App blocker for iPhone
Excalibur locks your distracting apps in stone. To open them, you pull a sword out of the stone, and you only get a few pulls a day.
Coming soon to the App Store
Free for one app. Guardians and buddies are free.
Excalibur is an iPhone app blocker that turns screen time into a sword in a stone. The apps you lose hours to are locked. You decide how many times a day you can pull the sword (0 to 3) and how long each pull opens them (5 to 30 minutes). A guardian, which can be a QR key, an NFC tag or a friend, can have to agree to each pull.
How it works
Three steps, and the sword does the rest.
1
Pick apps, categories and websites with Apple’s app picker. The sword falls from the sky and plunges into the stone, and they’re locked: all day, every day, with no schedules to forget.
Open a locked app and you see the sword instead, with how many pulls you have left today.
2
Drag the sword up and it fights back. Pull it out, and your apps open for the minutes you chose. As time runs out the sword sinks, and at zero it slams home and your apps lock again.
You choose 0 to 3 pulls a day, 5 to 30 minutes each. Pick 0 for a hard lock. Try it here.
You have 3 pulls today, 10 minutes each.
3
A guardian has to agree to each pull. Scan a QR key you hid in a drawer, tap an NFC tag, or ask a friend. That one extra step is what stops the reflex.
Guardians are free
With a guardian, the sword won’t come out until it agrees. Pick one, and switch any time (the switch starts the next day).
Excalibur makes a QR key on your iPhone and carves it into your stone in crystal. Print it as a wallet card or a round sticker, and put it in a drawer, the car or the freezer.
To pull, drag the sword up, then scan the key. Light runs through the crystal, and the sword is free.
Plain NFC stickers and tags work: a sticker, a key fob, a card. Pair it once by holding it to your iPhone, and from then on only that tag lets you pull. There’s no gadget to buy.
A crystal hand-print appears on the rock in front of the stone. Tap your tag, and it blazes.
When you pull, your buddy gets your ask in a chat with one button: Agree. Or they can talk you out of it. Once they agree, their bird hops onto your sword and you can pull.
Buddies are free, and they don’t have to lock anything themselves.
Buddies
While a friend is your guardian, their bird sits on your stone. When they agree to a pull, it hops onto the hilt and calls. They pick the bird and its hat, and every bird has its own call.
Invite a buddy with a 6-character code. You can also guard each other: both of you lock your apps, and each agrees to the other’s pulls. With Duo, your friend gets Premium too.
Ana
Can I pull the sword for 10 min?
only if the laundry is folded
It’s folded. I promise.
send a pic
Hard to cheat, kind when it counts
Every change to your apps, pulls or guardian waits until midnight. You can’t loosen your rules in a weak moment.
When a pull’s minutes are up, your apps lock again, even if Excalibur is closed. Drag the sword down to lock them early.
While your apps are locked, iOS won’t let you delete Excalibur. You can delete it while they’re open.
Real life happens. Wait 5 minutes and your apps open for 15. It never needs your guardian and never uses a pull.
Pick with Apple’s own picker. Free locks one app. Premium locks everything you pick, websites included.
There’s no sign-up, no ads and no analytics. Which apps you lock and how you use them never leave your iPhone.
A world, not a settings screen
The stone sits in a hand-painted 3D world, lit by the real sun and moon for your time of day. The sun climbs the sky, crowns the sword at noon and sets behind the hills. At night the moon takes over. Excalibur works out the sun from your time zone, so it never asks for your location.
The seasons dress it up. All of October, the stone gets pumpkins, candles, cobwebs, bats and a blood moon. Tap the jack-o’-lantern and bats burst out of the dead tree.
How it’s different
Most ways to limit screen time come with an easy way around them. Excalibur gives you a few pulls a day instead, lets someone else hold the key, and makes loosening your rules wait until tomorrow.
| Feature | Excalibur | Screen Time limits in iOS |
|---|---|---|
| What stops you | A sword you pull, with 0 to 3 pulls a day | A time limit with an Ignore Limit button |
| Someone else has to agree | Yes, if you add a guardian: a QR key, an NFC tag or a friend | Only if someone else keeps your Screen Time passcode |
| Loosening your rules | Starts the next day | Works at once |
| A way out in an emergency | Emergency unlock after a 5-minute wait | Ignore Limit |
| Price | Free for one app; Premium for all | Free, built into iOS |
There are no schedules to switch off. Your apps stay locked all day, and every opening costs one of your few pulls.
You don’t buy a gadget. Your key is a QR code you print or any plain NFC sticker you already have, and both are free.
A buddy is one of three guardians, and buddies are free on both sides. Your friend doesn’t have to lock anything.
Pricing
Everything works for free with one locked app, including guardians and buddies. Premium locks all your apps, categories and websites.
$0
Lock one app, with every feature. Guardians and buddies are included.
$9.99 a year
Premium for you: lock all your apps, categories and websites.
$14.99 a year
Premium for you, plus a gift of Premium for a friend. Guard each other.
$24.99 once
Premium for you for good, plus a gift of Premium for a friend.
Prices in US dollars; the App Store shows yours. Solo and Duo renew every year until you cancel in your Apple Account settings, at least 24 hours before the renewal date. Lifetime is paid once. A Duo gift lasts as long as you keep Duo. See the terms.
Questions
Excalibur is an app blocker for iPhone. The apps you lose hours to are locked in stone, and to open them you pull a sword out of the stone in a hand-painted 3D world. You get 0 to 3 pulls a day, and each pull opens your apps for the minutes you choose. When the time is up, they lock again by themselves.
You can add a guardian who has to agree to each pull: a QR key you print and hide, an NFC tag you tap, or a buddy (a friend) who agrees in a chat.
Yes, for one app. The free version locks one app with every feature, including guardians and buddies. Premium locks all your apps, categories and websites.
Premium is $9.99 a year (Solo), $14.99 a year with a gift of Premium for a friend (Duo), or $24.99 once (Lifetime, which includes the gift too). Prices are in US dollars. The App Store shows the price in your currency.
You choose 0 to 3 pulls a day. The gems on the sword's crossguard show how many are left today. They come back at midnight. Pick 0 for a hard lock: the apps stay locked, and only Emergency unlock opens them.
A guardian has to agree to each pull. You can pick one: a QR key, an NFC tag or a buddy. Guardians are free. With a guardian, the sword won't come out until the guardian agrees: you scan your QR key, tap your NFC tag, or your buddy taps Agree. You also still need a pull left.
A buddy is a friend who has to agree to each pull. When you pull the sword, Excalibur offers to send them your ask. They get a notification and a chat with one button: Agree. They can also chat back and talk you out of it. Once they agree, you have 30 minutes to pull the sword.
Buddies are free for both of you, and a buddy doesn't have to lock any apps. You can also guard each other.
Use Emergency unlock, at the bottom of the Home screen. After a 5-minute wait, you can open your apps for 15 minutes. It never needs your guardian, it doesn't use a pull, and it always works, however many times you need it. You can cancel during the wait, since the wait is there to let you change your mind.
iOS only lets an app lock other apps through Apple's Screen Time API, and that needs your permission. Excalibur asks once, while you set up.
Apple gives Excalibur opaque tokens for the apps you pick, not their names or your usage. Which apps you lock and how you use your iPhone never leave it. If you turn the permission off, iOS lifts the locks, so Excalibur can only lock apps while it has it.
Lock the apps you lose hours to, and pull the sword only when you need them.
Coming soon to the App Store
Free for one app. Guardians and buddies are free.
Questions? Email support@theexcaliburapp.com.
