Anchor: App Lock & Launcher

drift

About this app

Anchor locks the apps that take your evenings, and does not hand them back early.

You pick the apps and the duration. Anchor generates a passcode, seals it, and blocks those apps until the time is served. Then it shows you the code.

HOW IT WORKS

Pick apps. Set how long. Write one line about why.
Open a locked app and Anchor closes it, showing you your own reason instead.
When the timer ends your code appears. Enter it to unlock, or leave them locked.

A LAUNCHER, NOT JUST A BLOCKER

Make Anchor your home screen and it becomes a clock and the few apps you actually need. Phone, messages, camera, your bank. Everything else is one deliberate swipe away instead of one thumb twitch away.

THE TIMER IS HONEST

Winding your system clock forward does not shorten a lock. Anchor counts verified elapsed time, not the wall clock. Restarting your phone does not clear one either.

AN EXIT THAT COSTS SOMETHING

You can always end a commitment early. Ask, wait out a cooling off period, then retype your reason word for word. The wait doubles for each commitment you break in a week, and every break goes on your record.

SCREEN TIME WORTH READING

Time on screen, and pickups. Forty pickups of thirty seconds is a worse day than one deliberate twenty minute sitting, and only one of those shows up in a totals only view.

NEVER BLOCKED

Phone calls, messages, your keyboard, and emergency calls. Always, whatever you pick.

ACCESSIBILITY SERVICE DISCLOSURE

Anchor uses Android's accessibility service for two things: to detect the moment a locked app opens so it can close it, and to stop Anchor being switched off while a lock is running. Anchor reads screen content only for these purposes. It stores none of it and sends none of it anywhere.

UNINSTALL PROTECTION

Anchor can register as a device administrator so Android refuses to uninstall it while a commitment is running. This is optional and you can turn it off whenever no lock is active.

PRIVACY

No account, no ads, no profile. Anchor never sends which apps you lock, the reasons you type, or anything it sees on screen. It reports anonymous usage counts to help improve the app, and you can turn that off in Settings.

HONESTLY

Anchor is deliberate friction, not a cage. Someone determined can still get past it. What it removes is the thoughtless reach, which for most people is the whole problem.

What’s new

Built to break doomscrolling. Pick the apps that pull you in, set a time, and Anchor holds the unlock code until the time is served. You lock in, the phone goes quiet.
There is a way out if you need it. It costs a wait, and it goes on your record.
Comes with a minimalist home screen showing only the apps you actually need.