--- title: "Blog: screen time & finite time · finit" description: "Long-form notes on screen time, attention, and the finite weeks they add up to. Written by the makers of finit, and only when there's something to say." url: https://getfinit.com/blog/ lang: en --- # Blog Long-form notes on screen time, attention, and the finite weeks they add up to, written by the people who build [finit](https://getfinit.com/). No content mill, no cadence to feed. New pieces appear rarely, and only when there's something worth saying. - 1 September 2026 · 3 min read **[Screen Time on a new iPhone: what transfers](https://getfinit.com/blog/screen-time-new-iphone)** Settings and passcode come along, the usage history mostly doesn't. What to save before switching, and what still helps after. - 27 August 2026 · 5 min read **[Best screen time apps in 2026, picked by the job they do](https://getfinit.com/blog/best-screen-time-apps)** Blockers, friction, hardware and tracking, sorted honestly by the job you're hiring for, with public App Store numbers instead of vibes, and the jobs our own app is wrong for. - 25 August 2026 · 3 min read **[Screen Time not working? Start here](https://getfinit.com/blog/screen-time-not-working)** Four problems wearing one coat: empty charts, wrong numbers, sync trouble, toothless limits. The two-minute check for each, then the deeper fix. - 20 August 2026 · 4 min read **[Why did your Screen Time disappear?](https://getfinit.com/blog/screen-time-disappeared)** Five causes, sorted from most likely to least, and only two of them actually delete anything. What is gone, what is just hidden, and how to stop losing it. - 18 August 2026 · 4 min read **[Light Phone alternatives, honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/light-phone-alternatives)** The same calm at three prices: the free iPhone experiment, the lock-and-launcher middle tier, and the honest checklist before any minimal phone. - 13 August 2026 · 3 min read **[How to share your screen time](https://getfinit.com/blog/share-screen-time)** Across your own devices, with your family, and the part Apple never built: sharing with friends. Honestly labeled, each with its path. - 11 August 2026 · 3 min read **[Screen time widgets: keeping the number in view](https://getfinit.com/blog/screen-time-widget-iphone)** Apple's home screen widget, the lock screen gap iOS leaves open, and what fills it. The cheapest intervention is just seeing the number. - 6 August 2026 · 4 min read **[BePresent alternatives, honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/bepresent-alternatives)** When the game stops working: a fresh game, the friends board without the points, or actual enforcement, sorted by which half worked on you. - 4 August 2026 · 4 min read **[The Light Phone III, reviewed honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/light-phone-review)** The most honest dumbphone you can buy: total absence, beautifully built, priced past impulse. What it fixes, what it quietly costs, and the free test to run first. - 28 July 2026 · 4 min read **[Brick alternatives, honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/brick-alternatives)** The lock without buying the hardware: the NFC ritual at indie size, the software walls, and the free two-week experiment to run before any purchase. - 26 July 2026 · 4 min read **[Can you remember the last reel you watched?](https://getfinit.com/blog/mindless-scrolling)** An hour of scrolling and nothing to show for it, not even a memory of the last clip. Why that's industrial design rather than weak willpower, the real numbers on attention, and what comes back. - 23 July 2026 · 4 min read **[ScreenZen alternatives, honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/screenzen-alternatives)** Where to go when free and gentle isn't enough: the researched pause, the hard wall, the physical lock, or the record instead of the interruption. - 21 July 2026 · 4 min read **[App Limits or Downtime not working](https://getfinit.com/blog/app-limits-not-working)** The Block at End of Limit toggle, the missing passcode, the website loophole, and the schedule, checked in the order that actually finds it. - 16 July 2026 · 4 min read **[one sec alternatives, honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/one-sec-alternatives)** When the breath stops working: the free twin, the harder wall, the physical lock, the free basics, and the one that keeps score instead of interrupting. - 14 July 2026 · 4 min read **[How to reduce screen time (without blocking a thing)](https://getfinit.com/blog/reduce-screen-time)** Leave it at home, watch-only days, grayscale, a notification amnesty: tactics that survive contact with an ordinary life, what a detox really does, and the one habit that makes any of it stick. - 7 July 2026 · 4 min read **[Opal alternatives, honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/opal-alternatives)** Why people leave the category's biggest blocker, and which of five honest alternatives fits: the free pause, the proven friction, the physical lock, the built-in wall, or the record that lasts. - 2 July 2026 · 4 min read **[Average screen time: the honest numbers](https://getfinit.com/blog/average-screen-time)** About 3.6 hours a day