one sec | screen time + focus 5.2.6 - App Store

---

About one sec | screen time + focus

Willpower is not enough against social media algorithms! That’s why I made one sec: one sec adds friction to distracting apps to make them less appealing...long-term! This principle works really well: we have gained...

Willpower is not enough against social media algorithms! That’s why I made one sec: one sec adds friction to distracting apps to make them less appealing...long-term! This principle works really well: we have gained scientific evidence in numerous research studies with the Max-Planck Institute, with the German and Danish government, and in dozens more scientific collaborations: one sec has incredible effects on your screen time: app usage drops by 57% on average! ...just read our App Store reviews or try it for yourself if you don’t believe me (...you should really try it)! How is one sec different from Screen Time limits or app blockers? - one sec DELAYS access to distracting apps instead of blocking apps completely - that’s an important difference psychologically. - This way, we solve the screen time problem at its roots: long-term & sustainably! - one sec is always on, and makes using social media just slightly more annoying...so you’ll end up using it only when you actually have a reason! Which apps can I use with one sec? - You can set up one sec with any app you’d like to use less / more intentional. - Most popular use-cases are: social media, games, video streaming, dating, stock/coin trading, adult content. - Using one sec with one app of your choice if completely free, for more you’ll need to purchase one sec pro (we also need to finance development of our app!). What if I get stuck scrolling? - No worries, one sec offers a Doom Scroll Emergency Brake: We call it Re-Intervention. - After a set time (e.g. 5 minutes) you’ll be kicked out of social media, and you’ll have to go through an intervention again to unlock more time. Where can I learn more about the scientific background of one sec? → https://one-sec.app/research Can I use one sec to interrupt access to websites as well? → Yes, one sec offers a free Safari extension as well. How does one sec work technically? - one sec uses Shortcuts Automation to toggle a deep breath animation whenever you open one of the configured apps (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube...). - This breaks unconscious social media habits short-term (literally, as soon as you have set it up) and even helps long-term by adding more friction when opening these apps. Integrations: - Structured: one sec blocks apps during unfinished tasks. - LENGO: learn vocabulary to unlock social media. I developed one sec for myself in 2020...and it worked so well I decided to upload it to the App Store. Especially for people with ADHD one sec is a great tool to gain back control for incredible focus and concentration. - Frederik Legal information: Available Subscription Options: one sec pro (annual / monthly / lifetime unlock) one sec can contribute mindful moments to the Health App via HealthKit. one sec is covered by U.S. Patent 12,468,828 B2. Terms (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://one-sec.app/privacy/

