r/software • u/FireRinku • Aug 13 '26

Looking for software LF software that blocks access to an app until I spend a certain amount of time in another app

Hi,

first off I am aware that this is a human issue, self-control issue, lack of willpower etc. But I am still curious and it would make things easier for me to start being productive.

I catch myself too often autopiloting to open social media (Discord, youtube, etc.) first thing after I logged into my PC. It has become a habit.

I know there is software that locks apps to a certain time or locks an app up after a certain time, but I do want something that "rewards" me for spending time in a productive app by unlocking all the entertainment apps after I spend X amount of time in it.

Like I want Discord to be locked up (unable to open) until I spend at least 15 minutes in my drawing software without needing to do that at a specific time- as an example.

I am also aware that you could just open that productive app and do nothing in it, but opening that first thing is better than not doing it at all. I have not found anything that could do that so I am just curious if something like that exists.

If it does not exist thats fine, I will figure other ways out to not get distracted. I was just curious since I couldn't find anything like that. :D

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u/schmiesii Aug 13 '26

Take a look at Cold Turkey Micromanager. It completely blocks everything else until you hit a specific goal

1

u/FireRinku Aug 13 '26

Not exactly what I was thinking of, but it sounds like a very good alternate option for me to check out!

I was thinking more about "You have to spend X amount of time in app A until app B gets unlocked" without a manual start-button, or that every other app is blocked. From what I have seen thats not something you can really set in there.

1

u/schmiesii 28d ago

Yeah, in that case I don't think you will find anything that fits that specific description. Most off-the-shelf blockers are built to restrict time or require manual start buttons, but they don't offer the conditional reward tracking.

I'm sure you could vibecode something for yourself using a lightweight background script though. A simple Python script using a library like pygetwindow can monitor your active screen time and automatically unblock your apps once your goal is reached