For ADHD

When soft limits do not survive executive function.

Every screen-time app on the App Store is designed for a brain with a reliable executive function. ScreenFine is designed for the moment that brain is not in the room. Hard consequences scale to impulse moments. Soft reminders do not.

Why ADHD users need a different mechanism

The standard advice for phone overuse assumes the user can be reminded of their intention and act on it. That assumption holds for some people most of the time. For an ADHD user it holds inconsistently, and the inconsistency is the entire problem. The intention from Sunday night does not load reliably at 11:30pm on Wednesday. The reminder banner is not the missing piece. The missing piece is a structure that does not depend on intention loading in the moment.

This page is not a substitute for clinical advice. Stimulant medication, therapy, and sleep are the foundations and they are not what an app provides. What an app can provide is the layer above those: a mechanism that stays loaded when willpower does not. ScreenFine is built for that layer.

The failure mode for every soft limit (notification banners, dim screens, scheduled blocks) is the same with an ADHD brain: the override is one tap and the override produces no real consequence, so the override becomes part of the habit loop. By week three the friction has been absorbed and the daily total is back where it started. The mechanism has to refuse to absorb. That is what makes the redemption-locked design different.

How real consequences scale to impulse moments

The decision you can make is the one at 9am Sunday: pick a daily limit, pick a redemption type, pick a block list. The decision you cannot reliably make is the one at 11pm Wednesday. ScreenFine moves the decision from the second moment to the first. By the time the impulse arrives, the apps either lock or they do not. There is nothing left to decide.

The redemption itself is important. A lock that resolves with a payment dialog is a lock that hides what just happened. A lock that resolves with 25 pushups (or 1,000 steps, or 10 mindful minutes) is a lock that exchanges the dopamine of the scroll for the dopamine of the action. That exchange is more compatible with how an ADHD brain rewards itself than a punitive-only design.

For more on how the mechanism interacts with executive function specifically, see our longer write-up at screen time and ADHD.

Three places it matters

Use cases

Transitions

The hardest moment is the one between two things: finishing a task, leaving the house, ending a meeting. The phone is the default landing pad. A hard lock on your distractor apps during your declared transition windows turns the phone from a free lane into a closed road. The redemption (a short walk, a pushup set) is itself a transition cue.

Hyperfocus aftermath

A long focus block ends and the brain wants a reward. The reward is usually two hours of scrolling. ScreenFine's overage lock fires the moment the daily limit is crossed, with no opt-out button to negotiate. The redemption gives the dopamine system a clean exit it can actually finish.

Novelty seeking at 11pm

Bedtime is when the executive function is at its weakest and the novelty-seeking circuit is at its strongest. A daily limit pre-set in the morning makes the 11pm decision for the 11pm version of you. The apps lock. The redemption is short enough to do beside the bed and decisive enough to break the loop.

Common questions from ADHD users

Does this replace ADHD medication or therapy?

No. Medication and therapy are the foundation. ScreenFine is the behavioral layer above them, the structure that stays active when executive function drops. Think of it as scaffolding, not treatment.

What if I can't do pushups?

You pick your redemption type during onboarding. Steps (1,000 counted by HealthKit) and mindful minutes (10, timer-locked) are the alternatives. Squats are also available. You are not locked into one method.

Can I change my limit on bad days?

Yes, from Settings. The limit is yours to adjust. The only thing ScreenFine does not allow is bypassing the lock in the moment without completing the redemption, that would remove the mechanism ADHD users specifically need.

If you want to go deeper

A mechanism that stays loaded

$1 a week via Apple IAP. 7-day free trial. Pause anytime. If the mechanism does not work for your brain, cancel before day 7 and pay nothing.

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