BlackOut: Stay Focused
June 17, 2024
More About BlackOut: Stay Focused
Have you ever felt like you need to take a break from your phone? Or that you suffer from cell phone addiction? Or that you also suffer from 'screen addiction'? Do you lack the ability to stay focused lately? Or maybe your phone is affecting your sleeping patterns, or your job? Maybe quitting cold turkey can be really hard too.
While developing/maintaining Detox(another app that helps users stay focused) we got a lot of reviews and emails from users saying they wanted an app where they could specify a time frame that they would not be able to use their smartphone for. That’s where the idea for BlackOut originally came from. The concept is really simple, you just open the app and select a starting time, finishing time and days of the week then activate the time slot. During the period and days you select your phone will dissuade you from using it until the time period ends. This will keep repeating everyday(or for the days you selected) until you de-activate it, just like how an alarm works.
How To Use
• Open the app, make sure you accept the required overlay permission
• Tap the floating plus icon
• Select a start time
• Select a finish time
• Select the day/s of the week you want the app to operate for(can be everyday)
• Activate by turning the switch on in the list.
• Remember to de-activate if you don't want the restrictions to keep repeating.
Features
• You can register up to 3 different time frames of up to 4 hours(each) for free.
• A simple way to help you beat phone addiction or get better sleep.
• Stay focused and get more done.
• Stops you from using your phone during a specified time frame.
• You can select the days that the app will operate too, you could set it to only weekdays if that fits your schedule.
• Registering multiple time slots is possible(unlimited for premium users)
• You can make emergency calls
• Premium users can receive calls easily too
• Time slots that overlap two days(premium
• White list functionality(premium)
Recommended For
- People trying to beat cell phone addiction/screen addiction
- Students or workers that want to block out distractions
- People who are snubbing their loved ones
- People that want to stay focused and need an extra push
- People who want to reduce their screen time
- People who feel that have become anti-social because of their smart phone habits
- People who are scared they might have nomophobia
Troubleshooting
If you're new and having issues with BlackOut there are a few things to keep in mind:
• You need to set the time in 24 hour format(Ex. 11pm should be set as 23:00).
• BlackOut isn't always perfectly on time, it can be a couple of minutes late. This is to conserve battery. With this in mind there is not really any point setting a time slot for only a small period like 3 minutes because there is a chance it won't activate for such a short period of time.
• If you are using a phone that has some kind of battery saver(STAMINA mode etc.) you will need to turn it off for BlackOut to be properly functional.
• If you are using a phone that has Doze you might need to turn Doze off for BlackOut. You can do this from your settings app.
• If your phone has some kind of white list for protected apps(Huawei etc), you will most likely need to add BlackOut to this list.
• If you're still having issues feel free to email us at [email protected] for help with troubleshooting.
If you want to try our beta you can view it here:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.blackout
Latest Version
2.16.2
June 17, 2024
BlueTree Lab
IT Tools
Android
358,867
Free
com.blackout
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User Reviews
A Google user
6 years ago
Great app for time saving. I don't use my phone 1 hour before bed time and 1 hour after waking up thanks to it. update - can be easy bypassed on Android 9( just disable screen overlay in notification panel) please fix this!
ANWESHA TIBREWAL
1 year ago
App does not work automatically. I need to open the application then it gets turned on and if I keep it for around 3 to 4 hrs it suddenly gets disabled. Improvements need to be done as soon.
A Google user
5 years ago
Great app. If phone addiction is a problem you have or general concentration due to always attending to notification then use this app. A suggestion is in addition to white list, the next update could have a black list where I can put eg YouTube app in so I don't use it between certain periods of time.
VIKRAM SINGH BISHT
2 years ago
Good app but can be improved. This app can be uninstalled while in blackout mode when the phone is being used. The "Draw over other apps" can be switched off even it is in blackout mode simply by the notification screen. These issues are to be fixed.
Rohitsingh Pardeshi
1 year ago
It is just a lit....❤️❤️❤️ I just wanted to add a comment that If possible can you please enable the timer or stopwatch in the application. Then it is a best application for exam aspirants. It may also help to check the speed of calculation. Otherwise, it is best application. I just loved it. Thanks a lot to you all.....
Naman Chilwal
5 years ago
I have set three time periods for blackout but the app doesn't lock my phone during those time periods on its own. Only when I open the app and again reset the time it works which is pointless. Also when I edit the preset time again the start time and end time of blackout period are both same. So how will it work? Please correct it.
