Questions about Quietly

What is Quietly?

Quietly is a screen time app for iPhone. You choose the apps that distract you and the hours you want protected, and Quietly blocks those apps during those routines. When you need access anyway, you spend one of a limited number of timed passes.

It runs on iOS 17 and later, needs no account, and works primarily on your device.

How does Quietly block apps on iPhone?

Quietly uses Apple's Screen Time technology to shield the apps you select during a routine's scheduled hours. Blocked apps stay installed and nothing inside them is touched. They simply do not open until the routine ends or you spend a pass.

Apple requires this permission before any app can shield another. If you decline it, Quietly can hold your settings but nothing will block.

What are passes and how long do they last?

A pass temporarily opens one blocked app for 1, 5 or 15 minutes, depending on the length you chose. When it expires, the shield returns on its own, so you do not have to remember to stop.

You get a limited number each day, and stronger routines give you fewer. A bedtime routine can carry a single pass, or none at all.

Does choosing "Go back" cost a pass?

No. Choosing Go back at the shield, or during a friction step, does not consume a pass. Only actually opening the blocked app spends one.

What is a friction step?

A friction step is a short, deliberate action before a blocked app opens. Quietly offers six: a countdown, a typed reason, a sequence quiz, an arithmetic quiz, guided breathing, and naming an intention.

You can fix one method, rotate between them, or let Quietly start gently and adjust over time. The point is not difficulty. It is putting any decision at all into a gesture that normally contains none.

Why did the shield not appear?

Usually one of three things: the routine is not enabled, the current time is outside the routine's scheduled window, or no app or category is selected. A block only applies during its schedule, so nothing shows outside those hours.

If all three are correct, Screen Time permission may have been revoked, or Apple's Screen Time service may have stalled after an iOS update. The help centre has the full recovery checklist.

Does Quietly work on Android?

No. Quietly is iPhone only and requires iOS 17 or later. It is built directly on Apple's Screen Time framework, which has no Android equivalent, so there is no Android version and none planned.

There is no iPad, Mac or web version either.

Can I use Quietly for parental controls?

No. Quietly is a single-user app that works on your own device only. It cannot manage another person's iPhone, and it is not a replacement for Apple's Family Sharing parental controls.

It is built for the case where the person setting the limits and the person living with them are the same person, which changes what the design should do. Parental controls are meant to be hard to remove. Quietly is meant to be easy to remove and hard to open an app through, which is a different problem.

What does Quietly Premium add?

Quietly Premium adds custom routines, so you can protect any hours and days you like rather than only the Day and Night routines. Blocking, passes, friction steps and Focus sessions work without it.

Current subscription options and prices are shown in the App Store and inside the app, and Apple handles the billing.

How do I cancel Quietly Premium?

Cancel through Apple at apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions. Deleting the app does not cancel the subscription, and it will keep renewing until you cancel with Apple.

How is Quietly different from Apple's Screen Time?

Apple's Screen Time reports your usage and sets limits you can dismiss for the rest of the day. Quietly acts at the moment of opening: named routines with their own apps and strictness, a friction step before the app opens, and a small number of timed passes instead of an all-day override.

They are not rivals. Quietly is built on top of Apple's Screen Time and runs alongside it. The full comparison is here.

Does Quietly collect or sell my data?

Quietly does not sell personal information and does not use it for advertising or cross-app tracking. There is no Quietly account and no cloud profile, so your routines and settings live on your phone.

Quietly does collect a limited amount of diagnostic and usage data, such as crash reports and which features get used. It is not linked to your identity, and it never includes the apps you selected or anything you typed.

Apple hands Quietly your app selections as opaque tokens, meaningless references that let Quietly apply a shield without revealing which app or category they stand for. Quietly never learns which apps you picked. The privacy policy has the complete list.

How do I delete my data?

Delete the app. Because there is no Quietly account and no cloud profile, most of your app data lives only on your device and goes with it. You can also revoke Screen Time and notification permissions in iOS Settings.

Progress data is included in your iCloud backup if you have backups turned on, which is covered in the privacy policy.

Can support undo a permanent pass lock?

Making a pass permanent is intentionally one-way. It is designed so a moment of resolve cannot be undone by a later moment of weakness, which is the whole reason anyone chooses it.

Support can hear you out, and we read every message. We cannot promise to reverse it.