The agreement, in plain language.

An iOS app that blocks apps you choose, and hands the decision to unlock early to a person you nominate. It is a tool for keeping a commitment you made to yourself.

It is not medical or clinical treatment, and it is not a substitute for professional help with compulsive behaviour. If your phone use is causing real harm, please talk to someone qualified as well as to your Keyholder.

Anyone 13 or older with an iPhone running iOS 17 or later. If you are under 18, check with a parent or guardian before handing anyone control of your phone.

Warden signs you in automatically the first time you open it, without a password. You can later attach an Apple or Google account so your setup survives a new phone.

Keep access to your phone and that account. If you lose both, we cannot identify you or recover a streak, because we deliberately hold nothing that would let us.

Your Keyholder is a private individual, not our employee or agent. They may approve, shorten, hold or ignore any request, and hand the key back whenever they like.

We do not vet them, supervise them, or mediate between you. Choose someone you would trust with an awkward conversation, because that is what you are asking for.

These are guarantees rather than features, and we will not remove them.

• The emergency override always works, instantly and without approval.
• If Warden has not launched successfully in three days, every shield clears itself.
• If a subscription ever lapses, blocking lifts rather than locking you out.
• Losing your Keyholder does not strand you. Blocking continues briefly so the arrangement cannot simply be agreed away, then it lifts.

Do not use Warden to control another adult who has not freely agreed to it, and do not use a pairing to harass someone. The requests and messages you send go to a real person who is doing you a favour.

Do not attempt to break the API, register devices that are not yours, or approve requests on someone’s behalf without their consent.

Signing in with Apple or Google includes seven days of full access without using an App Store trial or payment method. After those seven days, you may start a separate one-month App Store trial. Unless you cancel that App Store trial before it ends, the subscription automatically renews on the monthly or yearly plan you selected at the price shown when you subscribed.

Payment is charged to your Apple Account through the App Store. You can manage or cancel the subscription in your App Store subscription settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; deleting Warden or your Warden account does not by itself cancel an App Store subscription.

Purchases, renewals and refunds are governed by Apple’s terms. We cannot issue an App Store refund ourselves. Holding someone else’s key remains free permanently and does not require a trial or subscription.

Warden depends on Apple’s Screen Time APIs, push delivery, and your own network. We cannot guarantee a shield appears at a precise moment, or that a request reaches your Keyholder instantly.

Where the system is uncertain, Warden stays locked rather than opening. The failure mode is always the safe one, but it is still a failure mode, and the app is provided as it is rather than as a warranty of any outcome.

Delete your account whenever you like, from Settings, without asking us. Your blocking stops and your Keyholder is released. Account deletion does not cancel an App Store subscription; cancel that separately in your Apple Account settings.

We may end an account used to harass someone. Otherwise we have no interest in taking this away from anyone.

If these terms change, the date at the top moves. Continuing to use Warden after that means the new version applies.

Questions can be sent through our contact page.