Question 1

What is Welockin?

Accepted Answer

Welockin blocks distracting and addictive apps and websites across all your devices at once. You pick what to block, choose how hard it is to turn off (from a simple PIN to a lock that cannot be undone until a date you set), and it stays blocked everywhere until then.

Question 2

How does Welockin actually work?

Accepted Answer

Three steps. Choose the devices and the apps or sites you want gone, pick how strict the lock should be, then start. From install to locked in takes under a minute. Once a session is running, your distractions stay blocked on every synced device at the same time.

Question 3

Who is Welockin for?

Accepted Answer

Anyone who wants their attention back. Students and deep-work people first, since it is made by students and used at universities around the world. It is equally for people quitting something real (adult content, gambling, dating-app compulsion or gaming), where a block you can switch off is no block at all.

Question 4

How do I set it up the first time?

Accepted Answer

Download Welockin onto your Mac, iPhone, iPad or Windows PC, pick the devices you want covered, bundle the apps and sites you want blocked, set your strictness level, and start. You can add more devices at any time, so one session locks all of them at once.

Question 5

What makes Welockin different?

Accepted Answer

It locks for real. Nuclear Mode is genuinely un-bypassable (no override, no back door, no 'just five minutes'), and it survives restarts and uninstalling the app. Most focus apps leave you an escape hatch, and that escape hatch is how people relapse. Removing it is the entire product.

Question 6

Are you really students?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A small team of engineering students from EPFL in Lausanne and Polytechnique Paris, who got tired of every focus app either being too easy to switch off or asking too much of a student budget. Built by students, for students. That is the whole idea.

Question 7

Can I use it for exam season or deep study?

Accepted Answer

That is exactly what it is built for. Bundle your distractions into a study blocklist, schedule daily focus blocks, then use a Soft Lock for everyday revision or a Nuclear Lock when the deadline genuinely matters. Add the focus sounds and the session runs itself while you work.

Question 8

What can I block with Welockin?

Accepted Answer

Any app or website, plus notifications. Social apps, specific sites, whole categories, or a custom mix: you decide what gets through and what goes quiet. You can bundle blocks together for contexts like work, study or sleep, and lock a whole bundle in one action.

Question 9

Are there ready-made categories I can block in one tap?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Welockin's Protection categories are Adult and explicit sites, Gambling including casinos, betting and lotteries, Dating apps, and Mature games. Pick a category and it is blocked everywhere, instantly, without you having to name each site or app yourself.

Question 10

Does it block adult content automatically?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Turn on the Adult and explicit category and pornography and explicit sites are blocked automatically across your devices, without you listing them one by one. This is the category most often paired with Nuclear Mode, because a porn block you can switch off in the moment is not really a block.

Question 11

Can I block a specific app or site that isn't in a category?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Alongside the ready-made categories you can block any individual app or website you name: a particular social network, a news site, that one game. Everything can be mixed into your own blocklists, so presets and custom picks live side by side in the same session.

Question 12

Can I group blocks together?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Bundle apps and sites into sets (a study bundle, a sleep bundle, a work bundle), and lock a whole bundle at once rather than toggling things one by one. The bundle is what turns a focus session from a two-minute setup into a single tap.

Question 13

Does it block notifications too, not just the app?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Welockin can silence notifications as well as block the apps and sites themselves, so a blocked app cannot keep pulling you back with badges and pings. Blocking the app while leaving its notifications on is how most focus tools leak. The app is shut, but the pull is still there.

Question 14

Can I schedule blocks to start automatically?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Set up recurring focus blocks and they start on their own (every weekday at nine, every evening at eleven), so showing up is automatic and skipping takes actual effort. Scheduling is what converts a blocker from something you remember to use into something that just runs.

Question 15

Are there focus extras beyond blocking?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Focus sounds including rain, lo-fi and forest; scheduling for recurring blocks that start automatically; short timed breaks inside a session; and a password lock for your settings so the app itself cannot be quietly reconfigured mid-session.

Question 16

How do I turn a block off, and how hard is that?

Accepted Answer

That is up to you. When you start, you choose one of five escalating difficulty levels: PIN (easy), cooldown delay (medium), accountability partner (hard), passphrase (hard), and lock until a date, which is Nuclear Mode. The harder the level, the more friction stands between you and giving up.

Question 17

How does the PIN unlock work?

Accepted Answer

You set a PIN and can unlock any time you enter it. It is the gentlest level, good for light focus where you mainly need a speed bump rather than a wall. The PIN will not stop a determined craving; it stops the absent-minded unlock, which for everyday focus is most of the problem.

Question 18

What's the cooldown delay?

Accepted Answer

Turning protection off only takes effect after a waiting period. The delay gives the impulse time to pass, so you cannot quit in the heat of the moment, and by the time the wait is over, you often do not want to anymore. It is the level that does the most work for the least commitment.

Question 19

Can a friend keep me accountable?

Accepted Answer

Yes: that is the accountability partner level. You nominate a trusted person, and unblocking requires their approval. It turns quitting into a decision you have to justify to someone else, which is a far stronger deterrent than any amount of self-imposed friction.

Question 20

What's the passphrase method?

Accepted Answer

To disable protection you must type out a long, random phrase in full. There is no shortcut and no copy-paste. The deliberate effort is the point. By the time you have typed it, the unlock has become a conscious choice rather than a reflex, which is usually enough to stop it.

Question 21

Which level should I choose?

Accepted Answer

Match the level to how serious the habit is. For everyday focus, a PIN or cooldown is plenty. For something you truly want to quit, use an accountability partner, a passphrase, or Nuclear Mode. Start gentle and move up as you learn how much resistance you actually need.

Question 22

What's the difference between a Soft Lock and a Nuclear Lock?

Accepted Answer

A Soft Lock lets you pause when life happens and stop the session early. It is for daily deep work. A Nuclear Lock disables pausing and cannot be stopped until the timer ends; it survives restarts and even uninstalling the app. Choose Soft when you want a nudge, Nuclear when the deadline genuinely matters.

Question 23

Can I change the difficulty after I've started?

Accepted Answer

For gentle sessions like a Soft Lock, yes: you can stop or adjust. For hard and Nuclear locks, no. The whole point is that you cannot dial the difficulty back down mid-session, because the version of you who wants to lower it is exactly the one the lock exists to overrule.

Question 24

What is Nuclear Mode?

Accepted Answer

Nuclear Mode is Welockin's point of no return. You pick a date, arm it, and until that day arrives nothing turns your block off: no PIN, no override, no 'just five minutes'. It is built for people who genuinely want to quit something and know that leaving themselves an exit is exactly how they relapse.

Question 25

Is it really permanent, genuinely no way to turn it off early?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Once Nuclear Mode is armed it cannot be disabled before the date you set. There is no emergency unlock and no hidden back door. This is the one promise Welockin is built around, so we do not soften it: if you might need an escape hatch, choose a lower difficulty level instead.

Question 26

I changed my mind an hour later. Can I undo it?

Accepted Answer

No. Changing your mind is the exact situation Nuclear Mode exists to overrule. The version of you that wanted to quit is protecting you from the version that wants to relapse. It stays locked until the date. So set your date thoughtfully, and start with a shorter horizon if you are unsure.

Question 27

Can I bypass it by restarting my device, deleting the app, or reinstalling?

Accepted Answer

No. A Nuclear lock survives restarts and uninstalling the app. Deleting Welockin does not lift the block, and reinstalling will not hand you a clean slate before the date. It is designed so that the obvious ways out simply do not work, because those are the first three things everyone tries.

Question 28

What happens on my other devices?

Accepted Answer

The lock applies on every device you have synced. It is locked everywhere at once, not just where you armed it. You cannot sidestep it by switching from your laptop to your phone, which is the most common way a single-device blocker gets defeated in practice.

Question 29

What if I have a real emergency and truly need access?

Accepted Answer

Nuclear Mode has no emergency unlock, so anything you might genuinely need in a crisis must stay outside what you block. Block the specific addictive apps and sites, not tools you rely on for safety, work, health, or reaching people. This is the single most important thing to get right before you arm it.

Question 30

Isn't this too extreme? Is it safe?

Accepted Answer

For casual focus, yes, it is more than you need. That is why the gentler levels exist. Nuclear Mode is deliberately for people quitting something a softer block never holds against. Use it intentionally: choose a sensible date, block only what is actually harming you, and keep essential tools accessible.

Question 31

Who is Nuclear Mode actually for?

Accepted Answer

People who have tried to stop on willpower alone and know they will talk themselves out of it. If 'I'll just disable it this once' is how every previous attempt ended, removing that option is the entire point. If you still want flexibility, you are not ready for Nuclear yet, and that is fine.

Question 32

What happens when my focus session or Nuclear date ends?

Accepted Answer

The lock lifts on its own and you are back in control: keep protection running, start a fresh period, or turn it off. A Nuclear Lock focus session ends the same way the moment its timer hits zero. Nothing is deleted and nothing is lost; the block simply stops being enforced.

Question 33

Nuclear Mode vs. a Nuclear Lock focus session: what's the difference?

Accepted Answer

Same spirit, different clock. A Nuclear Lock focus session cannot be stopped until its timer ends, good for a hard deadline today. Nuclear Mode locks a whole category until a date you choose, built for quitting over days, weeks or longer. Both survive restarts and uninstalls, and neither has an override.

Question 34

Which devices and operating systems are supported?

Accepted Answer

Welockin works today on macOS, iOS for iPhone and iPad, and Windows. Android is coming soon. One session can cover your Mac, iPhone, iPad and PC together. You can link as many devices as you want, and they all lock at the same time.

Question 35

Is it on Android yet?

Accepted Answer

Not yet: Android is on the way. Today Welockin runs on macOS, iOS, iPadOS and Windows. If Android is your main device, it is worth waiting, since a blocker that misses your primary phone leaves the door open.

Question 36

How does syncing work across my devices?

Accepted Answer

You add each device once, and from then on a single block locks all of them at the same time. Start protection on one device and your distractions go quiet everywhere you have synced. There is no need to set it up separately on each, and no way to escape by switching devices.

Question 37

What does "always on, 24/7" mean?

Accepted Answer

Once protection is active it runs continuously in the background. You do not have to re-arm it each day or remember to switch it on. Your status shows that it is live and how many devices are covered, so there is never any doubt about whether you are actually protected.

Question 38

Do you track or log the websites I visit?

Accepted Answer

No. Welockin never logs which sites you visit. Filtering happens privately, on your device. The point is to protect your focus, not to watch your browsing. A blocker that built a record of everything you looked at would be solving one problem by creating a worse one.

Question 39

What does "on-device filtering" mean for me?

Accepted Answer

It means the decision to block or allow a site is made locally on your device, not by sending your browsing to a server first. Your activity stays with you, and blocking keeps working without handing a log of your habits to anyone, including us.

Question 40

A site or app isn't being blocked. What do I do?

Accepted Answer

First check it is actually included: that the app or site is in an active blocklist or category, and that the block is running on that specific device. Most reports turn out to be a device that was never synced. If it still slips through, note the app or URL and email hello@welock.in so we can add it.

Question 41

When I block a site, which addresses does that cover?

Accepted Answer

On Windows, the domain you enter includes that address and its subdomains. youtube.com includes music.youtube.com; vercel.app includes projects hosted under vercel.app. A narrower entry covers only its own branch. A separate domain such as amazon.fr is not a subdomain of amazon.com. DNS protection keeps limited technical exceptions, and an automatic visual layer adds protection in a compatible browser's active window.

Question 42

Something is blocked that I need. How do I unblock just that?

Accepted Answer

If you are on a gentle level like a PIN or cooldown, remove that app or site from your list, or briefly unlock to adjust it. Under a hard or Nuclear lock it stays blocked until the lock ends, by design. Which is why it is best to block only the things genuinely harming your focus.

Question 43

My devices aren't syncing: a block isn't showing up everywhere.

Accepted Answer

Make sure each device is added to Welockin and connected, then give it a moment to sync. If a device is still out of step, restart the app on that device. Still stuck? Email hello@welock.in with the device and OS and a human will pick it up.

Question 44

What does the screen look like when I open something that's blocked?

Accepted Answer

A clean, minimal block screen with Welockin's padlock, a simple 'this is locked' moment rather than a nagging wall of text. Peep, the mascot, may or may not judge you gently. The screen is deliberately calm: shame is not what makes a block work.

Question 45

How do I contact support or report a bug?

Accepted Answer

Email hello@welock.in with your device, operating system and what happened. A real human student reads it, usually between two lectures. Including the exact app or URL involved is what turns a report into a fix rather than a back-and-forth.

Häufige Fragen

Getting started

What you can block

Unlock difficulty levels

Nuclear Mode

Devices & platforms

Privacy

Troubleshooting