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Excalibur is an app blocker for iPhone. The apps you lose hours to are locked in stone, and to open them you pull a sword out of the stone in a hand-painted 3D world. You get 0 to 3 pulls a day, and each pull opens your apps for the minutes you choose. When the time is up, they lock again by themselves.

You can add a guardian who has to agree to each pull: a QR key you print and hide, an NFC tag you tap, or a buddy (a friend) who agrees in a chat.

Open Excalibur and tap Get started. Allow Screen Time when iOS asks. Then pick the apps you want to lock with Apple's app picker, and the sword lands in the stone: your apps are locked.

Next, choose how many pulls you get a day and how long each one lasts. Last, pick a guardian, or tap Not now and add one later in Settings (the gear, top right).

Your first setup starts right away. Changes you make later start the next day.

An iPhone with iOS 18 or later, and the Screen Time permission. Buddies and gift codes also need you to be signed in to iCloud. There's no account to create.

Yes, for one app. The free version locks one app with every feature, including guardians and buddies. Premium locks all your apps, categories and websites.

Premium is $9.99 a year (Solo), $14.99 a year with a gift of Premium for a friend (Duo), or $24.99 once (Lifetime, which includes the gift too). Prices are in US dollars. The App Store shows the price in your currency.

A pull opens your locked apps for a few minutes. On the Home screen, drag the sword up out of the stone. Your apps open for the minutes you set (5, 10, 15 or 30), and the sword slowly sinks as the time runs out. At zero it slams back and your apps lock again, even if Excalibur is closed. To lock them early, drag the sword back down.

You choose 0 to 3 pulls a day. The gems on the sword's crossguard show how many are left today. They come back at midnight. Pick 0 for a hard lock: the apps stay locked, and only Emergency unlock opens them.

Every change to your rules (your apps, your pulls, their length and your guardian) starts at the next midnight, never on the same day. That way you can't loosen your rules in a weak moment. Today stays as it is. You can cancel tomorrow's changes in Settings until midnight.

iOS shows Excalibur's screen instead of the app: the sword in the stone, "Locked by Excalibur", and how many pulls you have left today. Tap Okay, then open Excalibur and pull the sword.

A guardian has to agree to each pull. You can pick one: a QR key, an NFC tag or a buddy. Guardians are free. With a guardian, the sword won't come out until the guardian agrees: you scan your QR key, tap your NFC tag, or your buddy taps Agree. You also still need a pull left.

Excalibur makes a QR key on your iPhone and carves it into your stone. Print it as a wallet card or a round sticker, or save it as a picture, and put it somewhere annoying: a drawer, the car, a friend's house. To pull, drag the sword up, then scan the key with the camera in Excalibur.

To print it again, open Settings and tap Show my QR key under Guardian.

Plain NFC stickers and tags work: a sticker, a key fob, a card, or the tag in some headphones and toys. Excalibur reads the tag's ID, so the tag needs an ID that stays the same. Phones and payment cards don't work.

Some tags change their ID on every tap. Excalibur refuses those and says "This tag changes its ID. Use a plain NFC sticker."

To pair a tag, hold it to the top of your iPhone. From then on, only that tag lets you pull. Excalibur only reads the tag and never writes to it. To use a different tag, tap Pair a different tag in Settings. The new tag works from the next day.

A buddy is a friend who has to agree to each pull. When you pull the sword, Excalibur offers to send them your ask. They get a notification and a chat with one button: Agree. They can also chat back and talk you out of it. Once they agree, you have 30 minutes to pull the sword.

Buddies are free for both of you, and a buddy doesn't have to lock any apps. You can also guard each other.

Pick Buddy as your guardian, then tap Invite a buddy. Excalibur makes a 6-character code that works for 48 hours, and you send it with the share sheet. Your friend installs Excalibur, taps Enter a friend's code and then Start guarding. Both of you need to be signed in to iCloud.

That's your buddy's bird. While your buddy is your guardian, their bird sits on your stone. When they agree to a pull, it hops onto the sword. Your buddy picks the bird (a raven, an owl, a magpie or a phoenix) and its hat in Excalibur under Buddies.

Open Settings (the gear, top right), pick a different guardian under Guardian (None, QR key, NFC tag or Buddy) and tap Save. Like every rule change, it starts the next day.

Open the chat with your buddy (Settings › Buddies, then tap their name), tap the … button and choose Unpair. Either of you can unpair. The same menu has Report and block, if someone is bothering you.

Use Emergency unlock, at the bottom of the Home screen. After a 5-minute wait, you can open your apps for 15 minutes. It never needs your guardian, it doesn't use a pull, and it always works, however many times you need it. You can cancel during the wait, since the wait is there to let you change your mind.

Premium locks all the apps, categories and websites you pick. The free version locks one app. Everything else, including guardians and buddies, is free.

Solo: Premium for you, $9.99 a year.
Duo: Premium for you, plus a gift of Premium for a friend, $14.99 a year.
Lifetime: Premium for you for good, plus a gift of Premium for a friend, $24.99 once.

Duo and Lifetime come with a gift code for a friend. Find it in Settings › Premium and tap Send the code. Your friend opens the Premium screen in Excalibur, taps Use a gift code and enters it. Each code works once, and both of you need to be signed in to iCloud.

A Lifetime gift lasts for good. A Duo gift lasts as long as you keep Duo. If you cancel Duo, the gift ends when your paid year ends.

On the Premium screen, tap Restore purchases in the small print at the bottom. It's also at the bottom of Settings while you don't have Premium. Make sure you're signed in with the same Apple Account you bought Premium with.

Solo and Duo renew every year until you cancel. Apple handles subscriptions, so cancel in the Settings app: tap your name, then Subscriptions, then Excalibur. Cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date. Premium stays until the end of the year you paid for. Deleting the app doesn't cancel a subscription.

For a refund, ask Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.

iOS only lets an app lock other apps through Apple's Screen Time API, and that needs your permission. Excalibur asks once, while you set up.

Apple gives Excalibur opaque tokens for the apps you pick, not their names or your usage. Which apps you lock and how you use your iPhone never leave it. If you turn the permission off, iOS lifts the locks, so Excalibur can only lock apps while it has it.

No. There's no sign-up and no sign-in, and Excalibur has no ads or tracking. Buddies and gift codes use your iCloud through Apple's CloudKit. See the privacy policy for the details.

While your apps are locked, iOS doesn't let you delete Excalibur, so it can't be skipped in a weak moment. You can delete it while your apps are open, after a pull or an Emergency unlock. Deleting it lifts the locks.