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Locking apps on iPhone works through Apple’s Screen Time. Pinelock asks for access once, during setup. iOS never tells Pinelock which apps you pick, and you can turn access off any time in Settings → Screen Time.

Check that Screen Time is on and that Pinelock still has access to it (Settings → Screen Time), and that the lock is turned on in Pinelock with the times you expect. If it still happens, email us what happened and when: it helps us fix it.

Tap the locked app, then “Unlock with Pinelock” on the screen that appears, then the notification that follows (or just open Pinelock). You’ll see the ways to unlock you chose for that lock (questions, a walk, your NFC tag), plus a free pass if the lock is Gentle. Afterwards, take a break that re-locks by itself, or skip the rest of the lock: a schedule is off until its window ends and comes back next time; a daily limit is off for the rest of today.

Each lock has one strength. Gentle: the ways to unlock you chose, plus free passes (one a day to start with). Firm: only the ways you chose; no passes. Hard: no way out until the lock ends, so there are no ways to choose. Hard isn’t offered for “Until I unlock”, because that has no end.

A lock with no early exit inside Pinelock: no questions, no passes until it ends. Use it when you really mean it. It can’t be edited or turned off while it’s on. Before it starts, Pinelock shows the exact end time; check you haven’t locked anything you may need (Messages, Maps, banking or sign-in apps). Pinelock adds friction but can’t stop you removing its Screen Time access in iOS Settings, and emergency calls always work.

You’re never stuck. A lock that only allows walking or a tag also offers “the long way”: answer a longer set of harder questions. You can unpair a tag in Pinelock’s Settings.

Yes. Turn on “Prefer waiting to questions?” when you set Pinelock up, or “Allow waiting instead” in Settings later. Then any lock that isn’t a hard lock can also be unlocked by waiting 30 minutes; you can leave Pinelock while it runs, and stopping the wait costs nothing. When it’s done, unlock within 10 minutes, or the wait has to start again. Turning it on in Settings makes unlocking easier, so if a lock is on right now, it takes an unlock first.

Another lock covers that app too. Each lock blocks its apps on its own, so an app stays locked until every lock covering it allows it. Pinelock names the other lock and when it ends.

Your pine grows a little each protected day: a day when a lock guarded something and you didn’t unlock. A day with nothing locked is paused: it doesn’t count, and it doesn’t end the run, and Pinelock shows how many days were paused (“7 protected days (2 paused)”). An earned unlock (questions, a walk, your tag, a wait) plants the pine in your forest, where it stays, and starts a new one; this holds even if Screen Time access is turned off later that day. A free pass (one a day to start with) doesn’t. Bigger milestones at 7, 14, 30 and 60 days are there to aim for, not a test you fail.

Access was turned off in iOS Settings, so nothing is locked right now. Your locks, streak and settings are all kept, and the screen shows what will lock again as soon as access is back. Tap “Turn Screen Time access back on”, or go to Settings → Screen Time → Apps with Screen Time Access and allow Pinelock.

Notifications for Pinelock are probably off (Settings → Notifications → Pinelock). Without them you can still unlock: tap “Unlock with Pinelock” on the locked app, then open Pinelock yourself within 5 minutes. Reminders before scheduled locks need notifications; you can change or turn them off in Pinelock’s Settings. With many scheduled locks, iPhone limits how many can wait at once, so Pinelock keeps the next few days’ and adds more each time it opens.

It’s an estimate: the daily time you told Pinelock you used to spend on the apps you lock, minus your actual time on them now. Days Pinelock couldn’t measure are left out. iOS reports that time in 15-minute steps, and apps no lock covers aren’t counted, so if you’ve moved to one of those, the real saving is smaller. It doesn’t measure all phone use.

From this iPhone: urges resisted, unlocks and their reasons, questions, breaks and passes used, your streak and forest, and the time saved so far. Your streak can start again that day, once a lock guards something. It keeps your locks, settings, starting-point answers (clear those with Settings → Clear my starting point), Screen Time access, and today’s used free passes (so it can’t hand passes back). Nothing is stored anywhere else.

Turn off or delete your locks in the app, or delete Pinelock: deleting it removes all its locks and data.