Version History This is a small update with big impact: If you’re running iOS 26.5 (or newer) you will no longer have to do the notification dance when going through Re-Interventions or Delayed Interventions. When you press the “Intervention” button, the breathing exercise (or other intervention of your choice) will simply show up. On top of that, we’ve made small improvements to the Structured integration & the block tab in general. Hope you’re enjoying our little updates over the past few weeks! If you like one sec, it would help a lot if you could leave us a nice review on the App Store. Thank you! – Frederik 5.2.6 5d ago This is probably one of the most impactful bug fix updates yet for one sec: - With this update, one sec implements a series of improvements with apps connected via screen time: if you’re using iOS 26.5 (or newer) there should now be way fewer glitches and issues. This is really a big step forward. I’d like to thank Apple for the great collaboration making that happen. Looking forward to more screen time bug fixes in the future :) - On top of that, this update addresses an issue where apps shielded by delayed interventions could be accidentally unlocked even before the next full hour hast started. Sorry about the trouble! - After our last performance focused update, this one also implements a series of smaller bug fixes and addresses UI glitches (especially inside interventions). - Implements improvements for an ongoing research project. - Fixes issues regarding the Shortcuts app lock feature. - Fixes an issue where blocked websites were not exposed in the block preview. - Improves layout for Dynamic Island timer, especially for longer intentions. - Fixes an issue where the start / end time stamps of Focus Filters were not displayed correctly in the block tab. 5.2.5 May 20 - Performance improvements for one sec’s interventions. - New research infrastructure powering future studies within one sec. - Localization improvements. - Dynamic Island improvements. - Adds new math intervention. - Improved random text intervention. 5.2.4 May 12 - Performance improvements for one sec’s interventions. - New research infrastructure powering future studies within one sec. - Localization improvements. - Dynamic Island improvements. - Adds new math intervention. - Improved random text intervention. 5.2.3 May 6 This is a smaller update which includes a bunch of bug fixes and UI improvements: - Corner radii are now more consistent on iOS 26. - Fixes an issue where haptic feedback was not working on some devices. - Improves one sec’s Safari extension, especially the Re-Intervention. - Improves padding in onboarding. - Double checks if you really want to delete a recurring block before proceeding. - Concludes another scientific research project inside one sec. PS: We are super busy working on the next big update for one sec :) 5.2.2 Apr 26 Version 5.2 is a big update for one sec — but instead of adding headlining new features, this release focuses on improving what’s already there and making everything more reliable. - Re-Interventions now work with websites via our Safari extension. - Fixed an issue where 23-hour blocks could not be started. - Journaling Intervention redesigned for iOS 26, plus many bug fixes. - Journal entries now reliably sync via iCloud with our companion app Reflective. - Conversational Reflection is now faster and more reliable. - Fixed an issue where the Block Live Activity didn’t start when launching a block via the widget. - Bug fixes for the Intention Picker. - During strict blocks, screen time permissions can no longer be re-authenticated and apps cannot be reassigned (to prevent cheating). - The widget now refreshes regularly to always show up-to-date usage data. - Many additional bug fixes and improvements throughout the app. I really hope you like this update and the continuous improvements we’re making to one sec. If you do, leaving a quick review on the App Store would help us a lot. Thanks for your support! Frederik 5.2.1 Mar 27 Version 5.2 is a big update for one sec — but instead of adding headlining new features, this release focuses on improving what’s already there and making everything more reliable. - Re-Interventions now work with websites via our Safari extension. - Fixed an issue where 23-hour blocks could not be started. - Journaling Intervention redesigned for iOS 26, plus many bug fixes. - Journal entries now reliably sync via iCloud with our companion app Reflective. - Conversational Reflection is now faster and more reliable. - Fixed an issue where the Block Live Activity didn’t start when launching a block via the widget. - Bug fixes for the Intention Picker. - During strict blocks, screen time permissions can no longer be re-authenticated and apps cannot be reassigned (to prevent cheating). - The widget now refreshes regularly to always show up-to-date usage data. - Many additional bug fixes and improvements throughout the app. I really hope you like this update and the continuous improvements we’re making to one sec. If you do, leaving a quick review on the App Store would help us a lot. Thanks for your support! Frederik 5.2 Mar 13 - Big update for one sec’s conversational reflection intervention. Completely redesigned & improved tech stack. - App Icon picker updated and UI fixes. - Bug fixes around strict block of apps. - Fixes an issue where strict block limitations were already enforced while a strict block was being created. - one sec uninstall protection during strict