Block selected distracting apps before dinner, evenings, or weekends. Keep calls, texts, and essentials available. No family accounts, no child monitoring — just fewer exits from the people in front of you. — in the UK
A check that feels brief still moves you elsewhere. Looking down to reply, scan a feed, or clear a notification takes you out of the conversation and into another context. Coming back often means asking someone to repeat themselves, missing a detail of a story, or re-finding your place — small costs that compound across an evening.
The phone offers relief right when being present is effortful. A lull at the table, a game that needs patience, dishes that need doing, or a conversation that touches something difficult are the exact moments a scroll offers easier input. The reach is not always prompted by a notification; it is self-initiated.
Family time is not helped by an invisible negotiation. Deciding mid-dinner whether this check is worth it is already a split — half listening, half weighing the feed. Fella moves the choice earlier: choose the apps to block before family time, then let the system shield handle the next reach.
Presence is also about what children see you do. Blocking your own distracting apps does not control anyone else's phone. It removes one visible habit — the adult who checks during the meal — so time together has fewer interruptions from your side.
You choose the apps to block — not Fella. During setup Fella requests Apple's Screen Time authorization and opens the system Family Activity picker. You select the apps or categories that pull you away at home — social media, short video, games, news, shopping, or other feeds — from the iPhone's own list. Essentials stay unchecked by default.
iOS applies the shield, not an automation. When a session or routine is active, Fella gives the selected-app rule to Apple's Managed Settings framework. Opening a blocked app shows the system shield instead of the app. No Shortcuts, App Intents, location triggers, or VPN are involved. See how Fella works for the full flow.
There is no family detection to trust or mis-fire. Fella does not detect that you are at dinner, at home, or with family, does not read family calendars or locations, and does not create shared family schedules. You start blocking before family time; the distinction is the selection you made, not where you are.
Fella is for your iPhone, not your family's devices. It blocks selected apps on the iPhone where you grant Screen Time permission. It is not a parental control, child-monitoring, or multi-device family account product, and it cannot control another person's phone. For your own habits around family, it is a narrower iPhone app blocker built on Screen Time frameworks (iOS 16 and later).
| Use | Manual family-time session | Recurring family-time routine |
|---|---|---|
| When it starts | When you tap Start in Fella | Automatically at the scheduled time |
| When it ends | After the duration you set | At the routine's end time |
| Does it repeat? | No — single block | Yes, on the weekdays you choose |
| Best for | Dinner tonight, a visit, a weekend outing | Evenings, weekends, or protected hours that repeat |
| How timing is kept | Start and end dates saved locally; Device Activity interval registered | Routine schedule persisted and started/ended by the Device Activity monitor extension |
A manual session is the fastest path to a present meal. Pick a Quick routine (30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 4 hours) or set a custom duration, then start before you sit down. Fella stores the real end time, applies the shield, and reconciles the manual blocking source when the interval completes. Apple requires a 15-minute minimum for the Device Activity monitoring interval; for shorter saved durations Fella keeps the real earlier end time.
A routine makes the same boundary repeat without remembering. Choose days plus start and end times — for example, weeknights 6:00–9:00 PM or weekends 9:00 AM–8:00 PM — and Fella registers it with Device Activity. iOS runs the monitor extension at the start and end even if the app is not open. Learn more about blocking apps at certain times.
Both are the same blocking mechanism applied to a different window. There is no special family mode with different rules. Family time uses Fella's standard sessions and routines, just pointed at the distracting apps that interrupt time together. For an ad hoc block that should end automatically, see the temporary app blocker.
Block the feed, keep the family thread. Most family time needs Phone, Messages, FaceTime, Calendar, Photos, Camera, Maps, or a shared list app. Leave those unselected and they remain available. Block the social, video, news, shopping, dating, and game apps that usually extend beyond a quick glance.
You decide how narrow the allowance is. If evenings should still allow a quick recipe lookup, leave the browser unblocked whilst blocking the apps that usually capture more than a lookup. If even that is a trap, block it too and rely on the single Emergency Unlock for the genuine exception.
Calls and messages stay reachable where supported when left unselected. Phone, Messages, and FaceTime remain available where supported when not selected. For category-based blocks, iOS keeps Phone in the Always Allowed list so a full-category shield does not remove it. Choose the smallest set that actually protects the time together and compare the trade-off with a broader Focus mode blocker.
Changing the selection changes every future session. Edit the selection in Apple's picker once and every later manual session or scheduled routine uses the new set. You do not maintain a separate family-only block list.
Each calendar day includes one five-minute Emergency Unlock. Use it for a 2FA code inside a blocked app, a work message you must answer, or a detail you need to retrieve right now. Fella stores the five-minute window locally, lifts the shield, and schedules an on-device Device Activity callback to reapply the current blocking rule when time ends.
