FAQ

Questions before you install

Hourlap is an app blocker that unlocks when you walk: each hour of the day asks for a few hundred steps, and the apps you pick lock when an hour ends short. Here is what people ask first.

What is Hourlap?: Hourlap is an iPhone and Apple Watch app that spreads your daily step goal over the hours of the day, so you reach it with a short walk every hour instead of one push in the evening. Each hour asks for its share of what's left; if an hour ends short, the apps and websites you picked lock until you walk. It also runs on iPad.
Why walk a little every hour instead of all at once?: Because a goal spread over the day is easier to keep: a few hundred steps an hour is a few minutes' walk, and nothing is left for the evening. It also breaks up long stretches of sitting, which a single walk doesn't. Move every hour looks at what the research says.
How many steps does each hour ask for?: Each hour asks for its share of what's left: the steps still to your goal divided by the hours left until your day end, never fewer than 200. On the default day (7,000 steps by 22:00) a still morning starts at 319 an hour, and the number drops as you walk ahead of it. It is fixed when the hour starts.
What happens if I don’t walk?: When an hour ends short of its steps, the apps you picked lock at the top of the hour. Walk the number the next hour asks and they open again; reach your daily goal and everything stays open until midnight. Each hour is judged on its own, so one short hour never costs you the day.
Can I still use my phone while apps are locked?: Yes. Hourlap locks only the apps, websites and categories you picked. Phone calls and iOS Settings are never locked. If you need a break, unlock for 15 minutes or take the day off.
Do my Apple Watch steps count?: Yes. Hourlap counts steps from your iPhone and your Apple Watch through Apple Health. The Watch app also counts the hour's steps on your wrist and hands them to your iPhone before the hour ends, so a walk with the phone left on the desk still counts.
Is Hourlap free?: Hourlap is free to use with a 7,000-step daily goal, up to 3 apps and websites, and this week's History. Hourlap Pro adds your own daily goal, from 1,000 to 50,000 steps; any number of apps, websites and whole categories; your full History: every week, month and year; Strict today: no unlocks and no days off until midnight. Pro is an auto-renewing subscription, monthly with a 7-day free trial, or yearly; the App Store shows the current price in your country.
Can Hourlap see which apps I use?: No. Hourlap locks apps through Apple’s Screen Time framework, which hands it opaque tokens for your picks, so it never learns which apps or websites they are or how you use them. Your steps, Health data and History stay on your devices. The privacy policy lists everything.
Can I get around the lock?: Yes, on purpose: you can always remove every lock by turning off Hourlap’s Screen Time access in iOS Settings, and Hourlap can’t stop that. Inside the app, the ways out are the 15-minute unlock and days off; Pro’s Strict today takes both away until midnight, for the days you want no escape.
Does Hourlap block websites?: Yes. Websites you pick lock and unlock with your apps, and a picked category locks its websites too. Website locks apply in Safari.
What about nights, sick days and travel?: Nights are quiet: Hourlap sends no reminders or lock notifications until you have walked 500 steps that day, but a night asleep misses its laps, so you wake up locked until you walk the morning lap’s number or unlock for 15 minutes. For a day you can’t walk, take the day off and nothing locks.
Does it work on iPad?: Yes. Hourlap runs on iPad with its own pick of apps to lock. An iPad counts no steps itself, so it reads your iPhone’s and Apple Watch’s steps from Apple Health and follows your iPhone’s laps over iCloud sync.
Which devices does Hourlap need?: An iPhone on iOS 26.0 or later; an iPad on iPadOS 26.0 or later; the Apple Watch app needs watchOS 26.0 or later. There is no Android or Mac version: the lock is built on Apple’s Screen Time framework, which a Mac doesn’t offer for this.