untethered
/ʌnˈteð.əd/ — adjective
1. not bound by the pull of a screen.
2. experiencing life directly and uninterrupted.
3. fully present.
4. free.
UNTETHER is a quiet act of resistance against every app, algorithm, and notification fighting for your attention. Put your phone down, let the timer run, and rediscover what it feels like to be fully present.
Reaching for our phone has become instinctive. We carry it from room to room like it's part of us. To the kitchen, to the bathroom, to bed. We've become literally tethered to our phones, and panic when we leave the house without one. Somewhere along the way, a device became an extension of our body.
Every quiet moment gets filled with a screen. Waiting in line. Eating alone. Lying in bed. We've forgotten how to be bored, and in doing so, we've lost something deeper. Our attention spans are shrinking. Anxiety is rising. Our minds never rest because we never let them. We're physically present with the people we love, but mentally elsewhere — absorbed in things we won't remember while our own moments slip by. How much of your life have you missed while holding your phone?
The best thing you can do is turn your phone off entirely. But when you need an incentive to disconnect, UNTETHER tracks uninterrupted offline time and lets you compare it with others. No doomscrolling, no social media loops, no sneaky app switches.
UNTETHER isn't just a timer. It's a reminder that your time and attention are precious resources, and they belong to you, not your phone.
How it works
THE BASICS:
- Hold the button until it says LET GO, then release.
- Your screen will go dark but your phone will stay unlocked.
- If you lock your phone or switch apps, the run ends.
- Interruptions (iOS): You have 30s to dismiss calls or system popups (15s in BLACKOUT).
- Accidents (iOS): Swipe home by mistake? You only have 3s to return (0s in BLACKOUT).
- Android: 10s grace period for all interruptions and exits, regardless of mode (Android needs time to enable/disable Interaction Control, which counts as exiting the app).
- Long-press anywhere on the screen to manually end a session.
POCKET SHIELD:
- Highly recommended if you carry your phone in a pocket or bag.
- Prevents accidental swipes and presses from ending your session.
- Skip this section if you always keep your phone on a table.
1. POCKET SHIELD ONE-TIME SETUP
- iOS Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access > ON.
- Open UNTETHER > Triple-click side button.
- Tap "Session Settings" > turn OFF "Touch" and "Side Button" > Done.
- Tap Start > Set Passcode > Triple-click > End.
- Settings are now saved.
2. USING POCKET SHIELD
- Start UNTETHER session > Triple-click side button (screen and button get locked).
- Put your phone into your pocket, and don't worry about accidental swipes or clicks!
3. ENDING WITH POCKET SHIELD
- Triple-click > Passcode/Face ID > Tap End (top-left).
- Hold screen to stop UNTETHER session.
THE END GAME:
UNTETHER is a means to an end. It is a tool designed to eventually make itself obsolete.
We're not interested in keeping you hooked on another app. We're interested in breaking the cycle entirely.
When you forget about UNTETHER because your phone is just a tool again, not a compulsion, we've succeeded. Freedom means not needing us anymore.
BATTERY WARNING:
Ensure your phone is well charged. The "Low Battery" system popup counts as leaving the app and will end your session after 10-30 seconds if not dismissed in time!
Using an iPhone 11, XR, SE, or iPhone 8 and older? Since these devices have LCD screens, the black screen won't save battery. Please lower your brightness manually.
INTEGRITY PROTOCOL:
- • To encourage true offline time, sessions under 10 seconds don't count towards your public profile.
- • Sessions auto-end after 12 hours, preventing idle phones from running indefinitely.
- • This limit allows you to unwind overnight and resist the morning scroll, without worrying about the timer.
- • Overnight sessions are expected and welcome. Sleep counts.
SCREEN TIME NOTE:
UNTETHER stays open to keep you in the moment, so it will inflate your system's screen time stats. Don't worry, this is time reclaimed, not wasted.
If you use Opal, Brick, or iOS Downtime, you must whitelist UNTETHER (add to "Always Allowed"). Otherwise, you'll be kicked out of your session when the screen time limit kicks in.
BLACKOUT MODE:
- • Built for users who want total presence and zero distractions.
- • All external audio (music, podcasts, etc.) is blocked.
- • No 3-second grace period. Leaving the app ends the session immediately.
Session Types
Tips
- Put your phone far away from yourself, or in your pocket (use Pocket Shield if so!).
- Don't leave your phone unattended! Unless you really want to get rid of it, and you're fine with a stranger going through everything on it.
- Use Do Not Disturb to block incoming notifications, or even go hardcore and off-grid with Airplane Mode (we will not be held responsible for important missed calls!).
- Try using UNTETHER while walking, training, socialising, meditating, reading, eating, working, or any time you want to be fully present.
- Invite your friends and compare progress on the friends or Syndicate leaderboards.
Friends & Social
- Connect with individual users to build your personal network.
- Manage requests in the SOCIAL tab.
- Once connected, you will see them in the friends leaderboard.
- The "network total" shows the combined untethered time of you and all your friends.
- To remove a friend, hold down on their name in the friends leaderboard.
Syndicates
- Syndicates are exclusive teams. You can only belong to one at a time.
- Create a Syndicate to become the founder (leader). You hold the power to kick members.
- Or, join an existing one using an invite code.
- If the founder leaves, the member with the highest total untethered time becomes the new leader.
- Compete against other groups on the global Syndicate leaderboard.
Activity
See what your friends and Syndicate members are up to:
Profile & Stats
• Create a profile to sync all future sessions to the cloud.
• Sessions completed while signed out will not be synced to the cloud, but will remain on the device.
• Deleting sessions removes them from the device only. Cloud data is unaffected (unless you delete a session that hasn't been synced yet).
• Spot a user with a gold VIP badge? That signifies a user who joined within the first month of launch. They were offline before it was cool.
OFF-GRID (OFFLINE) SESSIONS:
- • Going off-grid is the purest form of presence. No internet, no leaderboard, just you in the moment.
- • Any session that starts offline, ends offline, or loses connection for 60+ seconds is marked as off-grid.
- • Off-grid sessions are saved locally but not uploaded (this also prevents time manipulation cheats).
- • Go online and log in if you want to compete with others on the leaderboards!
Titles
Your total untethered time unlocks titles, simply based on your total time spent uninterrupted by your phone:
Have Feedback?
Found a bug or have a cool idea? Send an email to: