A digital detox that removes the input, not just the apps
Wall Stare · one session, not thirty days
A digital detox usually means removing apps. That leaves you in a room with a television, a window and a kettle, which is why it rarely holds. Wall Stare removes the input instead: nothing new to look at, nothing to listen to, nothing arriving at all for the length of a session — and it will shield every app on the phone too, if you want it to.
What is a digital detox?
A deliberate break from screens. Most of the advice about them is subtraction — delete the apps, leave the phone at home, go a week without — and most of it fails the same way. Taking the phone off someone does not make the room interesting, and a week is long enough to notice.
The apps in the category automate the subtraction. They limit apps, set lockouts days in advance, grey the screen out, or add a few seconds of delay before a feed will open, and most of the engineering goes into being harder to get around.
Does Wall Stare block apps?
Yes. Turned on, starting a session shields the whole phone, and the shield lifts when the session ends. One switch — no modes, no whitelist, no strictness ladder, nothing to tune.
It is off until you turn it on.
How long should a digital detox be?
Shorter than the ones people write about. A thirty-day challenge is a thing you announce; ten minutes is a thing you do, on a Tuesday and again on a Wednesday. Frequency beats duration.
What a screen break is for
The minutes are yours and they do not have to earn anything. No streak to keep, no chart of the days you missed, nothing to be good at.
What it does, in full:
- a reminder arrives and starts a session in one tap
- sessions from five to thirty minutes, or any length you type
- a widget and a Lock Screen control, for the taps in between
- the whole phone shielded for the session, once you switch it on
- a sound at the end, so you are not counting
- the minutes written to Apple Health, if you want them there
Does it need an account?
No. There are no accounts, no servers, no analytics and no ads.
Read on
- Dopamine detox — what the quiet is for, and what it is not
- Stare at a wall — why a blank wall, and how to be bored again
- About Wall Stare — why it exists