Pause for a Cause

Tab for a Cause

Contains ads

About this app

Pause for a Cause helps you stop wasting time in apps that aren't making you happy, and raises money for great causes along the way.

Pick the apps you find addicting and wish you spent less time on (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, whatever your weakness is). When you reach for one, Pause for a Cause overlays a calm "Take a moment. Is this necessary?" screen first. You then have a choice:

• Watch a short video ad. The proceeds fund the charity you picked.
• Or just go back home and not open the app.

Research shows that adding a moment of pause before opening gives you an opportunity to be more thoughtful about your decision, and avoid acting on reflex.

Every ad you watch is logged against your account, climbs the weekly Tab for a Cause leaderboard, and converts directly into a contribution to your chosen cause. We support 10+ causes including Reproductive Health, Global Health, Disaster Relief, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, and animal welfare.

WHY IT WORKS
• It's the friction that's missing. Most "block distracting apps" tools either nag you with a notification (easy to ignore) or hard-block the app (so frustrating you turn the tool off). Pause for a Cause forces a small pause and gives you an escape hatch that actually does some good.
• It's positive. You're not punishing yourself. Every accidental open becomes a few cents for a real cause.
• It works system-wide. No need to switch browsers, no need to disable notifications, no profile or VPN trickery.

YOUR DATA, YOUR CONTROL
• You can change which apps are blocked at any time.
• You can change your cause any time from Settings.
• We only collect what we need to credit your impact to the right cause.

Pause for a Cause is built by Gladly, the team behind Tab for a Cause and App for a Cause. We've raised millions of dollars for charity by turning everyday digital moments into giving. This is the same idea, on your phone, in the moments you'd rather take back.

Ratings and reviews

Good idea, but needs a new tweaks. For example, a work day timer so it doesn't activate after hours (or a disable for x hours button). A way to mute the volume on the entire app (I tried putting it in my game launcher and somehow that didn't work) or default the ads to mute. Banner ads on the launch page would also be better for when we're using the timer button. Good effort but hard to use at this time.

The timer has helped curb my screentime, but what I really want is to contribute to a good cause. Unfortunately I can't bc the ads never load. I always get a message that says, "Ad unavailable," "Ad not ready," or "Couldn't load ad." Aug 9 edit: I'm in the USA.

Does exactly what it says - lets you pick a cause and watch ads to interrupt your habit of opening the same app over and over. Easy to change the settings by going back to this app, can change causes after initial setup, and can even disable the ad part if you just want a free app timer. Having ads interrupt me has been a great deterrent from other apps that want me to use them, so I'm hopeful this will help break my bad habits!

What’s new

New: notifications for milestones, a weekly recap, and news. Pick which ones you want in Settings. Text a friend now opens first when it's offered.