Your apps stay locked until you actually do it.
Helpfl shields the apps you lose hours to, then keeps them shielded until you physically scan an NFC tag on the treadmill, the pill bottle, the front door — wherever the routine really happens.
iPhone · iOS 17 or later · Apple Watch companion included
A “Done” button is easy to lie to. A tag on the treadmill isn’t.
How it works
Three steps, then it runs itself.
Tag it
Stick a cheap NFC sticker where the routine actually happens. Helpfl reads it in a tap — no pairing, no battery, no app to open.
Set the rule
Pick a time and choose which apps to block. Instagram, TikTok, the news — whatever you reach for instead.
Tap to unlock
Your apps shield themselves at the due time and stay that way until you walk over and scan. Then they’re yours again.
The lock, in action
One is a wall. The other is the reward.
Locked at 9:00. Unlocked the second you scan.
Everything in the box
Built for the days you don’t feel like it.
Real Screen Time blocking
Helpfl uses Apple’s own Screen Time framework, so a blocked app is genuinely blocked — not a reminder you can swipe away.
A 60-minute head start
The hour before a routine is due, everything stays open. Finish early and nothing ever locks.
Streak freezes
One bad day shouldn’t erase two months. Spend a freeze and the streak survives, honestly labelled.
Time Extenders
Stuck in a meeting when the lock lands? Buy yourself ten more minutes without breaking the habit.
Live Activities
The countdown lives on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, so the deadline is never a surprise.
Cloud sync
Streaks, tags and history back themselves up, so a new iPhone doesn’t cost you your record.
See the hours you win back.
Every lock that held is time you spent somewhere else. Helpfl adds it up — by day, by habit, by tag — so the payoff is a number and not a feeling.
A tag for every habit.
Name each tag, give it a colour and an icon, and that colour follows the habit everywhere — the home screen, the streak grid, the charts. One glance tells you which part of your day slipped.
Control it from your wrist.
The countdown, the freeze and the Time Extender all live on your Apple Watch. Your phone still does the enforcing — the watch just means you don’t have to go find it.
Pricing
The blocking is free. Forever.
Free
Everything you need to make one habit stick.
$0
No account required beyond Sign in with Apple.
- Unlimited habits and one-off tasks
- App blocking and NFC tag unlocking
- Streaks, freezes and the 60-minute head start
- Live Activities, Apple Watch and insights
- Three Time Extenders to get you started
Pro
For when one habit turns into a whole routine.
$36 / year
Or $4 a month. Yearly works out 25% cheaper and starts with a free month.
- Vacation Mode — pause every habit at once, or just the ones you pick
- Advanced scheduling — repeat every few weeks or months, with start and end dates
- Unlimited Time Extenders
- Bonus freezes every month to protect long streaks
- Secure cloud backup across your devices
Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Cancel any time in your App Store settings. See the Terms of Use.
Blocking runs entirely on-device through Apple’s Screen Time framework. Helpfl never sees which apps you open.
Questions
The things everyone asks first.
Do I have to buy special tags?
No — any standard NFC sticker works, and a pack of ten costs a few dollars. Helpfl links to a tag pack from inside the app if you’d rather not go looking. You can also register a tag you already own, like a transit card you keep in a drawer.
What if I lose a tag?
Register a new one in the Tag Vault and point the habit at it — it takes about fifteen seconds. If you’re locked out right now, the emergency bypass will release your apps.
Can I just cheat it?
You can, and deliberately not easily. The emergency bypass makes you type out a paragraph acknowledging what you’re doing, then records the routine as bypassed rather than done. It exists for the day you’re genuinely stuck, not for the day you don’t feel like it.
Does it drain my battery?
No. The blocking is handled by iOS itself through Screen Time — Helpfl isn’t running in the background watching you, and there’s nothing to poll. The NFC tags are passive and have no battery at all.
What happens if I’m nowhere near the tag?
Take a Time Extender to push the lock back, or spend a freeze to protect the streak for the day. Both are one tap, from the phone or the watch.
Do I need an Apple Watch?
No. The watch app is a remote control — handy, never required. Every scan happens on the iPhone, because Apple Watch has no NFC reader available to apps.
Is there an Android version?
No, and there isn’t a realistic one. The whole product rests on Apple’s Screen Time framework, which has no Android equivalent that a third-party app can use the same way.
What does Helpfl store about me?
Your habits, tags and completion history, so they survive a new phone. Your app selections never leave the device — iOS hands them to Helpfl as opaque tokens that can’t be read or synced. The privacy policy spells out the rest.