Hardstop: App Blocker & Limits
Hard stops. No cancel button.
Only for iPhone
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPhone. Not verified for macOS.
iPhone
Schedules that fire when they say. A block whose rules freeze while it runs. A
way back in that costs you a deliberate wait, then re-locks itself.
Start a hard stop and your apps are shut until the time is up. Not paused. Not
until you change your mind. Until it is up.
Most blockers can be undone in two taps: edit the schedule, or delete it.
Hardstop cannot. While a block runs, the rules that define it are frozen the
schedule cannot be edited to end early, disabled or deleted, and blocked apps
cannot be removed from the list.
Pay once. No subscription, no account, no data collected. Everything runs on
your iPhone.
Block now, or set hours that repeat
Tap once and pick a length: fifteen minutes, an hour, three hours. The apps you
chose are shut for that long, with no schedule to build first. Make it a hard
stop and there is no way out at all no wait, no pass, no cancel button.
Schedules do the hours you already know about: a start time, an end time, and
the days it repeats. Blocking continues whether or not Hardstop is running, and
survives restarting your iPhone.
Three ways in, and each one costs more
Outside a hard stop you can ask to be let into a blocked app. Asking starts a
wait rather than opening it, and when the wait is over you have to come back and
ask again. That second, deliberate step is the point.
Every pass after the first in the same block costs more: thirty seconds becomes
ninety, then three minutes. And you only get three per block. The first slip of
an afternoon stays cheap. The fourth is not offered.
A pass is temporary too. After sixteen minutes the block returns on its own,
without you having to remember to put it back.
A record of what actually happened
When a block ends, Hardstop writes down whether you saw it through or asked your
way in, and how many times. Not screen time statistics a record of you against
your own rules. It never leaves your iPhone.
Strict mode
With strict mode on, every block behaves like a hard stop, and strict mode
cannot be switched off while one is running.
Deleting Hardstop would still lift a block. No app on iOS can prevent that, and
this one will not claim otherwise.
What it uses
Hardstop blocks apps through Apple's Screen Time framework, which runs entirely
on your device. It asks for access for you, as an adult managing your own
iPhone. It is not a parental-controls app: it cannot see, manage or report on
another person's device.
Free and unlocked
Blocking is never the thing you pay for. The free version blocks as many apps
and categories as you like, on one schedule, with hard stops and the record
included. The unlock is a single purchase adding unlimited schedules, strict
mode, and a wait length of your choosing. It is not a subscription. Nothing
renews.
Privacy
Hardstop has no account, no server and no analytics. Your schedules and the apps
you block never leave your iPhone, because there is nowhere for them to go.
Ratings & Reviews
The developer, George Taylor, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- George Taylor
- Size
- 2.1 MB
- Category
- Productivity
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 26.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 26.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 26.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 26.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
English and 6 more
- English, Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Hardstop Unlock $6.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 George Taylor