WaitAIMinute

Outside Studio

About this app

AI chat apps are easy to open and hard to close. WaitAIMinute gives them a daily limit, and puts a pause screen in front of them when it runs out.

Pick the apps you want to limit. Set one number for the day. When the time is gone, the app is covered by a pause screen that says why. Want more? The screen offers another 15 or 30 minutes. When that window ends, the pause comes back on its own.

• A streak that counts the days in a row you stay under your limit, and your best run.
• The limit resets at midnight, on your phone's clock.
• A report shows how long you have used the apps you chose, today and for the week.
• No account, no sign-up, and it works without a connection.

Your choices stay on your phone. Which apps you picked, your limits, your usage and the activity log never leave the device. The only things that do are anonymous crash reports, so we can fix bugs, and the details Expo needs to send you a new version. The full policy is in the app and linked on this page.

PERMISSIONS AND WHAT THEY ARE FOR

WaitAIMinute uses Android's Accessibility Service API to notice which app or website is in the foreground, so it can cover an app you have paused and count how long you have used it. The service reads the foreground app's package name, or the page's domain, and window-change events. Nothing else: it does not read your screen, your messages, or anything you type. That information stays on your device and is never sent anywhere. You can turn the service off at any time in Settings → Accessibility.

Two more permissions finish the setup. "Display over other apps" lets the pause screen be drawn on top of the app. "Usage access" lets the app read today's usage, so it can enforce your limit and draw your report. Both are granted in your device settings, and both can be revoked at any time.

A couple of notes. Enforcement is best effort: aggressive battery optimisation by some manufacturers can stop any background app, so the app asks to be excluded from it during setup. WaitAIMinute is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any of the apps it can limit, and it is not a parental control or device management tool.