Launcher
01
A home screen you read, not browse
Monochrome type on black. The apps you actually use, spelled out. Everything else is a search away, which is exactly the distance you want.
New Out now · iOS · Free on the App Store
The minimalist phone is already in your pocket
Halt turns the iPhone you own into a quiet, text-only device. A monochrome launcher instead of a wall of icons. Real limits on the apps that eat the day. A pause between the reach and the scroll.
Free · iOS 17 and later · No account, no sign-up.
- No new phone to buy
- No account required
- Runs entirely on device
How it works
Three decisions, then the phone gets quieter
Setup takes about four minutes. After that Halt stays out of the way until you reach for something you told it to hold.
- 01
Name the apps that take the day
Pick the handful you already know about, and how long you get with each one. Halt enforces it through Apple’s own Screen Time API, so the limit lives at the system level — not as a suggestion you can dismiss.
- 02
Switch on the text launcher
Your home screen becomes a monochrome list of words. No icons to graze, no badges to answer, no grid to wander. You read a name and open a thing on purpose.
- 03
Let the friction do the work
When you reach for something blocked, Halt steps in first — a held breath, a question about what you actually came for. Often that is the whole intervention. You put the phone down.
The app
Built to be boring, on purpose
Five screens carry the whole product. There is no feed inside Halt either.
Swipe, or use the arrows
What it does
Everything a minimalist phone needs. Nothing it doesn’t.
Five tools that work together, and one promise about your data.
The minimalist launcher
Swap dopamine-triggering graphics for a striking monochrome, text-only home screen. The visual noise goes first, and a surprising amount of the pull goes with it.
Intelligent app blocker
Set daily screen time limits on the apps that take the most from you. Enforced through Apple’s native Screen Time API, not a workaround.
Mindful friction
Opening a blocked app triggers a mandatory pause or an intention prompt. Three seconds of resistance is the difference between a choice and a reflex.
Doomscroll interrupter
Detects the passive scrolling pattern — the one you only notice afterwards — and interrupts it while you can still walk away cheaply.
Deep Freeze mode
One switch turns the iPhone into a dumb phone: calls, messages, navigation. For a meeting, an evening, a weekend, or a flight.
Private by construction
Everything runs locally on your device. No account to create, no data collected, no analytics on what you open or how long you stayed.
Data
A screen time app that never sees your screen time
Halt is built on Apple’s Screen Time API, which reports usage to the device and not to us. There is no server holding a record of your day, because there is no server.
- No account creation
- No external data collection
- No tracking, ever
- Works fully offline
Field notes
What we are learning about attention
Research, methods and honest write-ups on getting a phone back under control.
Method
The 7-day screen time reset
One change per day for seven days. No deleting Instagram, no dramatic announcements, no willpower budget. By Sunday the phone behaves differently and you have not had to argue with it once.
Read 8 min
Research
What actually reduces screen time
Six popular interventions, ranked by what the research says rather than what the blog posts say — including two that work far better than their reputation, and one that mostly buys you a feeling of having done something.
Read 11 min
Guides
How to turn your iPhone into a dumb phone
You do not need a Light Phone, a Nokia or a second SIM. Almost everything people buy a dumb phone for can be built out of an iPhone in an evening — and undone in ten seconds when life needs the full device back.
Read 9 min
FAQ
Questions worth asking
Including the sceptical ones.
Do I have to buy an actual dumb phone?
No — that is the point. A Light Phone or a Nokia costs money, splits your number and leaves you without maps, banking or a camera. Halt gives you the same quiet interface on the iPhone you already carry, and you can turn it off in a second when you genuinely need the full device.
Can’t I just get around the blocks?
Yes, eventually — and any app that tells you otherwise is selling something. Halt is not a lock, it is a cost. It puts a few seconds of deliberate friction between the reflex and the feed, and reflexes are what most screen time is made of. When you truly need an app, you can get to it.
Does Halt collect my usage data?
No. Everything runs on device through Apple’s Screen Time API. There is no account, no sign-up, no external data collection and no analytics on what you open. Nothing about your day leaves your phone.
Will I still get calls and messages?
Always. Calls, messages and navigation stay available in every mode, including Deep Freeze. Halt reduces the phone to the parts a phone is for — it never makes you unreachable.
What does it cost?
Halt is free on the App Store. Download it, set your limits and see whether the first week feels different.
Which devices does it work on?
iPhone and iPad running iOS or iPadOS 17 and later, plus Macs with an M1 chip or newer running macOS 14 and later.
Make the next hour quieter
Set it up tonight. Judge it by how the first week feels, not by what a landing page told you.
Free · iOS 17 and later · No account, no tracking.