PROTOTYPE 01 · SEPTEMBER 2026

Distracting apps stay locked at home. Maps comes back when you leave.

Anchor uses a small Bluetooth puck to hold a home boundary. Leave its range and essentials return. Tap the NFC card for one app and a timed pass that closes itself.

Built for people who already override Screen Time and Digital Wellbeing.

Apply for one of 100 prototypes Read what current owners said

LOCAL BLUETOOTH PRESENCE · PASSIVE NFC ACCESS · RULES KEPT ON YOUR PHONE

A hand holding a small matte black attention key above a quieted smartphone — FORM STUDY APHYSICAL KEY · LOCAL RULES

CURRENT OWNER REPORTS

Physical friction already works. Owners told us where it breaks.

These are public comments about Brick and Bloom, not Anchor testimonials. We did not pay the commenters. Their results show why the category matters. Their complaints shaped this prototype.

“I brick my phone after work until my kids go to bed and it's been so much better for me.”

BRICK OWNER · R/WORKINGMOMSRead the thread

“The novelty wore off but the friction still works. I unlock way less than I expected.”

PHYSICAL-BLOCKER OWNER · R/DUMBPHONESRead the thread

“My screen time plummeted so much that I started running half marathons with my extra time.”

BLOOM OWNER · R/WORKINGMOMSRead the thread

BEHAVIOR MODEL

The boundary changes with the situation.

HOME PUCK DETECTED

Evening boundary is active.

Social, video, news, and shopping stay closed. Maps, calls, messages, and 2FA remain available.

Social + video: BLOCKED
Maps + rideshare: AVAILABLE
Calls + selected people: AVAILABLE

THE OWNER WISH LIST

Their requests became the build spec.

Current blockers proved that a physical action can interrupt a reflex. Anchor adds the context owners keep asking for. Every feature remains a hypothesis until the field test confirms it.

01
Know when I am home.
Scheduled blocks stranded people away from home and consumed emergency unlocks when they needed Maps. Another user assembled a custom geofenced workaround because the available products did not handle this situation.
Working parents Geofence request
02
Give me a short pass, then close it.
Users asked for temporary access that ends automatically. The requested behavior is specific: walk to the key, open one app for a chosen interval, and require another walk for more time.
Timed-pass request One-hour request
03
Make Android dependable.
Current owners report missed NFC reads, revoked Accessibility permissions, and floating-window bypasses. We will publish a tested-device list instead of claiming support for every phone.
Pixel 8a report Current app reviews

PROTOTYPE SYSTEM

A boundary with a place, a duration, and a way home.

The first build uses off-the-shelf NFC and Bluetooth parts. The phone keeps the rules locally. The physical objects provide distance and a deliberate way to request access.

HOME PUCK: Bluetooth presence plus a large NFC target for dependable scans.
PHONE APP: Home, away, work, and sleep rules with app-specific timed passes.
WALLET CARD: A passive backup key for work, travel, and device recovery.

100-PERSON FIELD TEST

The first release has four jobs.

01Recognize home and away without uploading location history.
02Relock a temporary app pass at the exact chosen time.
03Keep Maps, 2FA, calls, and selected people available.
04Pass the published compatibility test on every supported Android model.

Anchor is a working name. The behavior comes first. Field testers will receive the prototype at cost and report scan failures, overrides, and false locks.

Apply for the hardware field test