Sometimes you don't want a nudge — you want the door locked. Hard Mode blocks the apps you choose for as long as you commit, using Apple's Screen Time technology. The twist that makes it different from a normal blocker: starting Hard Mode costs tokens you earned by staying off your phone. You're spending your own progress on your own discipline — and that skin in the game is exactly why it holds.
how Hard Mode works
- Earn tokens: every minute you spend off social media becomes tokens automatically.
- Choose the apps to block and how long the block should last.
- Spend tokens to start Hard Mode — the commitment is the point.
- The chosen apps stay blocked for the period you committed to.
- When it ends, you're free — and usually surprised how little you missed.
why paying tokens makes blocking work
Free blockers get deleted because turning them off costs nothing. Hard Mode inverts that: you invested tokens you earned with real time off your phone, so breaking the commitment means wasting your own progress. Behavioral economics calls it a commitment device; you'll call it the first block you didn't uninstall.
It's still your choice, always. Pauza never blocks anything you didn't explicitly choose, and your list of blocked apps never leaves your device.
Hard Mode vs regular app blockers
Apple's built-in App Limits can be ignored with one tap. Paid blockers hold better but punish you into deleting them. Hard Mode sits in Pauza's reward loop: the same tokens you spend to block apps are the ones you earn back — with streaks and challenges — by actually staying off. Blocking is one tool in the loop, not the whole product.
Earn your tokens, lock the doomscroll apps, and see what a committed week feels like. Free on iPhone.
Get Pauza on iPhone
Related: challenges — bet a friend · all screen time apps compared · the blog