We're a small team. We read every message.
We usually reply within 1–3 business days. Please include your phone model and Android version so we can help faster.
Getting started
Usage Access is the only way on Android for an app to detect which app is in the foreground. Without it, SNAPOUT cannot know when you've opened Instagram or YouTube and cannot intervene. This is a read-only permission — we cannot see what you do inside those apps, only that they are open.
This lets SNAPOUT show the full-screen warning when your session ends. Without it, SNAPOUT could only send a notification you'd easily ignore. The whole point is to actually interrupt the habit loop.
The commitment form is where you set your daily target hours, your pledges, and — most importantly — what activities you'll do when SNAPOUT stops you (The Switch). It's a personal agreement between you and your future self. You only fill it out once.
During your commitment, you select activities you actually want to do instead of scrolling — reading, walking, calling someone, playing outdoors, meditating, etc. When SNAPOUT blocks you during a cooldown, it shows these activities back to you. Your own promise, reflecting back at you. You can select as many activities as you want.
Core features
When your session time runs out, SNAPOUT shows a 60-second Phase 1 screen with two choices: enter Monk Mode (full phone lockdown) or start a Cooldown (rest from monitored apps only). If you don't choose within 60 seconds, Cooldown starts automatically. During Cooldown, your phone works normally — only the apps you chose to monitor are blocked.
Monk Mode locks your phone completely for 1–4 hours. You choose which apps stay accessible for emergencies (Phone, WhatsApp, Maps, etc.). Everything else is blocked until the timer ends. It's designed for deep focus when you need to genuinely eliminate distraction.
Night Shield blocks your monitored apps during the hours you set (default 9 PM to 6 AM). It fires immediately when you open a monitored app during those hours, regardless of how many sessions you've had. Night Shield cannot be disabled while it's active — this is by design.
Guardian Mode lets parents set up a child profile with a daily screen time cap, difficulty level (Light / Moderate / Strict), and a PIN to prevent the child from changing settings. In Guardian Mode, there is no Phase 1 choice screen — the child goes directly to cooldown when the session ends. A parent PIN is required to access any settings.
SNAPOUT has 20 badges across four rarity tiers — Common, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. They're earned automatically as you use the app: signing your commitment, maintaining streaks, completing cooldowns, saving hours, enabling Night Shield, and more. If you're signed in with Google, badges sync to your account automatically.
Account & cloud sync
No. SNAPOUT works completely without signing in. Sign-in is optional and only used for cloud backup of your settings, commitment, streak, and badges — so they restore automatically if you change phones or reinstall.
Your current local settings are uploaded to the cloud and linked to your Google account. From then on, changes sync automatically whenever you update your settings.
SNAPOUT detects that you're a returning user, restores your settings from the cloud, and takes you directly to the Dashboard — you won't need to go through setup again.
Go to Profile → Delete Account. This permanently deletes your Firestore backup and your Firebase account. Local data is deleted when you uninstall the app. We retain nothing after deletion.
Troubleshooting
1. Go to Android Settings → Apps → Special app access → Usage access → enable SNAPOUT.
2. Disable battery optimization for SNAPOUT (Settings → Battery → Battery optimization → All apps → SNAPOUT → Don't optimize).
3. On Realme, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo phones — also enable Autostart for SNAPOUT in your phone's security or settings app.
If the issue continues, email us with your phone model and Android version.
Check that "Display over other apps" is enabled for SNAPOUT: Settings → Apps → Special app access → Display over other apps → SNAPOUT → Allow.
This is almost always battery optimization. Your phone's OS is killing the monitoring service to save battery. Disable battery optimization for SNAPOUT as described above. On some phones you also need to enable "Background activity" in the app's battery settings.
Make sure you have a stable internet connection. Try signing out of all Google accounts on the device and signing back in. If the issue persists, email us with your phone model.
Open SNAPOUT → Settings → toggle Protection off. This pauses monitoring without losing your stats or settings.
All local data is deleted immediately. If you were signed in, your cloud backup remains until you delete your account from within the app. Reinstalling and signing in restores everything.
SNAPOUT is Android-only. iOS does not allow third-party apps the level of system access needed to reliably intervene on other apps, so an iOS version is not currently possible.
Yes. The core SNAPOUT experience — monitoring, warnings, cooldowns, Monk Mode, Night Shield, Guardian Mode, badges — is free and always will be.
Email us at snapoutapporiginal@gmail.com. We genuinely read everything. The best ideas come from users.
When you email us about a bug, please include: