How it works

How MiniMove works.

When you tap a guarded app, a MiniMove shield appears; you do a Move of 90 seconds or less and the app opens for the window you chose, from 5 to 60 minutes of real use. When the window ends, the shield comes back on its own, through Apple's Screen Time API, and your data stays on your iPhone unless you turn sync on.

Download on the App StoreSee the four steps
iPhone · iOS 26.5+ · Built on Apple's Screen Time API
  • Catalogue46 Moves4 families · 13 free
  • Move length15–64 snever more than 90 s
  • Unlocking$0Move → window, free and unlimited
  • App StoreiOS 26.5+iPhone

The loop, step by step

Four steps, then you scroll.

Each card shows what your iPhone shows. Press play to watch one Move go by.

  1. Shield
  2. Move
  3. Bank
  4. Window

  1. You tap Instagram

    Screen Time shows MiniMove's shield instead of the feed: “Instagram is warming up.” Tap Let's go, or Not now.

  2. You do a Move

    A notification opens MiniMove on the suggested Move, and Turbo mode skips even that. A timer, a tap per rep or your iPhone's motion sensors check it.

  3. It goes into your Bank

    Squats, calm minutes, glasses of water: every Move adds up. You can still choose to skip the scroll.

  4. The app opens

    For 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes of real use, capped at 2× that on the clock. Then the shield comes back on its own.

Your phone, your rules

Not parental control.

MiniMove is for people who manage their own iPhone. It uses Apple's individual Screen Time authorisation: you approve it yourself, for yourself.

  • You approve it

    Apple asks you, not a parent, to allow MiniMove to use Screen Time. You can remove that access in Settings at any time.

  • You can always switch it off

    Take an app off your list, or pause everything with Chill. The optional Strict mode only adds one Move and a 10-minute delay.

  • Not for someone else's phone

    MiniMove is not designed for a parent managing a child's device. It's a nudge you choose, not a lock someone puts on you.

Turbo mode

Skip the notification with a Shortcuts automation.

Turbo mode is a personal automation in Apple's Shortcuts app that opens MiniMove on your Move as soon as you open a guarded app. It skips the notification you get by default, because Apple doesn't let a shield open another app.

  1. Open the Shortcuts app and go to Automation.

  2. Create an automation for “App”: pick the apps you guard, “Is Opened” and “Run Immediately”.

  3. Add MiniMove's action that starts a Move, then save.

  4. That's it. MiniMove walks you through it during setup, and you can delete the automation whenever you like.

Optional: without Turbo mode, the notification does the same job with one extra tap.

Screen Time and your data

What MiniMove sees, and what it never sees.

  • What MiniMove sees

    The apps you pick, as Screen Time tokens that only work on this iPhone; the moment you open one; the Moves you do.

  • What it never sees

    Your messages, your feed, what you watch or type in other apps, your browsing, your location.

  • Where it lives

    On your iPhone. Nothing leaves it without an account; with an optional account and your consent, your Move history and the labels you gave your guarded apps (for example “Instagram”) sync to servers in the EU (Ireland). Screen Time selections and system app names never leave the iPhone.

Read the privacy policy

Questions

Questions about how it works.

What does the Screen Time permission allow, and is it safe?

It lets MiniMove put a shield on the apps you chose, using Apple's Screen Time API. Apple gives MiniMove opaque tokens, not your app content, and those tokens never leave your iPhone. You can remove the permission in Settings at any time.

Is MiniMove parental control?

No. MiniMove is for people managing their own phone, with Apple's individual Screen Time authorisation. It is not designed for parents managing a child's device.

How long does an app stay open?

For the window you choose: 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes of real use (15 by default), capped at twice that on the clock. When it ends, the shield comes back on its own.

How do I turn MiniMove off?

Remove apps from your guarded list, or remove MiniMove's Screen Time access in Settings, and your apps open normally again. If you switched on the optional Strict mode, turning it off takes one Move and a 10-minute delay.

Can I cheat?

Technically, yes, and that is fine. MiniMove is a game played in good faith, not a surveillance tool: timers, taps, motion and the pedometer make Moves satisfying to finish, and the only person you would fool is you.

All questions

By MiniMove Team ·

Ready?

Your next scroll starts with a small win.

Free, no account. iPhone with iOS 26.5 or later.

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