Tempo: Screen Time & App Block

Florent Michenaud

In-app purchases

About this app

You spend 2.5 hours a day on your screen. 17 hours a week — nobody trains that hard.

Tempo blocks the apps you choose and gives them back in exchange for movement. 1 minute of exercise = 1 minute of screen time. You set the rate.

THE PRINCIPLE

1. You move. Running, lifting, walking, cycling… Tempo reads your workout from Health Connect or your phone's step counter.
2. You earn. Every minute of effort credits your screen-time bank. 30 minutes of running, 30 minutes of scrolling.
3. You spend. As long as your balance is positive, your blocked apps open — using them drains the balance. At zero, the lock drops back.

BUILT TO LAST

• Automatic re-locking. Tempo tracks your real usage continuously and locks back at zero, even when the app is closed.
• Rates and profiles. Four profiles — Easy, Balanced, Athletic, Spartan — set rate, bonuses and cap in one tap. Yours is worked out from two questions at setup, and adjustable anytime. Walking and cycling are weighted automatically.
• Anti-cheat filter. Only sensor-measured workouts count. Manually entered workouts are ignored, and Tempo tells you why.
• Strict mode. Tightening applies right away, loosening waits 24 hours. You decide when you're calm, so you can't negotiate when you're tempted.
• Your day, hour by hour. What each hour earned you or cost you, on a single scale. Plus your earned days: the ones where all your screen time had been paid for in advance.
• History. Minutes earned, minutes spent, and above all the curve of the ones you earned and never spent. That's where the real progress shows.
• Widgets. Your balance, used vs earned, unspent time and your last 7 days — on your home screen, in stopwatch digits.
• Optional pause. Past the session length you choose, Tempo steps in for five minutes.

FREE, WITH PRO IF YOU WANT MORE

Blocking is free and unlimited: as many apps and categories as you want, the rates, the profiles, the step and calorie bonuses, and the last 7 days of your history. Tempo Pro adds strict mode, the adjustable daily cap (60 min/day without it), fixed per-sport rates, your full history with the unspent-time curve, the detailed Sunday recap, and the widgets. Monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase.

NOTHING LEAVES YOUR PHONE

No account, no server, no tracker. Your blocked apps, your usage and your workouts stay on your device. Tempo contains no advertising or analytics SDK, and sells no data.

PERMISSIONS, EXPLAINED

• Usage access: measure the time you spend on the apps you chose to limit. This is what runs the counter.
• Display over other apps: show the blocking screen when your balance hits zero.
• Health Connect and step counter: read your workouts, steps and active calories to credit your balance. Read-only, never written.
• Background health data: credit your effort without you having to open Tempo.
• Notifications: tell you a workout was credited, and warn you before the lock returns.

None of these permissions are required to install the app. Tempo explains each one before asking for it.

Android 9 and up. Health Connect required for workouts (preinstalled on Android 14 and up).

What’s new

Your workouts count, even when things jam: a stuck health read no longer freezes your credits, a workout read then lost comes back on the next reading, and if Health Connect withdraws access, Tempo sees it, says so and repairs it with one button. A walk is no longer paid twice, as a workout and as steps.

Your home screen tells your day: tap an hour to see what paid for it. A monthly calendar joins your journal.

Redesigned settings, free unlimited blocking, three more Pro widgets.