App Limits count minutes accurately. The problem shows up the moment the limit is reached: one tap on Ignore Limit clears the whole day's restriction, and that tap takes less thought than deciding to check the app in the first place.
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App Limits aren't broken. They do exactly what they're designed to do: track time and warn you when a threshold is crossed. The design gap is what happens next. The warning screen offers a one-tap way past itself, and for most people that tap requires less willpower than the original decision to open the app did.
Set in Settings > Screen Time > App Limits, a limit tracks usage for a chosen app or category and allows free, unrestricted use until that total is reached. There is no restriction during that window at all, just a running count.
Once the limit hits, a screen appears with a dismiss option, either Ignore Limit For Today or Remind Me Later depending on the iOS version. Tapping it clears the block for the rest of the day. There's no second confirmation, no friction beyond the single tap.
A limit is a measurement with a warning attached. It's genuinely useful for building awareness of how much time an app is actually taking. What it isn't is an enforcement mechanism, because the enforcement step hands the decision straight back to you at the exact moment you're least equipped to make it well.
A block removes that decision point entirely. There's no daily allowance to use up and no button that clears the whole day at once.
| Tool | Before the limit | At the limit |
|---|---|---|
| App Limits | Unrestricted use, minutes counted | Dismissible screen, one tap clears it for the day |
| Fella | Selected apps blocked for the whole session | One 5-minute emergency unlock, then locked again |
Select the apps that keep beating a daily limit, then start a session manually or schedule a routine. There's no minute count to track and nothing to dismiss; the apps stay locked for the session, with one 5-minute emergency unlock for a genuine need.
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It shows a screen saying the time limit has been reached, with two buttons: Close, and Remind Me in 15 Minutes or Ignore Limit For Today depending on the iOS version. Either dismissal option is one tap and clears the restriction for that app for the rest of the day.
Yes. An App Limit allows unlimited use up until the minute total is reached, then presents a dismissible screen. A block, whether Downtime or a Fella session, restricts access for the whole window rather than allowing free use up to a threshold.
Not from within Screen Time itself; the ignore option is part of how App Limits are designed to work. A Screen Time passcode set by someone else can gate it, but self-managing your own limits leaves the button available to you.
App Limits are free, built in, and genuinely useful as a visible reminder of how much time has passed. For someone who just wants awareness rather than enforcement, that's often enough on its own.
Selected apps stay blocked for the whole session rather than allowing free use up to a minute count. Each session includes one 5-minute emergency unlock instead of an Ignore Limit button that clears the entire day's restriction in one tap.
