the initial release. Family Controls behaves differently between iPad and iPhone, and shipping iPhone-first keeps the blocking experience consistent. If enough people email asking for iPad, I'll build it — the codebase is portable.