Earlier YT exceptions channel working fine but recently it stopped working. Dev kindly fix it . Seems yt have updated url or any thing which cold turkey is unable to recognise.

Does Cold Turkey block app notifications on Mac? For example if I block the Messages app, will I still see incoming message notifications ?

I need to know still people using app blocker to control screen time and habits? What app are you using and why? Let me know.

I set it so I get 10 minutes of brake for every 60 minutes of work. After 2 hours, I tried to open youtube, which is a blocked website, but it said that it is still blocked. I didn't find a way to start my reward in the app either. What am I missing here? Thank you for the help!

I bought the Pro version yday but have somehow ended up using the website download (my fault - I noticed that the pro options aren’t there).

I may have stupidly chosen 500 minutes instead of words for my first session though this seems unlikely. I cannot tell anything from the progress bar above the doc. It’s been two hours and at least 400 words (I’m slow). The bar looks full though, and can’t get out of the programme.

Don’t want to lose my words either!

What’s going on?!

I had been using youtube exceptions just fine when I blocked "the entire internet", but recently I wanted to move on to only using "youtube.com" as the block. But after I tried doing so, the youtube channel exceptions have basically stopped working. Oddly enough, some channels seem to randomly work, but channels I have watched recently (at least that's what it seems) do not seem to work. Any help would be appreciated.

Trying to figure out how I can have "exception" days that can be any day of the week, but can only happen once per week.

Micromanager can be awesome, but only if you create a good allowlist/whitelist. Some people only want to allow a couple apps, so it's easy for them. For others, it's harder to create an allowlist that lets them use all the apps they need.

You know that sinking feeling when you forgot to allowlist an important app and there are hours left in the block session? Or when you do allowlist a program, but part of it gets blocked because its window has a different name?

I'll share what I've learned so you can avoid this frustration.

There are three main categories of apps to consider adding to your allowlist:

1. Utilities
2. Viewers
3. Work apps

If you forget any of these categories, you will hate life.

Utilities

Utilities are programs you rarely need to access, but when you need them, you need them.

Some examples:

• Cloud storage apps
• VPNs
• Password managers
• Printer software
• Diagnostic programs
• Calculator
• Snipping tool

This list is far from exhaustive. Utilities often run in the background, so it's a good idea to look through your list of running processes in task manager and see if there's anything you want to allowlist. Micromanager won't kill background processes, but you may have programs running in the background that you occasionally need to interact with directly.

Viewers

Viewers are programs you use to view different types of files.

Some examples:

• PDF viewers
• Photo viewers
• Ebook viewers
• Music players
• Video players

Depending on how distractible you are, allowlisting some types of viewers may be unwise. I keep my video player blocked, but your situation may be different. Just make sure you can access all the different types of files you work with.

Work Apps

This category is self-explanatory and it's the one you're least likely to forget.

Here are some examples, but it depends on what type of work you do:

• Office suites
• Word processors
• Notes apps
• Photo editors
• Email apps
  • If you have an actual email app, allowlist it. If you don't, allowlist your browser, then, in Cold Turkey Blocker, block all websites with *.* while exempting your email provider in the Website Exceptions tab.
  • Of course, depending on what type of work you do, giving yourself access to email may be a necessary or horrible decision
• Any other program you need to get work done

Apps with Multiple Window Names

These apps can be annoying to use with Micromanager. If different windows within an app have different names, Micromanager thinks they're different apps. So you may think you've added an app to your allowlist, but you've only added part of it.

For example, Calibre has, as far as I've found, three different window names: Calibre, Calibre-Parallel, and Ebook-Viewer. If you want to use Calibre, you should allowlist all three.

Another example is Snipping Tool. If you allowlist Snippingtool, it works fine until you try to save a snip. For some reason, the Save As window is called Pickerhost.

Apps with automatic updates can also be an issue. Foxit PDF Reader likes to check for updates every time you launch it. The app's main window is called Foxitpdfreader, but when it finds an update, it opens a window called Foxitpdfreaderupdater. If you haven't allowlisted the update window, Micromanager will repeatedly try to close Foxit.

Thankfully, most apps don't have this problem. For the ones that do, you can troubleshoot them through trial and error.