It does not extend family time or create daily extra time to scroll. When the five minutes end, the apps are blocked again. If the family-time session itself has ended, Fella reconciles which blocking source — manual or routine — should remain. The allowance is one per calendar day and does not accumulate; a second unlock is not available that day. Read the exact Emergency Unlock rules.
A bounded exception beats abandoning the block. Without it, an urgent exception often becomes a reason to stop blocking entirely for the day. Here the exception is short, counted, and reversed automatically, so being present stays the path of least resistance.
Dinner — the shortest window with the highest signal. A table with four people and four mobiles nearby — Sunday roast included — will fill silences with feeds. A 60- or 90-minute manual session that covers dinner keeps Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, X, YouTube, or games behind the shield whilst calls and messages stay available if you left them unselected.
Evenings after work and school. The hours between arrival home and bedtime often determine whether family time happens at all. A routine like weeknights 6:00–9:00 PM can protect that window automatically without a nightly decision.
Weekends, outings, and visits. Grandparents visiting, a park trip, or a birthday does not need a new setup each time. Start a manual session when you leave, or set a weekend routine (for example, Saturday–Sunday 9:00 AM–8:00 PM) that repeats on the days you choose.
Conversations where a glance breaks the thread. Homework help, bedtime talk, or catching up after a day apart are conversations where a quick check signals divided attention. A timed session that covers the conversation keeps the distracting apps unavailable whilst Phone and Messages remain reachable for true needs.
Not for supervising children. Fella restricts selected apps on your own iPhone; it does not monitor a child's usage, enforce bedtime on another device, or share a family schedule. If your goal is parental supervision rather than your own focus around family, choose a tool built for that job.
| Approach | What it does to distracting apps | What it costs family time |
|---|---|---|
| Fella selected-app block | Installed and shielded during the session or routine; one 5-minute unlock per day | Family apps stay available; no re-install, no family-account setup |
| iOS Focus Mode | Filters notifications and can hide Home Screen pages; optional Screen Time limits with extend buttons | Setup lives across Settings, silencing can hide calls or family messages if misconfigured, limits are easy to extend |
| Putting the phone away | Removes the device entirely | Removes useful family tools too — camera, maps, shared list — and relies on willpower alone when the phone returns |
| Screen Time App Limits / Downtime | Time-based limits with Ignore Limit and One More Minute | Limits invite negotiation at the moment being present is most effortful |
Putting the phone away is the cleanest move when you can do it. If the whole evening can be phone-free, that is simpler than any block. Fella is for the many evenings where the phone must stay nearby for calls, coordination, or photos, but the feeds should not.
Focus Mode solves a broader job. Focus helps across the system — notifications, people, and pages — and is valuable broadly, but it is not a selected-app shield that stays blocked with one bounded exception per day and reapplies automatically. Compare Fella and the Screen Time alternative, and the broader Fella vs Screen Time.
The narrow job is intentional. Fella does not manage chores, calendars, or shared family task lists. It blocks selected iPhone apps for the window you set. Pair it with a simple family habit — start the session when you sit down, phone face-down or in a pocket, and let the shield handle the next reach.
Yes. Choose the distracting apps in Apple's Family Activity picker, then start a manual timed session before family time or let a recurring routine start automatically. iOS shows the system shield if you try to open a blocked app.
No. Fella blocks selected apps on your own iPhone using your own Screen Time permission. It does not monitor a child's phone, provide shared family schedules, or control another person's device.
Yes. Fella blocks only what you select. Leave Phone, Messages, FaceTime, Calendar, Photos, Camera, Maps, and other essentials unchecked; iOS also keeps Phone in the Always Allowed list for category-based blocks.
Start a manual session — a Quick routine (30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 4 hours) or a custom duration. Fella saves the start and end locally, applies the Managed Settings shield, and registers a Device Activity interval; Apple requires a 15-minute minimum for that interval.
Use a manual session for a single dinner or visit. Use a routine when family time repeats — for example, evenings 6–9 PM or weekends 9 AM–8 PM on the weekdays you choose — so the shield starts and ends automatically.
Each calendar day includes one five-minute Emergency Unlock. Fella lifts the shield temporarily and reapplies the current blocking rule automatically when the five minutes end. It does not extend the session or accumulate.
Putting the phone away removes the device entirely; Focus filters notifications and pages. Neither applies a Managed Settings app shield that stays blocked with one bounded exception per day and reapplies automatically during family time.
No. There is no family detection, location trigger, or shared schedule. Family time uses Fella's standard selected-app sessions and routines — the same mechanism used for meetings, reading, or focus.
