Boon: Screen Time & Focus

Boonapp

About this app

Boon helps you stop mindless scrolling and take back control of your screen time, without quitting the apps you enjoy. The idea is simple: your productive time unlocks your break time.

HOW IT WORKS
• Earn your screen time: minutes on useful apps (language learning, reading, work) or in a focus session fill your reserve.
• Spend it on your leisure apps: social media, videos, games. Each minute comes out of your reserve.
• When your reserve is empty, your leisure apps pause gently until you earn more. No guilt, no cold turkey.

FOCUS TIMER
Put your phone down and start a timed session for real-life activities: reading, sport, study, work. Looking at the timer doesn't count, opening another app does. Every minute you hold earns break time.

BUILT FOR REAL LIFE
• "How long?": when you open a leisure app, Boon can ask how much time you want to spend there, then checks in when time is up.
• "Time left" bubble: see your remaining minutes without leaving the app.
• Simple sliders: choose your apps and your exchange rate, app by app. No numbers to type.
• Life modes: Balance for everyday life, Push for focused days, Respite for hard days.
• "Real need" passes: a few extra minutes when you truly need them, limited and never judged.
• Time reclaimed: see the hours you have taken back from your phone.

AN ALLY, NOT A PRISON
Boon is not here to shame you. You stay in control: you can adjust, pause or turn everything off at any time. No points, no streaks, no pressure, just better phone habits and more time for what matters.

PRIVATE BY DESIGN
• No account, no ads.
• Everything stays on your phone. Boon reads no content and no browsing.
• Anonymous statistics only if you opt in. Off by default.
• Blocking is free and will stay free.

🔒 REELS & SHORTS ON PAUSE (OPTIONAL): USE OF THE ACCESSIBILITY API
Boon offers an optional feature that pauses short-video feeds: Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and Facebook Reels. To do this, Boon uses Android's AccessibilityService API, only if you accept it in the app after a clear explanation.
• What Boon reads: only in Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, the technical identifiers of the elements on screen and the name of the selected tab, to recognise the short-video screen.
• What Boon does: tap the app's Home tab, or the "back" button, to take you back to the app's home. Nothing else.
• Your data: nothing is stored, sent or shared. Boon reads no messages, passwords or video content.
• You choose app by app, and you can turn this feature off at any time in Boon or in Android's accessibility settings.

PERMISSIONS, EXPLAINED
• Usage access: to measure time spent in each app. Required.
• Display over other apps: to bring Boon back when your break runs out, and to show the "time left" bubble.
• Notifications and battery: to keep the protection running reliably.

I built Boon for myself after trying apps that were either too strict or too easy to ignore. Your ideas shape what comes next: write to me from the app's settings.

What’s new

What's new
• "How long?": when you open a leisure app, choose your time and Boon checks in when it's up.
• "Time left" bubble over your apps.
• Reels & Shorts on pause (optional): Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, app by app, with your consent.
• Clearer end of focus sessions, showing the minutes you earned.
• A warmer welcome and a button to write to me.
Fixes and stability