WhatFor: The phone stays yours

ohad van leeuwen

About this app

Two questions every time you unlock your phone: what for, and how long. Then a small timer holds you to your answer.
It doesn't block anything and can't send anything anywhere: no internet permission.

You picked up the phone to check one thing. Twenty minutes later you can't say what happened. WhatFor asks at the door, then a small bubble floats over whatever you're using and counts down. At zero it asks if you're done. If you don't answer, the screen turns off.

"Waste time, 15 minutes" is a valid answer. It doesn't decide what your time is worth and doesn't grade you. It measures one thing: did you do what you said. Not an app blocker, not a screen time limit. The phone stays yours.

During calls, navigation, the camera and alarms it stays quiet. If time runs out mid-call or mid-drive, the clock keeps running, but nothing locks and nothing asks until you're done. Unlocked for a call? When it ends, it asks one thing: staying on your phone?

Need longer? Long-press the bubble. Tapped "not now"? It counts up instead, so time without a purpose stays visible. Save what you do often; one tap starts it. A dashboard shows where the day went: time saved, unlocks with a purpose, your riskiest hour.

I built this after counting my unlocks for one day. 74. I couldn't remember one. Android only.

Permissions: draw over other apps (the bubble) and see which app is in front (to stay quiet during calls). The screen lock is an optional accessibility service that does only that and cannot read the screen; without it, nothing turns off. Each is explained before it's asked for.

Free. No ads. No account.

What’s new

New icon and colors: paper and ink instead of purple. Fixed the black bar on phones with a camera hole, the empty chip on the question screen, and the time format. Still quiet during calls and navigation. Still no internet permission.