Frequently asked questions

TaskLock is a minimalist to-do list, habit tracker and calendar planner for iPhone and Apple Watch with an app blocker built in. You add a task, habit or event, choose the apps that distract you, and those apps stay locked until the task is checked off or the event ends. Locks are optional, so TaskLock also works as a plain to-do list.

Yes. Add a task such as “Finish math homework”, open App Lock and choose the apps to block, for example Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or games. Those apps stay locked until you mark the task complete. If you open one of them before that, a shield screen lists the tasks still keeping it locked. There is a step-by-step guide: block Instagram and TikTok until homework is done. More setups for revision and exam weeks are on the study app blocker page.

Yes. Create an event: its apps stay locked from the start time to the end time, then unlock on their own. Tasks work differently: their apps stay locked until you check the task off. Both styles live in one app, so you can mix them.

The lock ends automatically. An event lock covers exactly the event’s time range, for example a study block from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. When the end time arrives, the apps unlock without any action from you. Tasks behave differently: they stay locked until you complete them, however long that takes.

Yes. A task with no apps selected is a normal to-do item. Many people use TaskLock as a simple daily planner with tasks, habits and calendar events on one screen, and add locks only to the items that matter. Nothing is locked unless you choose apps for it.

Blocking apps on iPhone is only possible through Apple’s Screen Time framework, so iOS asks you to allow it once. TaskLock uses the permission to place a shield over the apps you choose. It cannot see which apps you use, how long you use them or what you do inside them. The to-do list, habits and calendar work without the permission.

Any app on your iPhone that Apple’s Screen Time picker shows, including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, X, Reddit, games and messaging apps. You can also lock whole categories such as Social or Games, which also covers apps in that category you install later. Choose apps one by one, or save a lock group like “Social media” and reuse it in one tap.

Yes. The same Screen Time picker lets you choose websites. Pick a site like youtube.com or reddit.com and it is blocked in Safari while the lock is active. Website locks follow the same rules as app locks: they end when the task is done or the event is over.

Opening a locked app shows a full-screen shield instead of the app. The shield says “Complete your tasks to unlock!” and lists the tasks and events still keeping that app locked, so you always know what is left. A button takes you straight to TaskLock. The app icon stays on your Home Screen; nothing is deleted.

Yes. Each lock has a start time. You can add a task in the morning and have its apps lock at 4:00 PM when homework time begins; until then the apps stay open. Once the lock starts, it stays on until the task is completed. Events use their own start and end times instead.

You can, but TaskLock makes it slow and deliberate rather than a one-tap habit. Marking a task done, removing a lock or pushing its start later all go through a confirmation countdown of 5 to 30 seconds. A daily change limit of 0 to 5 then caps how many times you can change an active lock at all. TaskLock is built for people who want to keep themselves honest, not as a parental control.

It is a short wait before any action that would unlock apps early, such as completing a task, skipping a habit or removing a lock. You set its length in Settings, from 5 to 30 seconds. The screen asks “All done? Just be honest.” A few seconds is usually enough to stop an impulsive tap and go back to the task.

It is the number of times per day you may change an active lock: remove it, start it later or edit it. You can set it from 0 to 5 in Settings. At 0, “No changes allowed”, an active lock cannot be touched until the task is done or the event ends. Locks that have not started yet and items on other days are not affected.

Deleting the app removes its locks. This is how iOS works: when an app that uses Screen Time is removed, the restrictions it set go with it. If you want a lock you cannot escape, set a Screen Time passcode that someone else keeps and turn off app deletion under Content & Privacy Restrictions.

Set the confirmation countdown to 30 seconds and the daily change limit to 0. Then ask a parent, partner or friend to set the iPhone’s Screen Time passcode, keep it to themselves and turn off app deletion under Content & Privacy Restrictions. Removing TaskLock then becomes a conversation instead of a tap, and the lock lasts until the task is done or the event ends.

Yes. The Apple Watch app shows today’s tasks, events and habits. Check off a task on your wrist and its apps unlock on your iPhone. You can also add tasks and events from the watch, with date, time, lock group and reminder. Complications and Smart Stack widgets show what is next. The iPhone stays the main device; the watch syncs with it.

No. App locking happens on the iPhone, because Apple’s Screen Time blocking framework is only available there. The watch app is for seeing, adding and completing items. Completing a task on the watch unlocks its apps on the iPhone, so you can leave the phone in another room while you work.

Any Apple Watch that runs watchOS 10 or later, paired with an iPhone on iOS 17 or later. The watch app comes with the iPhone app; if it does not appear on the watch automatically, install it from the Watch app on your iPhone.

Yes, in both directions. Events from iCloud and other calendar accounts on your iPhone appear in TaskLock, and events you create in TaskLock show up in Apple Calendar. Sync runs automatically when you open the app and whenever a calendar changes. You choose which calendars to show, and calendar colors appear on the event cards.

Yes. Add a lock to any event, including ones synced from Apple Calendar, and the chosen apps stay locked from the event’s start to its end. This is the easiest way to set up a study block, a lecture or a deep work session. For a read-only calendar you can still add the lock and a reminder, even though the event itself cannot be edited.

Yes. You can create private calendars that exist only inside TaskLock, with the same repeat rules, reminders and locks. Nothing is written to Apple Calendar unless you pick an iCloud or other synced calendar for the event. You can also move all events from one calendar to another later.

A habit can lock apps on every day it is active, until you mark it done. For example, lock TikTok each morning until “Read for 30 minutes” is checked off, or lock games on weekdays until “Practice piano” is done. A habit that repeats several times a day can carry a separate lock for each repeat.

Every day, specific weekdays, or every N days, for example every other day, once a week or every two weeks. A habit can have a start date and an optional end date, and can repeat several times a day. You can skip a day, change a habit for today only, or move it to another day without touching the rest of the schedule.

Yes. Each habit shows its day streak and a history strip, and a progress page shows rings for all habits at once. When you edit a habit, past records stay as they were, so your history does not change when you adjust the schedule. Habits and tasks can share a tag, such as “Morning routine”, and everything with the same tag stays together on the Home screen.

Yes. Your tasks, habits, events and settings are stored on your iPhone, not on a server. There is no account, login or email. App blocking runs through Apple’s Screen Time framework, so TaskLock cannot see which apps you use or what you do in them. The app collects limited anonymous usage analytics that cannot identify you. Details are in the privacy policy.

No. There is no account to create and no sign-in. The app works fully offline, including locking and unlocking, so it keeps working on a plane or with mobile data switched off. When you are online, the internet is used for optional iCloud backup, link previews on tasks, purchases through the App Store, anonymous usage analytics and an Apple Ads attribution check after you install.

Yes. TaskLock can back up to your own iCloud Drive and keeps your three most recent backups. You can restore any of them, for example when moving to a new iPhone. Backups are optional, stay inside your Apple account and are never sent to TaskLock.

Yes. Settings has an option that deletes everything stored on the device: tasks, habits, events, lock groups and preferences. Deleting the app itself also removes its data from the iPhone. Backups you made to iCloud Drive stay there until you delete them from iCloud.

Yes. TaskLock is free to download, and the free version includes app locking, tasks, habits and events. It limits how many items you can have: a small number of tasks, one habit, one event per day and two synced calendars. TaskLock Premium removes those limits.

Premium removes the free version’s limits, so you can create unlimited tasks, habits and events and show as many calendars as you like. Everything else, including app locking, the Apple Watch app, widgets, Live Activities and iCloud backup, is the same in both versions.

Both are available: a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Payment goes through Apple, so TaskLock never sees your card details. Prices are shown in the app in your local currency and may differ by country, so the app is the place to check them.

Subscriptions are managed by Apple, not inside TaskLock. On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, tap Subscriptions, choose TaskLock and tap Cancel Subscription. You keep Premium until the end of the period you already paid for. A lifetime purchase has nothing to cancel. For refunds, use Apple’s reportaproblem.apple.com.

Yes. Sign in to the App Store with the same Apple Account, open TaskLock’s settings and tap Restore Purchases. Premium is tied to your Apple Account, not to the phone. Your tasks and habits come back through an iCloud backup if you made one before switching phones.

The usual cause is missing Screen Time permission. Open TaskLock’s settings and check that Screen Time access is granted. Then make sure the task actually has apps selected under App Lock and that its lock start time has passed. If a lock still does not appear, restart the iPhone; this clears the rare cases where iOS’s own Screen Time service is stuck.

Check the shield screen on the locked app: it lists every task and event that still locks it. Another task, a habit or an ongoing event may be holding the same apps. Also make sure the confirmation countdown ran to the end instead of being cancelled. If everything is done and the lock remains, open TaskLock once so it can refresh, then restart the iPhone if needed.

No. TaskLock does not need to run in the background to keep apps locked. Once a lock is set, iOS enforces it through its own Screen Time system, and event locks start and end on schedules that iOS handles. The app itself only does work when you open it or check something off.

No. TaskLock is only for iPhone and Apple Watch. It is built on Apple’s Screen Time framework, which is what makes reliable app blocking possible, and that framework exists only on iOS. There is no Android, Mac, iPad or web version.

44 languages: English, Arabic, Bangla, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Norwegian, Odia, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese, with regional versions of English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. The app follows your iPhone’s language setting.

Email info@tasklockapp.com. We usually reply within 24 to 48 hours. Include your iOS version and a short description of what happened; a screenshot of the shield screen or of the task’s lock settings helps us answer faster. The support page has the basics.