How Argine helps you build healthy limits (without cages)
Micro-sessions, cooldowns, guided breathing, anti-scroll: the full tour of the philosophy and the features, plan by plan.
The principle: friction, not walls
Every Argine feature comes from a single idea: between impulse and action there must be a space. Not a wall — walls collapse or get climbed — but a space of awareness. You always decide; Argine just guarantees it's actually a decision.
The Gate: the heart of the system
Open a protected app and instead of the feed you get the Gate: the app's icon, a golden ring closing over 5 seconds of breathing, the goal you wrote during onboarding, and your options. Five seconds is enough to move the decision from autopilot to the thinking brain.
From the Gate you can start a micro-session, use a Quick Action (straight to DMs or the story camera, with a tighter timer), or — simply — realize you didn't want to enter at all.
Honest micro-sessions
Argine's timer has a rare property: it counts only time actually in the foreground. Leave the app to answer a message? The seconds freeze instantly. Come back? They resume. No tricks, no hidden tax: the pact is honest in both directions.
When the session ends, the cooldown starts: a waiting period before the next window. The cooldown is what breaks the binge cycle — the next dose is never "right now".
Six plans, one intensity scale
- Sentinel — no blocking: a gentle nudge every 10 minutes inside the app. Pure awareness; ideal for starting out or for teens.
- Breathe — 5 minutes every 30: the soft rhythm.
- Window — 3 minutes every 15: frequent but contained.
- Argine — 1 minute every 20, 90-minute cap: the recommended default.
- Bastion — short sessions, long cooldowns, penalties on abuse.
- Monastery — 30 seconds every 45 minutes: almost nothing, only the essential.
Every app can carry custom overrides: tailored session, cooldown and cap.
Anti-Scroll and the lock screen
Inside sessions, Anti-Scroll (4 strictness levels) recognizes the doomscroll pattern and stops the feed — while scrolling your messages stays free. With Pro, Argine before PIN greets you on the lock screen: today's remaining time, apps in cooldown, your intention — before you even unlock.
The underlying guarantee
Everything stays on your device: no account, no server, no ads. And you can turn everything off whenever you want. Argine is a pact with yourself — and real pacts are chosen every day.