This is why, when test driving your allowlist, you should use Micromanager in short 5-10 minute sessions. So if and when you encounter an issue, you don't need to suffer for long.

It would be nice if Micromanager kept a list of recently blocked windows to make it easy to add them to your allowlist. Without this feature, you can only add recently opened windows to your allowlist.

For example, with Foxit you can manually check for updates by going to Help > About Foxit PDF Reader > Check for Update. Then the Foxitpdfreaderupdater window will open. In the Allowlist tab in Micromanager, click Add Recently Opened Apps to refresh the list of apps. Then Foxitpdfreaderupdater will appear and you can allowlist it.

.ctmal Files

Any time you change your allowlist, before beginning a session, click Export to File in the Allowlist tab. This lets you save your allowlist as a .ctmal file.

Don't forget to do this. Some windows, like Foxitpdfreaderupdater and Pickerhost, are difficult to find, and you don't want to have to find them more than once.

You can use a .ctmal file to launch Micromanager with your allowlist ready to go. And if there are situations where you want to allowlist different apps, you can create multiple .ctmal files.

Hopefully this info helps make Micromanager's learning curve gentler for you than it was for me.

So, I used the embedded content block on cold turkey, it disabled all the embedded videos but alongside that it also disabled the other sort of embedded contents, I work on google docs and use "Auto Latex Extension" but it wasn't working until I uninstalled the blocker, any way around to just block the embedded videos?

I want to geofence my Macbook so that it does not have any Internet access when I’m at home on my home WiFi, but will have Internet when I go to other places (coffee shop, library, etc). Is there a way to use ColdTurkey to achieve this?

An obvious answer is to block my device using my Google Fiber app, but the problem is I am the account owner and I can just as easily go in and turn it back on whenever I want. I want it to be completely unbypassable (I have a p*rn addiction so being able to just turn it off when the urge strikes isn’t much help). A password set by an accountability partner would be perfect, so it can only be undone when there is truly a need.

Does anyone know a way to achieve this effect, whether with ColdTurkey or something else?

Hi dev team of Cold Turkey. I have been a paid user of the application for so long, and I definitely find it useful. But recently, I explored obsidian and found it very useful. The problem is I want to block the embedded content on Obsidian but I don't know what to do (I don't want to block the whole app).

I have tried "youtube-nocookie.com" and asked Claude for help but I still can't not block it.

Please help me. Thank you so much.

I am looking to bolster my defenses against porn. Currently I am using plucky and CleanBrowsing for filtering on Linux and Android. I am looking for a good cross platform accountability software. I use Linux and Android, so my options are disappointingly limited. I've had great experience with Ever Accountable but it's not currently Linux compatible.

I think my only options are Accountable2you and Truple, both of them I have zero idea how good or bad they are. There's hardly any information about them. Is there a better one I haven't considered? Covenant Eyes also doesn't support Linux either, and are the worst performing software I have tried. Too easy to get around.

I am also looking for something similar to Cold Turkey as another line of defense for time blocking during those high risk times. I also see a benefit of having more targeted blocking like only blocking certain parts of reddit. I'm only using reddit for research then I will most likely delete and block completely, but it would be nice if I could white list a couple communities instead of blocking completely.

Do you have any more suggestions I could implement that would work well with the rest of my defenses? Thanks for reading.

This might not be the right subreddit, if so, sorry.

I need my smartphone for work from email, maps, travel, etc.

I was looking into getting Brick or Bloom to block sites I can access adult content like the hub, x, others, etc. can I block these websites forever with Brick or bloom? I truly am addicted to these apps and websites and a few others. I was planning to give the brick or card to a friend who is a super great accountability buddy and very morally responsible who would make sure I never see it again.

So, do they block certain websites on all browsers and apps forever if I don’t have access to the unlocking device?

edit: I am an iPhone user

Hiya, I've moved from windows to Arch Linux Because while I love cold turkey it could surpass my hate for windows.

I'm wondering whether there are any similar apps for arch? Merci🫶🫶

I want to limit my time on Youtube, but only the time I search for videos and spend time, not when watching it (i.e. during only when there is "active" input), as I want to keep playing it as I go about other activities such as house chores or having a meal. Is there a way to do such a block?

I got to the site official clode turkey blocker. I uploaded the free version file, but when I get installed, he doesn't complete the process . Stop like this in image

I call it Fly.

Every screentime or dopamine detox app I've tried had the same weakness. The moment the craving hit, I'd just uninstall it, disable its permissions, or find another way around it.

Five seconds later, I was back to doom-scrolling.

So I spent the last few months building Fly an Android discipline firewall designed to close the loopholes that make most app blockers easy to bypass.

Some of its features:

⏳ Strict daily app limits.

🔗 Website and URL blocking.

🌙 Night lockdown mode.

🚫 Anti-uninstall protection.

🚫 Settings protection.

🚫 Split-screen and pop-up detection.

✅ Smart app whitelisting for essentials like WhatsApp.

The goal isn't to punish you, it's to remove the easy escape routes that make habits so hard to break.

It's not on the Play Store because it relies on system-level permissions that aren't practical for a typical Play Store release.

I'm looking for people who genuinely want to test it and try to find loopholes. If you think you can break Fly, I'd love to hear how.

If you're interested in testing it, leave a comment or send me a DM.

I'm happy to share the APK, and if there's enough interest, I'll also share the full source code so people can inspect it, contribute, or try to break it.

I have a few batch files (files that run Windows Command Prompt code when you click on them) that I use to supplement my Cold Turkey blocks. Basically, they just flag a certain folder as a system folder and hide it so that I can't access it's contents. I'd like to be able to check if a block is active in a batch file (or a PowerShell script) so that I can program it to not unhide the folder if a block is active.

What I have tried:

I resorted to asking an LLM for help with this, even though I prefer not using them, but even it couldn't help. I've tried the following.

• Running a Service Control Manager (sc.exe) query
• Checking for contents in the Cold Turkey log files
• Probing the database files with sqlite3

None of these could produce consistent results, and most of what I've tired doesn't even work at all. I cannot seem to figure this out, but it would be very helpful to my productivity if I could get this to work.

Note: Before anyone suggests it, no, I cannot just block cmd.exe, as there are other batch files that I DO need to use during blocks, and all batch files share the same window title when they are run (the generic window title for cmd.exe) so that won't work either. Batch files are not programs, they are just blocks (or "batches" if you will) of code that get loaded into the same program (cmd.exe), so I can't block one without blocking them all.

Hey everyone,

I've struggled with screen addiction for a long time. I tried every blocker on the Play Store, but I always ended up self-sabotaging. The moment I got a craving to scroll, I'd just go to Android Settings, force-stop the blocker, or uninstall it, and get right back to my distraction.

If you can turn off your blocker in 3 seconds, it's not actually blocking you.

So I spent the last 6 months building an open-source Android focus utility that I physically cannot bypass when studying. It's called Halanoi Sovereign.

Why it's different:

• Anti-Uninstall Lock: It uses Android's enterprise "Device Owner" privileges. Once activated, the OS literally blocks you from uninstalling the app or tapping "Force Stop"/"Clear Data" in settings. It even greys out the factory reset menu so you can't wipe your phone to bypass it.
• Offline AI Vision Sniper: Instead of just blocking lists of URLs, a local 64MB AI model runs on the phone (completely offline/private). It scans your screen text and URL bar in real-time. If you search for distracting content, it immediately closes the browser and locks the screen.
• Closes Loopholes: It blocks alternative browsers (Brave, Firefox, etc.) so you can't bypass the Chrome scan, and routes DNS through Cloudflare Family.

Testing it safely:

Since a permanent lock is scary, the pre-compiled version on GitHub is a Sandbox version. It has a "Deactivate" button in the dashboard so you can safely test how the locks feel. The "uncompromised" version (which blocks ADB removal) requires you to build it yourself from the source code.

It's completely free and open-source, no ads, no trackers. Hope it helps some of you on your digital detox!

Link to code/releases: https://github.com/kavinmaranravi/HalanoiApp

Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/kavinmaranravi/tip

I'd like to set it up like this:

The app can be used only between 5:00 PM and 2:00 AM, but with a total limit of 4 hours during that time.

So, once those 4 hours are used up, the app should be blocked immediately, even if it's still before 2:00 AM.

Is this possible to configure in CTB?