If a block will not end, you do not need us to fix it. The last two ways below are handled by iOS itself, so they work even if Paddle Past will not open.
Ending or shortening a block
- Wait. The block is set to lift by itself at the time you chose, even if Paddle Past is never opened again. iOS does not always deliver that on time. If apps are still blocked after the time you chose, use one of the points below.
- Open Paddle Past. If the time you chose has passed and apps are still blocked, opening the app lifts them. This will not help if Paddle Past is one of the apps you blocked, or is inside a category you blocked.
- Shorten it. Open Paddle Past, tap Start and rate the urge. While a block is running, that screen shows Keep apps blocked for and the minutes left. Step the time down with the minus button (the button then reads Block apps for the new number) and tap it. The block is set to end that many minutes from the tap. The shortest is five minutes. This needs Paddle Past to open, so it will not help if you blocked Paddle Past itself (directly or inside a category), or if the app says the block could not be changed.
- Turn off Screen Time access. In iOS Settings, go to Screen Time → Apps with Screen Time Access and turn Paddle Past off. Your blocked apps come back while it is off. If you turn it back on before the block's time is up, the block can come back too.
- Delete Paddle Past. That ends any block for good.
If you ever find yourself blocked with none of these working, email us. We treat that as the most serious kind of bug there is.
Blocking did not start
Blocking uses Apple's Screen Time, so it only works on iPhone, and only after you allow Screen Time access when the app asks. iOS shows that prompt only once. If you declined it, the app offers an Open Settings button: allow access under Screen Time → Apps with Screen Time Access → Paddle Past. If Paddle Past is not listed there, delete and reinstall it, and the prompt will appear again.
If Paddle Past says a block did not apply, nothing was blocked. Try once more. If it keeps happening, email us.
How a session works
- Start, then rate how strong the urge is, from 0 to 10. The app never asks what it is about.
- Put apps out of reach, if you want. See How blocking works. Or tap Not now.
- Breathe for a minute: four seconds in, six out, paced by the phone so you can close your eyes.
- A visual puzzle for three minutes. There is no score and no way to lose.
- Observe for under two minutes: notice where the urge sits in your body and stay with it.
- Rate it again. The app does not show you your first number until you have given the second.
- Then you see both numbers, a line of suggestions for what to do next, and two buttons: Another round or Done.
Skip, Pause and End sit at the bottom of every exercise. Your ratings and exercises are not saved. The only trace a session can leave is the start and end time of a block you chose, as the Privacy Policy explains.
How blocking works
You pick the apps in Apple's own picker, so we never learn which ones you chose, and you pick how long, from five minutes to four hours. Paddle Past never blocks anything without being asked, and it never chooses the apps for you. It uses Apple's Screen Time, so it works on iPhone only.
Once a block is running, Paddle Past gives you no button to call it off. That is deliberate. You can bring the end forward: open Paddle Past, tap Start, rate the urge, step the time down, then tap Block apps for the new time. The soonest that reaches is five minutes from the tap.
iOS always leaves you a way out. Every one is listed under Ending or shortening a block above.
Refunds
Apple handles every purchase, so refunds are requested from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. We cannot issue them ourselves. If something went wrong, we would still like to hear about it.
What we can see
From the app, nothing. It has no account and sends us nothing, so we cannot see your sessions or which apps you blocked. If you write to us, we see your email address and what you wrote. The Privacy Policy has the details.
Contact
Focus Pocus LLC · support@paddlepast.com · 418 Broadway STE N, Albany, NY 12207, USA