A library.
Historical figures you caught while focusing. Over 600 to collect. Rare and Legendary ones become status symbols inside your own streak.
Screen time
Reduce screen time without blocking every app.
The popular advice is to shame the phone into submission. Block this, restrict that, get guilted by a weekly report. The advice mostly doesn't work, and it doesn't work for a reason. This page explains that reason, and what works better.
Why blockers fail
Every blocker on the market runs into the same wall: if the app you're trying to avoid has higher reward per minute than the alternative, your brain eventually finds a way. Uninstall the blocker. Use a different device. Whitelist yourself. The structural fact is that blocking reduces friction momentarily but leaves the dopamine arithmetic untouched.
Shame-based screen-time apps make the same mistake in reverse. They try to make you feel worse about the phone, which works for about two days before the brain rebalances. The data point that sticks is not "I spent 4 hours on Instagram this week." The data point that sticks is the next reel.
What actually shifts the arithmetic
The alternative has to be rewarding enough to compete. Not "rewarding" in the sense of "you should feel good because it's good for you," which is a lecture, not a reward. Rewarding in the sense of "something I actually want."
Catch the Ghost is designed around that premise. Every minute you focus earns coins you can spend on historical-figure packs. Every 25-minute session reveals a figure pixel by pixel, something you'll find yourself curious about. The streak system nudges you gently. Eventually the competition between scroll time and focus time starts to tilt, because scroll time doesn't leave you with anything.
What you get instead of a report card
Coins and packs.
Spend what you earn on themed ghost packs in the in-app Store. Great Strategists, Actors, Famous Japanese, Great Authors. New packs every month.
Time, visibly earned.
The yearly summary shows hours focused, sessions completed, and ghosts caught, instead of a screen-time ranking you're supposed to feel bad about.
We do not monitor your screen time
Worth stating clearly: Catch the Ghost does not read your iOS Screen Time data, does not track which apps you open, and does not send usage analytics to any third party. The behavior change comes from the focus loop, not from surveillance. Less about watching you; more about giving you a better thing to do.
The focus loop itself is honest about its stakes. Finishing a Deep Focus session earns you a ghost, coins, and streak. Ending early costs a small amount of coins and forfeits the ghost you were catching. A 60-second grace window through the Live Activity and Dynamic Island holds the session open for brief interruptions. Neutral language throughout, because surveillance isn't the only way to be dishonest about motivation.
Common questions
Screen-time questions, answered.
Can a focus app really help with phone addiction?
Yes, but not by blocking. Blockers fail because you can always uninstall them. The apps that work replace the scroll with something that offers more reward per minute. Catch the Ghost does that by giving focus its own reward loop: historical figures to catch, coins to earn, streaks to build.
How do I reduce screen time without blocking every app?
Stop treating the phone as the enemy and start treating it as a tool you want to use less often. Replace passive scrolling time with rewarded focus time. When putting the phone down earns you something you actually want, picking it back up starts to feel like a worse trade.
Is Catch the Ghost a screen-time tracker?
No. We don’t read your iOS Screen Time data or monitor other apps. We don’t need to. The thesis is that healthy screen time follows from a healthy focus habit, not from surveillance.
Replace the scroll.
