Do Instead puts a wall in front of the apps that eat your day — and on the wall, the three things you actually meant to do, straight from Apple Reminders or Todoist. You decide the windows when you’re allowed in. Outside them the door is closed, and there is no “five more minutes” button.
The block screen shows your three most urgent Apple Reminders or Todoist tasks — not a quote, not a countdown. Tick them off right there, or jump into your task manager for the rest. No other blocker makes real task managers its core flow.
The wall is up by default. You set the windows when you’re allowed — lunch, an evening slot, weekend mornings — and the shield drops for exactly those. No daily budget to game, no timer to wait out.
No snooze, no “just this once”. Opening your schedule up takes ten minutes to apply; closing it is instant. Editing the settings is never a shortcut past them — the loophole every other blocker gets criticised for is closed by design.
Hit the wall three times in an hour and the app asks what you were actually looking for — in writing, after a short wait that grows with each attempt — before it shows your list. The answers stay on your phone. Reading them back is the point.
Every impulse open turns into a ticked-off reminder, a minute of box breathing, or a two-minute desk workout guided by a 3D coach: eight office-friendly routines, no floor, no sweat. A Lock Screen widget tells you when the next window opens and what to do until then.
On iOS, Apple’s Screen Time API shields the apps and websites you pick system-wide — Safari, Chrome, every browser on your phone. A five-step setup does it all: apps, windows, task manager, a preview of the wall, done. Prefer something softer? A Shortcuts automation route is free.
Chrome, Firefox and Safari extensions bring the task interstitial to your computer, with a 25-minute pomodoro and a deliberate, timed “let me in for 5 minutes”. Settings move between devices with a QR transfer code — no account, no cloud.
No accounts, no analytics, no tracking, no servers. Your tasks stay between your phone and your task manager. Read the privacy policy — it’s short because there’s nothing to disclose.
Do Instead is built by Groei BV. The browser extension is free. On iOS the core flow — Reminders, breathing, desk workouts and the Shortcuts route — is free; Do Instead Pro (strict mode with allowed windows, Todoist) is $19.99 a year after a 7-day free trial, or $1.99 a week.