in apps alone. But the real answer depends on who's counting. Every figure with its source, its year, and the caveats the listicles skip. - 25 June 2026 · 3 min read **[Screen Time on the Mac](https://getfinit.com/blog/screen-time-on-mac)** Where it hides in System Settings, what desktop counting honestly means, merging with your iPhone, and the export route that works. - 23 June 2026 · 5 min read **[Before you buy a dumbphone](https://getfinit.com/blog/dumbphone)** What a dumbphone fixes, what it quietly costs, the relapse nobody mentions, and the free two-week way to test the idea on the iPhone you already own. - 18 June 2026 · 4 min read **[Moment app alternatives, honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/moment-alternatives)** The original tracker shut down in 2021. What carries its measure-first idea now, what Apple's built-in version still can't do, and the aisle with teeth. - 16 June 2026 · 3 min read **[Share Across Devices not working: the fixes](https://getfinit.com/blog/share-across-devices-not-working)** The account check, the greyed-out toggle, the switch that turns itself off, and the numbers that won't agree, in the order to try. - 11 June 2026 · 4 min read **[Your life in weeks](https://getfinit.com/blog/your-life-in-weeks)** About 4,300 weeks, one cell each: an interactive chart, right on the page. Where Tim Urban's grid comes from, the honest math, and what four hours a day draws on it. - 9 June 2026 · 3 min read **[Screen time by app: your most used apps](https://getfinit.com/blog/screen-time-by-app)** Where the ranked list lives, the category trap that flatters you, and why the answer only reaches four weeks back unless something keeps it. - 4 June 2026 · 5 min read **[Opal vs one sec: the wall or the pause](https://getfinit.com/blog/opal-vs-one-sec)** The hardest wall against the proven pause. The feature lists won't settle it; how you break your own rules will. Read fairly, from outside both. - 2 June 2026 · 4 min read **[Opal, reviewed honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/opal-review)** The most serious hard blocker on the phone. Strictness is both its feature and its failure mode. Reviewed by a maker with no blocker to sell, alternatives included. - 28 May 2026 · 4 min read **[Why your Screen Time looks wrong](https://getfinit.com/blog/screen-time-wrong)** Too high, doesn't match memory, or claiming 24 hours: how the iPhone counts, what merged devices do to the total, and the one real glitch with its fix. - 26 May 2026 · 3 min read **[Deleting Screen Time history, honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/delete-screen-time-history)** One total eraser, no per-day delete, and the part nobody mentions: the iPhone deletes the history by itself within about four weeks. - 21 May 2026 · 4 min read **[one sec, reviewed honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/one-sec-review)** The friction specialist, and the only app in the category whose mechanism survived a dismantling experiment. What the PNAS study really shows, and where the breath stops working. - 14 May 2026 · 3 min read **[iPhone pickups: what counts and what's normal](https://getfinit.com/blog/iphone-pickups)** How often is the more embarrassing number. What registers as a pickup, the first-app list, and how to read the ones at 3 a.m. - 12 May 2026 · 3 min read **[ScreenZen, reviewed honestly](https://getfinit.com/blog/screenzen-review)** The best free thing in the category, and it isn't close. Where the gentle pause shines, where gentleness fails, and what to escalate to when it does. - 7 May 2026 · 4 min read **[How to export Screen Time data from your iPhone](https://getfinit.com/blog/export-screen-time-data)** There is no export button. Since iOS 26 there is a Shortcuts action, and that changes what's possible. The honest guide, four-week limit included. - 5 May 2026 · 3 min read **[How to see your Screen Time history on iPhone](https://getfinit.com/blog/see-screen-time-history)** The exact taps, week by week and day by day, the honest answer on months ago, and how to keep every week from now on. - 30 April 2026 · 3 min read **[How far back does Screen Time go?](https://getfinit.com/blog/screen-time-history)** About four weeks. Then your iPhone deletes the detail for good. What you can still see, what's gone, and the three real ways to keep a record that lasts. - 21 April 2026 · 4 min read **[Do app blockers actually work?](https://getfinit.com/blog/do-app-blockers-work)** Field studies and randomized trials agree: friction works while it runs, and fades when it stops. Read in full, including the parts inconvenient for us. - 9 April 2026 · 4 min read **[The best app blockers for iPhone](https://getfinit.com/blog/best-app-blockers-iphone)** Opal, one sec, ScreenZen, Freedom, or just Apple's App Limits? Chosen honestly by an app that competes with none of them, plus when you don't need a blocker at all. --- Markdown twin of https://getfinit.com/blog/. Site map for agents: https://getfinit.com/llms.txt. Every English page in one file: https://getfinit.com/llms-full.txt. The same page in another language: the same path with a language segment in front, https://getfinit.com/de/blog/index.md for one; the list is in llms.txt.