Digital Habits: Blocker

The first time you block, macOS asks whether Blocker may control each browser (Automation): press Allow for each one, or its websites stay open. Missed one? Switch it on in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation. What that covers:

• Safari, Chrome, Brave, and Edge: covered this way.
• Firefox: needs the Digital Habits: Focus extension instead, which the app helps you add; allow it in private windows too.

Yes: press Allow instead of Block. An Allow only focus space blocks everything except the websites and apps you add; with no websites listed, all websites stay open, and the same goes for apps. In a Block focus space, an address such as youtube.com blocks the whole site, m. and www. included. You can have several focus spaces on at once.

Yes:

• Manual blocks from when you switch it on until you stop it.
• Daily and Weekly block only at the times you set, and wait in between.

Switching a focus space on never asks you to type anything; only stopping early does. On Android (When to block), a new Daily or Weekly focus space is on as soon as you save it.

A full-screen notice says the focus space is starting. After you press Let's go!, you have 30 seconds to save your work; then the app is asked to quit, and made to close 10 seconds later. A scheduled start can be put off once with Snooze for 2 mins. A blocked app you open during a block closes straight away.

On purpose: closing the window only hides it (on a Mac, ⌘Q and Quit in the Dock do too), so blocking carries on. Open it again from its icon in the menu bar on a Mac, or in the system tray on Windows. It starts by itself when you log in.

Settings › Enforcement › Auto-close browser if blocking is bypassed. Once on, if you switch off Automation (Mac) or the Focus extension during a block, your browser closes after the Grace period, 60 seconds unless you change it. It can only be turned off again while nothing is blocking.

Flip its switch off and type the words the app shows; pasting doesn't work. Set the effort in the focus space under To stop early:

• What to type and How many words (the app shows roughly how many minutes it takes).
• Turn back on after, from 5 minutes to 24 hours, or Never.

On a computer, Settings › Enforcement › Maximum words to stop early caps the length; on iPhone and iPad, the most is 100 words. There is no password or master key to skip the words: that is the point.

Settings › Manage › Stop all, shown while anything is blocking or scheduled. Type the words of your hardest focus space: every block ends, and every schedule is switched off, keeping its days and times.

Because of Advanced options › Editing:

• With Stricter only, the default, you can add websites, apps, and times during a block, but not remove them; to loosen it, stop the focus space first.
• With Any change, you can also remove things, but only while it isn't blocking.

A focus space that is switched off can always be changed.

No. It collects no personal data and doesn't use a VPN. At most once a day it sends an anonymous usage count (which app, which platform, and a random ID that changes every month); your websites, apps, and focus spaces stay on your device. Turn it off in Settings › General › Send anonymous usage count.

Check these:

• That Blocker may still control your browser: System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation.
• In the app, Settings › Something not working? › Setup walks you through it again, and Diagnostics shows what is set up.
• If blocking lags, Settings › Enforcement › Blocking mechanism can switch a browser to Extension.

Settings › General › Blocklists & schedules › Export saves a file; Import on the other device adds them to what is there. Schedules come back as drafts: start them yourself when you are ready.

Stop any focus spaces that are on, then go to Settings › Manage › Uninstall…; it is greyed out while anything is blocking or scheduled. Use it rather than dragging the app to the Trash: the app never quits, and Uninstall… also removes its login item and its links to your browsers. Your focus spaces are kept for a reinstall, unless you tick Also delete my blocklists, schedules, and settings. If macOS asks to let it control Finder, press Allow. Remove the Focus extension from Firefox yourself.