Stella Ji
4 years ago
The app hasnt been automatically starting for me*** i have to intentionally click it to have it start when I need it to put me off from using it late at night. Neverthelss, My favorite kind of an app. Simple and to the point. It does the only and everything i need it to do: block me from accessing my phone during a set time. There is a loophole but if you use it, thats on you.
A Google user
6 years ago
It works pretty well. It takes a while to start up when I turn on my phone (though this can be useful in an emergency where I need a blocked app). More importantly that fairly often a whitelisted app will be blocked and I need to restart my phone in order to access it. Other than that it's worked wonders for me.
Ayush Kadbe
1 year ago
Best Productivity Focus Distraction Blocker app I have ever used. Just 1 ask, add feature to white list apps like if have to use YouTube to see downloaded lecture video only, while full phone is blocked and have data switched offed option so after block, there's no way to browse other apps or anything settings, just the whitelist app which too is offline.
A Google user
6 years ago
It's great when it works. So far it's come on 10 mins late, not at all which defeats the object, and 5 minutes early. More often than not I've had to click on the app to make it blackout! Great idea but unless I've missed some settings it definitely needs more work to make it successful
K V
5 years ago
Excellent app. But will be more productive if individual white list settings provided for each blackout lock/period. For i.e. Same white list apps are not applicable for each blackout period. Like we need some apps to be accessible (whitelist) during blackout at office, but same app may not be required for blackout period at home and we required some other apps at that time. So, each time we need to modify white list settings. So individual whitelist option should be provided with each blackout.
Amer Bakodah
4 years ago
App is good but easily uninstallable When enabled it actually blocks everything, so it is great for people who have phone addiction. However, I restarted my phone during the blackout session and to my surprise, the blackout wasnt automatically enabled. I further tested this loophole by uninstalling the app and it actually did. This is a major drawback of the app, as an addict would use such tricks to gain the access to the phone. This would defeat the purpose of the app.
anne
1 year ago
I like a lot the proposition of this app. However, I was expecting that it has the ability to shut down (let it completely black) your phone for hours, like with no screen displaying the app name. The fact that we can't put it to play out for hours during two days like at 11pm to 8am is another point I didn't like.
Bhagwandas Ramchandani
2 years ago
there is a slight bug or vulnerability in its function which can let me disable the lockout, which is when select the call and then exit the caller app, for a split second, phone is unlocked which is enough time for me to swipe my apps and then repeat the opening and closing of caller app again and this time i click on blackout app and open it, do it again and I can turn off the lockout, it takes a few tries to get it right but I can unlock the phone in 2 min with this method, please fix this.
Naseera Munshi
1 year ago
The app is not working properly, it worked once and now I have to go to the app for it to work, the reason I downloaded the app was so I could help myself with my phone addiction and my time blindness, I used to use it and it would work perfectly, honestly with the new update I'm quite disappointed. this app was my absolute favourite.
Arun DPM
3 years ago
The app is very good and it's very useful in controlling my Phone Addiction. Even, when I reboot it is still is activation. But, I have a found easy loophole, where if I click the notification setting in the lock screen, the setting opens where I can disable the permission given thereby this stops working immediately. Please fix the issue.
Sai Sreeja Vadlamuri
2 years ago
This is a good app to avoid distraction. However improvements needs to be done. I set up time but blackout is not activating automatically. I have to open the app to let it activate. And it's disabling when I receive a call, which is defeating the purpose itself. I hope to see some improvements in these areas in a future update of the app.
Diego Espinel
3 years ago
For me works well in all my devices (Motorola, Xiaomi and a tablet), really helps to be more focus in my work and avoid distractions. I bought the lifetime access. For the people that said that after restarting the phone the app doesn't work, maybe is a problem with the device, for me it's impossible to by pass the block even after restarting the phone. Kudos to the developer.
Joe
4 years ago
Could be really good. It almost completely blocks your phone until the block ends, but can be bypassed by just restarting your phone, or at least my phone. I really liked this app until I found the bypass. If this got fixed it would probably be the best productivity app out there. It could also have more features like location based blocking or usage time based blocking
Salim Maniyar
3 years ago
Thanks to this awesome app, I now go to bed on time. Works as expected. Locks screen even after phone is restarted. Perfect! Edit 7 Sep 2021: After three years I am still using it and it's working great. A feature suggestion: Add an option to lock the application settings (blackout time, days and whitelisted apps etc.) for specified number of days.
