Lorien

Lorien is a small side-project I built to prevent doomscrolling. The concept is super simple: Before opening Instagram or X, you have to enter the phrase “I am unblocking for a specific reason that I will now speak out loud. This is a better use of my time than reading or journaling”. Actually speak the reason out loud, at least in your internal monologue!

The idea is that adding a small amount of intentional friction makes you pause and think about whether you really want to open that app right now. It turns a mindless habit into a conscious decision.

How it works

• Block list: Choose which apps, categories, or websites to block via Apple’s built-in picker
• Unlocking: Type the configured phrase and choose how many minutes you want to unblock for (default 3 minutes)
• Re-lock: The app automatically re-locks when your chosen time is up
• Live Activity: While unlocked, a Live Activity on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island shows the remaining time with a stop button to re-lock early

Under the hood, Lorien uses Apple’s Screen Time APIs (FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, DeviceActivity) to block selected apps by default and only unblock them temporarily after entering the phrase. No data is collected.

Get it

Lorien is free on the App Store. The source code is on GitHub.