Freedom: Screen Time Control

Heard Cal Newport from deep work compliment this tool and thought I’d check it out. Research convinced me to give it a shot. I purchased the lifetime subscription for freedom almost 2 years ago. Can sincerely say it has supported and equipped me in my journey as a thinker, husband, and father. “Time lost is never found again” - and thank you Freedom for helping me regain my time! I love telling others about it! I would love to give it five stars if they could fix a certain hiccup. I use the phone app to set reoccurring freedom sessions. I want the app running and active when I first wake up in the morning so if I reach for my phone, those apps are blocked by Freedom until my sessions are over. However, recently I have discovered the app won’t actively block those apps unless I open Freedom first on my phone and then return to the home screen to find those apps now blocked. It’s like the app needs me to open it in order to trigger the “in session” sessions that are supposed to be active. Please freedom, fix this issue so my brain doesn’t find a loophole to capitalize on and waste time!

i’m a 17 year old high school student diagnosed with ADHD, autism, depression, you name it— and this app has really helped me with my schoolwork. i’m a high achieving student, in 6 AP classes. i have always had a lot of trouble being productive. i get distracted on social media apps constantly and lose track of time, leaving me with almost no time for my schoolwork. teenagers will understand feeling like the adults in our lives just want to shame us and blame it on our phones. i’ve been trying different things for years to keep my attention span under control, but i often lack the self-discipline or motivation to be consistent. this app has been highly useful for me. it’s very user-friendly, allowing me to easily set blocklists and sessions. it’s not as easy to get distracted and end them though, unless i need to do so. this is mainly because i don’t getting notifications for my blocked apps during sessions, which is great because notifications are my main problem. but i also noticed in the app there’s a feature to request and vote on features, which made me feel genuinely happy to see. it’s clear this company cares about satisfying their customers, and this also makes me confident that if a feature isn’t currently in the app, there’s a good chance this company will listen to my feedback. i have the free version of this app—as a broke high school student :)—and i’m happy that i’m able to access all of the essential features under the free version. i’m eternally grateful for this app because it taught me how productive i can actually be, and i recommend it to others with ADHD, or anyone that has productivity problems in general.

I’ve used this app for a little over a year now and it has absolutely changed my life. Tech addiction is one of the biggest problems today and I tell all of my friends to get this app. I’m currently attending law school and this has really helped me stay productive. One suggestion for improvement that would really take this to next level: tie the app-blocker timer to how much time you ACTUALLY spend doing something productive. With the current features, you can often just wait off the clock by distracting yourself in other ways until the app-blocking has turned off. But, what if the timer only counted down when you have your device on? For example, if I blocked all distracting websites on my laptop, and the timer only counts while I keep my laptop on, I have to spend that time doing non-distracting stuff on my laptop like, say, writing the essay I have due this Monday. This way, the Freedom App could have a reward feature to it (e.g. when I spend 3 hours doing something productive, I am rewarded with access to social media). I would really love to see this in the app if it doesn’t already exist. If this is already a feature, let me know how to turn it on!