Scroll all you want
but first, read.learn.pray.meditate.read.Each day, your distracting apps stay locked until you’ve spent your minutes in the apps that deserve to go first — your number, your call. Then everything opens until midnight, and quietly relocks for tomorrow.
Screen Time sets limits. But First sets the order.
Three steps. One number. No dashboard.
No coins, no streaks, no score to feel bad about. Set the order once and get on with your day.
Choose both sides.
Pick the apps that open themselves (you know the ones) and the apps you keep meaning to open. You decide what counts.
Set your number.
Ten minutes? Twenty? One daily goal. iOS itself counts the time, so you can’t tap through it.
Read first, then unlock.
Once your minutes are in, everything opens until midnight. Overnight it relocks on its own.
One quiet loop, every day.
First
Then
DoneStop letting distraction
go first.
Your good thing unlocks the noisy one.
Read, then scroll.
Twenty minutes into your book, and the feed can have you.
Learn, then press play.
Finish today’s lesson first. The shows will keep.
Pray, then post.
A few verses before the notifications start.
Deliberately small.
Everything it does, and nothing it doesn’t.
One daily goal
A single number of minutes. Not a dashboard, not a dopamine score.
Unlocks until midnight
Do your minutes once and the rest of the day is yours. No re-earning at 3pm.
Relocks automatically
No willpower required at 7am. The locks are already back.
Website blocking PRO
The browser versions of your distractions wait their turn too.
Strict mode PRO
No early unlock, for days when you’d like the door held a little harder.
Private by design
Nothing to sign up for, nothing to sign in to. It runs entirely on your device.
Honest pricing, no tricks.
The free tier is the whole habit, just at starter size.
- ✓ 1 locked app
- ✓ 1 counting app
- ✓ Daily goal & unlock-until-midnight
- ✓ The complete mechanic
- ✓ Unlimited locked & counting apps
- ✓ Website blocking
- ✓ Strict mode (no early unlock)
- ✓ 7-day free trial
- ✓ Everything in Pro
- ✓ All future updates
- ✓ No recurring charge, ever
We couldn’t sell your data if we wanted to.
But First is built on Apple’s Screen Time. When you pick your apps it only ever receives anonymous tokens — it never learns which apps you chose, what you read, or what you watch. No accounts, no servers. Nothing about your usage leaves your phone, because we never have it in the first place.
Fair questions, straight answers.
Does it lock my apps permanently?+
No. The lock lasts only until you’ve done your minutes for the day. Then everything opens until midnight, and relocks overnight. It’s a daily rhythm, not a punishment.
Which apps can it lock, and which can count?+
Any apps on your phone, chosen through Apple’s standard Screen Time picker. Lock the ones that pull at you; count the ones you want to come first. The app doesn’t judge your choices.
Can I bypass it?+
Honestly? You can delete the app or revoke its Screen Time permission and every lock disappears. What But First offers is friction, not a cage. Pro’s strict mode removes the early-unlock button for the day, if you’d rather not give yourself the out.
Is this parental control?+
No. Everything is self-directed: you choose the apps, set the number, and can always change your mind. It’s for keeping promises to yourself, not enforcing someone else’s.
But first, starting today.
Early access is small and free. Honest feedback is the price of admission.
But First 