A few short runs a day. That's all the social media you get.
Pick the apps that eat your time. Give each one a run length (3 minutes) and how many runs a day (4). The rest of the day those apps are locked. Tap Start Run, the app opens, a timer counts down on your lock screen, and when it hits zero the app locks again. Out of runs? Locked until tomorrow.
That's the whole thing.
Runs uses Apple's Screen Time frameworks (Family Controls, Managed Settings, Device Activity) to shield the apps you pick. The block is real. Starting a run unshields one app for its run window. A Device Activity event re-shields it the moment the time is spent, even if Runs isn't open.
- A run is one timed visit. You decide how long and how many per day.
- Shared pool or per-app. Four runs total across everything, or separate counts per app. Your call.
- Live Activity timer. The countdown sits on your lock screen and Dynamic Island the whole run.
- Commitment lock. Lock your settings for 1 day, 7, 30, or forever. While locked you can make limits stricter but never looser. Forever means until you delete the app, and the app tells you that before you commit.
- On device. No account, no cloud, no analytics. Apple never even hands the app the names of the apps you blocked, they stay opaque tokens.
Needs Xcode 16+, a physical iPhone, and the Family Controls entitlement (development works on your own device; App Store distribution needs Apple's grant). The Screen Time stack does not run in the Simulator.
brew install xcodegen
xcodegen generate
open Runs.xcodeprojproject.yml is the source of truth. The .xcodeproj is generated and gitignored.
| Target | What it does |
|---|---|
| Runs | the app: UI, run engine, ActivityKit |
| RunsWidget | Live Activity countdown + home screen widget |
| RunsMonitor | Device Activity monitor, re-blocks out of process |
| RunsShield | the custom block screen |
| RunsShieldAction | handles the block screen's button |
All five share state through the group.com.manif.runs App Group.
Fairfax HD by Kreative Software, under the SIL Open Font License. License in Runs/Fonts/.
MIT. See LICENSE.