Answers to the most common questions. If you can't find what you need, get in touch and a real person will reply.
Conscious is built and supported by one person. Most replies come within a day.
Email DeveloperScreen Time access is what lets Conscious read your app usage and apply blocks. Without it, the app can't show your insights or enforce any limits. Apple requires you to grant this manually — Conscious can't bypass that prompt.
You can revoke or change this anytime in Settings → Screen Time → See All App & Website Activity.
Conscious will re-prompt you the next time you try to set a limit or open the Insights tab. If the prompt doesn't appear:
If Screen Time itself is off on your device, turn it on at Settings → Screen Time → Turn On Screen Time first.
Both are optional. They power the location timeline that shows where you used your phone — at home, at work, in transit. If you skip them, the rest of the app works normally; you just won't see the place-based insights.
"Always" location access lets the timeline keep building when the app is closed. Motion data lets Conscious tell stationary visits from passing through, which saves battery.
Location data never leaves your device.
Recommended but optional. Notifications tell you when a limit is about to be reached, when a focus session ends, and when a scheduled block starts or stops. Without them, the controls still work — you just won't get the heads-up.
Mix and match based on the app. Hard blocks for the worst offenders, friction for the borderline ones.
A few things to check:
If it still doesn't work, email me with the app name and a screenshot of your control.
The friction gate only appears the first time you open the app after a delay window. If you tap repeatedly within a few seconds, iOS treats it as the same session and skips the gate.
Also: if you've recently bypassed the gate, you're inside the 5-minute bypass window. The gate returns once the window closes.
Each active control (limit, scheduled block, friction gate) uses one Shell. Free accounts have 1 Shell. Signed-up accounts have 2. Conscious Pro is unlimited.
If you have more controls than Shells, only the top ones in your list are active. Drag to reorder them based on which battles matter most to you that week.
If the friction gate is what's blocking you, use the "Open anyway" link after the 15-second pause. That grants a 5-minute window.
For hard blocks (daily limits or scheduled blocks), you'll need to either disable the control in Conscious or wait for the block to end. There's no per-app override — that's by design.
On the home screen, tap Focus, pick a duration and which apps to block, then start. A Live Activity will appear on your Lock Screen showing the time remaining.
Open Conscious and tap the active focus session card on the home screen, then tap End Early. The session will log as ended early in your history.
Make sure Live Activities are enabled for Conscious in Settings → Conscious → Live Activities. Also confirm Live Activities are on globally at Settings → Face ID & Passcode → Allow Access When Locked → Live Activities.
The Insights tab needs a signed account. If you skipped sign-up during onboarding, tap Sign In from the Insights screen to create a free account.
Once signed in, it can take a few seconds to populate. If it's still empty after a minute, make sure Screen Time access is granted (see Permissions).
Conscious shows up to 30 days of history pulled from iOS Screen Time. Apple doesn't expose data older than that to apps.
Conscious uses the same data source as iOS Screen Time, but groups apps slightly differently (productive vs. draining categories). The total times should match within a minute or two. If you're seeing a big gap, restart the app — Screen Time data sometimes lags briefly after a long session.
Confirm location access is set to Always, not just While Using. Go to Settings → Conscious → Location and choose Always.
iOS will sometimes ask you to confirm "Always" access a second time after a few days of background use — accept that prompt to keep the timeline running.
On the location timeline, tap any visit. You can give the place a name (e.g., "Home", "Office", "Gym") and pick an emoji. Future visits to the same spot will use the name automatically.
Not to use the basic controls. You can use one control without signing in. To unlock Insights and a second control, sign in with Apple — it's free and takes one tap.
Go to Settings (inside the app) → Account → Delete Account. This removes your account and any associated analytics data within 30 days.
If you can't access the app, email me at keebbuddy@gmail.com with the email tied to your Apple ID sign-in, and I'll delete it manually.
Pro gives you unlimited controls (Shells), the full Insights tab with every chart, and all widget styles. Pricing is $4.99/month or $49.99/year, with a 7-day free trial on either plan.
All Conscious subscriptions are handled by Apple, so cancellation goes through iOS:
You'll keep Pro until the end of the current billing period. Canceling during the free trial means you won't be charged.
In Conscious, go to Settings → Restore Purchases. This forces the app to re-check Apple's record of your subscription. If that doesn't work, email me with your purchase receipt (you can find it in your email inbox from Apple).
Apple handles all refunds. Go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in with your Apple ID, find the Conscious purchase, and request a refund. I don't have access to your payment info, so I can't refund you directly — but the Apple form usually goes through within a day.
Almost nothing leaves your device. Specifically:
See the full Privacy Policy for details.
Yes. Deleting the app removes all on-device data immediately. For the analytics data tied to your account, delete your account inside the app or email me — that data will be wiped within 30 days.
Try these in order:
If you're still stuck, email me with your iOS version and what you were doing when it broke.
Please send it. Bugs and ideas are the fastest way Conscious gets better. Email keebbuddy@gmail.com with as much detail as you can — screenshots help a lot. You'll get a real reply, usually the same day.