blocks. - Fix “Re-Intervention” and “Always Ask” time picker animation glitch. - Fix selection of breathing prompt text – and simplified breathing prompt customization while we were at it. - Fix glitch in LENGO vocab list, now you can select and delete words again. - Fix one sec’s time budget intervention. Hope you like these improvements & bug fixes! If one sec helps you, please support our work by writing a review on the App Store. Thank you :) – Frederik 5.1 12/17/2025 Hey lovely one sec user! In addition to the announcements of our BIG 5.0 update, we’re taking the time today to polish the update and address some bugs: - Fixes an issue where the intention picker would not show up. - Sheet automatically resizes to full-screen when selecting a custom block duration. - Overlapping blocks are now sorted correctly. - Advanced breathing exercises (such as box breathing or 4-7-8) now use Liquid Glass for the dismiss button as well. - Slightly refined settings UI – and moved iCloud Backup settings under the account tab. - Fix where the toggle to turn off 50% budget remaining notifications did not work. - Ensures that our FAQs are shown when pressing the FAQ button on the tips tab. - Fixes an issue where the phone-free morning / Awake integration wouldn’t display the selected set of apps and categories. - Changes the icon for the phone-free morning to a more friendly one. - Fixes multiple background crashes (hopefully). - Fixes an issue where the toggle to enable a weekday-based intervention schedule wouldn't work. - Automatically expands the new block sheet to full size while selecting a custom time interval. - Adds a new toggle in “Don’t get lost notifications” to show a warning notification when reaching a 50% threshold of a Re-Intervention or delayed intervention. - Applies new Liquid Glass design to “U sure bout that?” intervention. Don’t forget: if you like one sec, please write us a nice review on the App Store. This helps to spread the word about the app. Thanks a lot for your ongoing support, have a great day! – Frederik 5.0.5 10/06/2025 Hey lovely one sec user! In addition to the BIG announcements of last week’s 5.0 update, we’re taking the time today to polish the update and address some bugs: - Fixes an issue where the intention picker would not show up. - Sheet automatically resizes to full-screen when selecting a custom block duration. - Overlapping blocks are now sorted correctly. - Advanced breathing exercises (such as box breathing or 4-7-8) now use Liquid Glass for the dismiss button as well. - Slightly refined settings UI – and moved iCloud Backup settings under the account tab. - Fix where the toggle to turn off 50% budget remaining notifications did not work. - Ensures that our FAQs are shown when pressing the FAQ button on the tips tab. - Fixes an issue where the phone-free morning / Awake integration wouldn’t display the selected set of apps and categories. - Changes the icon for the phone-free morning to a more friendly one. - Fixes multiple background crashes (hopefully). - Fixes an issue where the toggle to enable a weekday-based intervention schedule wouldn't work. - Automatically expands the new block sheet to full size while selecting a custom time interval. - Adds a new toggle in “Don’t get lost notifications” to show a warning notification when reaching a 50% threshold of a Re-Intervention or delayed intervention. - Applies new Liquid Glass design to “U sure bout that?” intervention. Don’t forget: if you like one sec, please write us a nice review on the App Store. This helps to spread the word about the app. Thanks a lot for your ongoing support, have a great day! – Frederik 5.0.4 09/27/2025 Hey lovely one sec user! In addition to the BIG announcements of last week’s 5.0 update, we’re taking the time today to polish the update and address some bugs: - Fixes an issue where the phone-free morning / Awake integration wouldn’t display the selected set of apps and categories. - Changes the icon for the phone-free morning to a more friendly one. - Fixes multiple background crashes (hopefully). - Fixes an issue where the toggle to enable a weekday-based intervention schedule wouldn't work. - Automatically expands the new block sheet to full size while selecting a custom time interval. - Adds a new toggle in “Don’t get lost notifications” to show a warning notification when reaching a 50% threshold of a Re-Intervention or delayed intervention. - Applies new Liquid Glass design to “U sure bout that?” intervention. Don’t forget: if you like one sec, please write us a nice review on the App Store. This helps to spread the word about the app. Thanks a lot for your ongoing support, have a great day! – Frederik 5.0.3 09/24/2025 We’re celebrating one sec’s 5th birthday this month. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 5 years already since I started working on one sec. I’m grateful every day I get to work on such an impactful app with the best team I could wish for! This summer, we’ve been working extremely hard on a large list of new features, improvements and bug-fixes and we can’t wait to get it into your hands. We decided to call this update: one sec 5.0 This update brings… …an all-new block tab: upcoming & past blocks at a glance (no matter if they are triggered by a Schedule, a manual Block, Good Morning Countdown, Focus Filter, a Structured task…). …an all-new tips tab with hands-on tips to get the most out of one sec & your new life. …a new conversational reflection intervention using the new on-device LLM helping you to reflect even more on why you open apps. …a much improved ”Good Morning Countdown“ that now integrates with the new no-mercy alarm clock app “Awake”. …iCloud backup for your stats (preventions & time saved). …many many design refinements and bug fixes throughout one sec. If you like one sec & our continuous work on it, please take a moment to write a review on the App Store. Thank you very much for your support! – Frederik 5.0.2 09/19/2025 We’re celebrating one sec’s 5th birthday this month. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 5 years already since I started working on one sec. I’m grateful every day I get to work on such an impactful app with the best team I could wish for! This summer, we’ve been working extremely hard on a large list of new features, improvements and bug-fixes and we can’t wait to get it into your hands. We decided to call this update: one sec 5.0 This update brings… …an all-new block tab: upcoming & past blocks at a glance (no matter if they are triggered by a Schedule, a manual Block, Good Morning Countdown, Focus Filter, a Structured task…). …an all-new tips tab with hands-on tips to get the most out of one sec & your new life. …a new conversational reflection intervention using the new on-device LLM helping you to reflect even more on why you open apps. …a much improved ”Good Morning Countdown“ that now integrates with the new no-mercy alarm clock app “Awake”. …many many design refinements and bug fixes throughout one sec. If you like one sec & our continuous work on it, please take a moment to write a review on the App Store. Thank you very much for your support! – Frederik 5.0.1 09/15/2025 We’re celebrating one sec’s 5th birthday this month. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 5 years already since I started working on one sec. I’m grateful every day I get to work on such an impactful app with the best team I could wish for! This summer, we’ve been working extremely hard on a large list of new features, improvements and bug-fixes and we can’t wait to get it into your hands. We decided to call this update: one sec 5.0 This update brings… …an all-new block tab: upcoming & past blocks at a glance (no matter if they are triggered by a Schedule, a manual Block, Good Morning Countdown, Focus Filter, a Structured task…). …an all-new tips tab with hands-on tips to get the most out of one sec & your new life. …a new conversational reflection intervention using the new on-device LLM helping you to reflect even more on why you open apps. …a much improved ”Good Morning Countdown“ that now integrates with the new no-mercy alarm clock app “Awake”. …many many design refinements and bug fixes throughout one sec. 5.0 09/13/2025 This update fixes an issue where one sec’s “Settings Lock” could result in very short intervention times. On top of that, we’re adding a new research collaboration with Wuppertal University. 4.1.12 09/10/2025 This update fixes an issue where one sec’s “Settings Lock” could result in very short intervention times. On top of that, we’re adding a new research collaboration with Wuppertal University. 4.1.11 09/09/2025 - Automatically removes target app lock / “intervention cheat prevention” after 1 minute. - Fixes an issue where on some devices Re-Interventions could be removed by locking and unlocking the device screen. - Fixes an issue where under some circumstanced blocked apps could be unlocked during blocks. - Delayed interventions now follow intervention schedules as well. - Fixes an issue with research studies. 4.1.10 08/06/2025 This update contains smaller bug fixes and improvements: Ensures that the settings lock and shortcuts app lock uses the default breathing exercise when the budgeting feature is enabled. 4.1.9 07/23/2025 - Fixes an issue where the anti-cheat protection would remain active even when the target app is allowed to be used (e..g allowed by focus filter). - Fixes an issue where the Structured intervention would not trigger for Delayed Interventions. You need to set up Automations for the target apps, in order for the Structured intervention to work, even for the new Delayed Intervention mode. - Accessibility VoiceOver improvements for the time interval picker (Re-Interventions and “Always Ask Intervention”). Shout-out to Marissa for bringing this to our attention! - Improves capabilities to re-connect apps via the Screen Time app picker in case glitches with Apple’s Screen Time framework occur. - Smaller UI improvements and bug fixes throughout the whole app. If you like one sec and the continuous work we put into app updates, I’d highly appreciate if you could take three minutes to leave a review on the App Store ＜3 – Frederik 4.1.8 07/12/2025 – Fixes an issue where block sessions would not trigger for apps set up with the new delayed intervention mode. – Fixes an issue where the onboarding survey would pop up all the time for users who just want to use one sec’s block schedule feature. – Fixes an issue with importing vocabulary from LENGO. 4.1.7 07/06/2025 - If a subscription expires, and you had the one sec settings lock enabled, you can now go through an intervention again to unlock one sec’s settings. - Fixes an issue where you couldn’t add new websites to one sec’s Safari extension. - Fixes an issue where the latest update of one sec would crash on iOS 16 devices. Sorry about the trouble! 4.1.6 06/18/2025 This update adds a new data donation research project in collaboration with RWTH Aachen. If you’d like to participate, please fill out the opt-in survey that’s shown in a banner on one sec’s Overview page. 4.1.5 06/15/2025 Another small, but important bug-fix update: - Fixes an issue where per-app breathing prompts were not saved permanently. - Fixes an issue where the “Lock Target App during Intervention” feature would keep locking the target app even when the intervention is turned off or the intervention mode is switched. - Ensures that push permission is granted when “Always Ask” intervention is set up. 4.1.4 06/08/2025 Small, but important bug fixes: - Make sure that up-to-date target apps are available to be selected in Focus Filters. - Fixes an issue where turning on / off the Re-Intervention was not saved for individual target apps. - Push notification permission was not requested when setting up a delayed intervention. - App-based Max. Re-Intervention Time Interval was not permanently saved. - Re-Intervention would only allow you to choose 1 minute (or unlimited) in some rare cases. - Automations would not trigger, if the intervention for a target app had previously been turned off. Sorry about the inconvenience! On top of these bug fixes, this update of course also includes the big new features of the previous version: We’ve been working hard over the past year to offer two new intervention modes: - Delayed Intervention Mode: You can now set up a fixed delay after which the intervention should become active: so you can use a target app within boundaries (e.g. 2 minutes per hour) without getting interrupted - “Always ask” Intervention Mode: Every time you open a target app, you’ll be prompted to set the time you intend to spend on it, and only after the time has been consumed the target app will be shielded – and an intervention is required to unlock more time. These two new intervention modes have been highly requested features and are basically the “Re-Intervention without the initial breathing exercise”. We’ve run one scientific research project on this each with the Danish and German governments and are super happy with the results: This new mode is less frustrating while also being extremely effective in reducing time spent on target apps. one sec’s standard immediate intervention mode remains available unchanged, of course. On top of that, we’ve also improved many smaller aspects of one sec: - You can now add custom apps without knowing their URL schemes (but without that one sec can’t automatically open the target app unfortunately, so you have to proceed to the target app manually). - You can now set the Maximum Re-Intervention Time Interval on a per-app basis. - Intervention & Block Schedules now display the weekday selection in a localized manner (start of week). - Translation improvements throughout the app. - Lock time & time zone settings during strict blocks to prevent cheating. - LENGO integration accessibility improvements for voice over. 4.1.3 06/04/2025 This update fixes some important bugs: - Push notification permission was not requested when setting up a delayed intervention. - App-based Max. Re-Intervention Time Interval was not permanently saved. - Re-Intervention would only allow you to chose 1 minute (or unlimited) in some rare cases. - Automations would not trigger, if the intervention for a target app had previously been turned off. Sorry about the inconvenience! On top of these bug fixes, this update of course also includes the big new features of the previous version: We’ve been working hard over the past year to offer two new intervention modes: - Delayed Intervention Mode: You can now set up a fixed delay after which the intervention should become active: so you can use a target app within boundaries (e.g. 2 minutes per hour) without getting interrupted - “Always ask” Intervention Mode: Every time you open a target app, you’ll be prompted to set the time you intend to spend on it, and only after the time has been consumed the target app will be shielded – and an intervention is required to unlock more time. These two new intervention modes have been highly requested features and are basically the “Re-Intervention without the initial breathing exercise”. We’ve run one scientific research project on this each with the Danish and German governments and are super happy with the results: This new mode is less frustrating while also being extremely effective in reducing time spent on target apps. one sec’s standard immediate intervention mode remains available unchanged, of course. On top of that, we’ve also improved many smaller aspects of one sec: - You can now add custom apps without knowing their URL schemes (but without that one sec can’t automatically open the target app unfortunately, so you have to proceed to the target app manually). - You can now set the Maximum Re-Intervention Time Interval on a per-app basis. - Intervention & Block Schedules now display the weekday selection in a localized manner (start of week). - Translation improvements throughout the app. - Lock time & time zone settings during strict blocks to prevent cheating. - LENGO integration accessibility improvements for voice over. 4.1.2 06/02/2025

---

Previous Versions

Here you can find the changelog of one sec | screen time + focus since it was posted on our website on 2021-12-14 17:35:45. The latest version is 5.2.6 and it was updated on 2026-06-27 11:54:25. See below the changes in each version.

---

Related Apps

Here you can find apps that are similar with one sec | screen time + focus.

---

Disclaimer