An app blocker with
no way out.

Most app blockers are strict on paper and soft in practice. They ship with a "strict mode," but that mode is usually just another setting living next to an off switch. The moment you're tempted, you're one tap away from turning strictness off, and that tap is exactly the moment willpower is weakest.

A genuinely strict app blocker removes that tap. Not by making the app harder to use, but by not giving you a control to reach for in the first place. If there's no toggle, there's nothing to negotiate with yourself over.

Fella is built around that single idea. Pick the apps that pull you in once, keep them blocked by default every day, and get exactly one 5-minute emergency unlock if something real comes up. No modes, no settings to loosen, no daily decision.

Strictness is about what you can't reach, not what you can turn on. A blocker is strict when there's no convenient way to undo the block once it's active, regardless of how the app markets itself.

The tell is the override, not the feature list. Look for a pause button, a "snooze," an "ignore for today," or a settings screen you can freely edit mid-session. If any of those exist without friction, the block is a suggestion, not a rule.

Real strictness usually comes from one of three places: the override is removed entirely, the override is locked behind a timer you can't shorten, or the override requires something you don't control in the moment, like a second person's passcode or a physical object that isn't in your pocket.

Screen Time app limits ship with a built-in exit. When you hit a limit, iOS shows an "Ignore Limit" option that clears it for 15 minutes or for the rest of the day, and getting past it just takes one tap plus your own Screen Time passcode.

The "Block At Time Limit" toggle helps, with a catch. Turning it on removes the Ignore Limit button from the prompt, but it's a real barrier only when someone else holds the passcode, like a parent managing a child's device. On your own phone, you already know the code you set, so the "lock" opens with a code you wrote yourself.

That's the core problem with using Screen Time alone as a self-control tool: it was built for external accountability between a parent and a child's device, not for stopping yourself from overriding your own settings.

There's no strict mode to turn on, because there's no soft mode to turn it on from. You choose your blocked apps once during setup, and that's the only settings decision Fella asks you to make.

One unlock, every day, no more. You get a single 5-minute emergency unlock in a 24-hour period. There's no "one more minute," no second unlock for a good reason, and no way to save unused time for later.

The re-lock is automatic. When the 5 minutes end, Fella locks the app again on its own. You don't have to remember to close the door, and there's no toggle sitting open in the background waiting to be found.

People who've already tried soft limits. If "Ignore Limit" or a snooze button has become part of your routine, the fix isn't a stricter reminder, it's removing the button.

People blocking one or two specific habits. A strict blocker works best aimed at the exact apps that cause the automatic checking, like social feeds, short video, or a specific game, not your entire phone.

People who still need occasional access. Strict doesn't have to mean unreachable. The goal is removing the daily negotiation, not cutting off real, occasional needs like a DM or a time-sensitive message.