Features | ZenScreen - Limit Screen Time

Enable “Zen Breaks” and show social media apps who’s the boss!

Don’t let Social Media steal your time and happiness

Enable “Zen Breaks” and show social media apps who is the boss!

Let’s face it, social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc are addictive for grown-ups and kids alike.

Designers and engineers at these companies have systematically built in addictive loops to bring up back to their apps. You get a quick hit of dopamine… they get more usage, advertising revenue, and end of year bonuses.

What if you could use these apps but always in moderation. What if an app worked on your behalf and gave you a mini break from social media every once in a while.

We are super excited to give you that kind of superpower. Update all the apps in the family to the latest version (2.1.0) and turn on Zen Breaks. We will detect when you have used social media apps too many times in a day and give you an hour-long mini-break from just those Apps. During the break, all your other apps will continue to work. And best of all, you get 3 cheats (skips) a day from these breaks as you get used to the new balance.

Our data shows that some kids use Snapchat 40+ times a day and often 5-8 times an hour. They need your help and guidance, they just don’t know to ask.

Track and manage your own screen time

Many apps allow you to manage your kid’s screen time. While we think that ZenScreen is amongst the best apps in that category, we also feel that screen time management is not only good for kid’s health but also your own health and wellness.

In a recent survey conducted by us, a staggering 88% of you agreed with that and expressed interest in tracing and potentially managing your own screen time.

So we are delighted to introduce that ability in our ZenScreen 2.0 App today.

You can start by tracking your own screen time.

Once you are familiar and comfortable with the product experience, you can add kids and other family members to your account at any time.

Starting with yourself will also make it easier for you to convince your kid’s that screen time balance is a good thing and that you are leading by example on this topic.

However, if you are not ready for that yet, that is totally fine as well. As always, you can install the app all kid’s devices (for management) and your own device to set controls.

And you can always add yourself at a later point.

Hope you find this a big step forward in improving health and happiness of your entire family. As always, we love to hear your feedback.

– Your hardworking ZenScreen team.

Education Vs Entertainment Time

Smart Activity Limit

We bet you let kids eat as many vegetables as they like, but set a sensible limit for desserts

Now you can do the same for screen time. Let kids use unlimited educational apps and apply the time limit to their entertainment apps.

Just tap on the “Entertainment limit” card and set a sensible limit. Experts recommend 2 hours so start with that and tune as you go.

You agree on a daily screen time allowance with your kids and ZenScreen will make sure that they stay within that limit. We will give them a 10-minute warning before they hit the time limit for that day and then we will shut down access to apps when they do hit the limit.

Kids see their own screen time usage just like you do, so that reduces anxiety and increases accountability.

App Blocking Modes – Two is Better Than One

If your child uses an iOS device, now you have 2 ways that you can block their app usage at bedtime or when they reach activity limit.

1. Pause Internet: Recommended for older kids who mostly use Internet-connected apps. We will block internet access on WiFi as well as cellular networks.

2. App Block: Recommended for kids who play lots of games. All apps, including games, will be disabled on their devices.
Important Note: on iOS devices, Apps will get reordered alphabetically on kid’s device.

When you set up the device, you will have a choice of these modes. And of course, you can change the selection any time from the settings on the parent device.