Indie App Spotlight: The Before You Bundle Features Four Effective Screen Time Apps

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we feature the latest apps from the indie app world. If you are a developer and would like your app to be featured, contact us.

Most people think they spend too much time on their phones, but don’t necessarily know how to do better. Developer Florian Schimanke has created four great apps to help you manage your screen time in different ways. You can get them individually or buy them all in a bundle at a discounted rate.

The “Before You” bundle offers four screen time-related apps, including:

They all have similar thematic names and all do what they say on the tin.

Application distribution

Take a walk before scrolling through your health data, requiring you to meet your daily step goal before you can use certain apps. It doesn’t have to be an overall block of screen time: you can choose what you don’t want to use. But, once you commit to your step goal, you can’t use said apps until you’ve reached it. You can set it as high or as low as you want, but the goal is to keep you sharp and attentive with a bright-screen time boost.

Scan before you Can is somewhat similar in concept to the Brick hardware device you may have heard of. Instead of requiring physical hardware, it relies on QR codes, and you have to scan the QR code located in another room before you can unlock your apps – no easy workaround.

Your Day Before Play uses the Apple Reminders API to ensure you complete your tasks before you can use the apps you’ve put behind your blocklist, whether they’re social media apps or mobile games. The idea is that work comes first and you can only distract yourself afterwards.

Finally, Zone Before Your Phone is a little more unique. Instead of being a global screen time management tool, it works based on your location. For example, if you’re at work, you can have it automatically hide certain apps to avoid distracting you, all using Apple Screen Time. You can block when arriving or departing from said location, and you can have up to 20 location zones to track app usage.

Download the apps

Each app in the bundle is priced at $2.99 ​​individually, with no ads or subscription required – just a simple one-time purchase. However, if you purchase the bundle, you get four apps for the price of three, or just $8.99 for the entire bundle.

If taking control of your screen time is something you’re interested in, I would strongly consider at least one of these apps. These are all very thoughtful ideas, minimal in design, supporting tons of Apple technology to feel great on iPhone.

My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:

Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram