FAQ

A timer blocks one fixed stretch. A schedule repeats on the days and hours you choose. A budget gives you daily or weekly usage minutes shared across your selected apps and categories, then blocks when spent. You can set both daily and weekly budgets; spending either one blocks. A schedule can also cap free time between blocking schedules, with one daily budget for every day and/or a weekly budget. A spent scheduled budget blocks access and cannot earn extra minutes. An effort goal can open a timer or schedule early, or buy usage minutes after a standalone budget blocks.

Choose Steps, walking/running Distance, Mindfulness, Active calories, Time in daylight, or Workout.

Here is the full workout list. Every type supports time and calories. Types marked (distance) also support a distance goal.

Popular Any workout, Run (distance), Walk (distance), Hike (distance), Cycle (distance), Strength Training, Functional Strength, HIIT, Core Training, Yoga, Swim (distance)

Cardio + Gym Elliptical, Rower (distance), Stair Stepper, Stairs, Step Training, Jump Rope, Mixed Cardio, Cross Training, Fitness Gaming

Studio + Mind-Body Pilates, Barre, Dance, Social Dance, Gymnastics, Mind and Body, Tai Chi, Flexibility, Cooldown, Prep and Recovery

Combat Boxing, Kickboxing, Martial Arts, Wrestling, Fencing

Sports Soccer, Basketball, Tennis, Pickleball, Golf, Badminton, Table Tennis, Squash, Racquetball, Handball, Volleyball, Baseball, Softball, American Football, Australian Football, Rugby, Hockey, Lacrosse, Cricket, Disc Sports, Track and Field, Archery, Bowling

Outdoor + Water Climbing, Paddle Sports (distance), Surfing, Sailing, Water Fitness, Water Polo, Water Sports, Underwater Diving, Equestrian, Fishing, Hunting

Winter Downhill Skiing (distance), Snowboarding (distance), Cross-Country Skiing (distance), Skating (distance), Snow Sports, Curling

Accessibility Wheelchair Walk Pace (distance), Wheelchair Run Pace (distance), Hand Cycling (distance)

More Play, Other

Choose workout opens the full searchable training picker. You can also name a specific workout, for example “20 minutes Pilates” or “5 km rowing”. The helper asks for the measure and amount when needed.

Choose Any workout only when you want all recorded training types to count toward one time or calorie goal. Any workout does not combine distances across different training types.

Workouts, Active calories and Time in daylight require Paxt Plus or Paxt Premium. Workouts must be saved to Health. Active calories include everyday movement and exercise; daylight uses Health's Time in Daylight. A compatible Apple Watch is needed for automatic daylight tracking. Ordinary steps and distance do not require a logged workout.

Yes. Choose Time only for a timer or schedule, or tell the helper lock it or no early unlock. It removes the effort goal, so effort cannot open it early. Choose Hardcore too if you want no Tap out; Soft still allows that escape. You can switch to Time only while the helper is asking for a workout or goal. For a budget, choose No earn-back so a spent budget stays blocked until its daily or weekly reset.

Open Paxt > Settings and tap the speech bubble, or open Paxt > Commitments and hold +, to describe a new commitment or ask how Paxt works. Start with Create a commitment, or include the apps and settings you already know. It asks for missing choices, then prepares a draft. For a guarded person, choose them in Paxt > Commitments, then hold + and choose Describe a commitment. Starting from Paxt's Settings opens a conversation for your own commitments. You still select the apps in Apple's picker, review the commitment pass, and hold to commit. It cannot unlock apps, approve requests or change an existing commitment for you.

Yes. Describe the goals together, or use Add another goal in your helper draft. You can combine up to five different goals, then choose Complete all or Complete any. Adding a goal keeps the ones already in your draft. You still review the commitment and hold to commit before anything starts blocking.

Paxt needs confirmation of the guarded person's child account before creating a commitment. You can prepare a helper draft while waiting. Open Paxt on their phone, then use Refresh account status in the helper. Creating becomes available when their child account is confirmed. The helper keeps the same person and account requirements as regular setup.

Apple keeps app identities private, so a typed name alone isn't enough for Paxt to block an app. You'll select the actual apps in Apple's picker next. The helper doesn't remember apps by name yet, so you'll do this for each new draft.

The helper uses Apple's on-device model when available and guided setup otherwise. Its conversation stays in memory on this phone and clears when you close it. No conversation is sent to an AI service. Existing guardian sharing continues separately.

Say Hey Siri, Ask Paxt, then wait for Siri to ask what you want to set up. Answer with your request, such as Create a two-hour timer that blocks YouTube. Use these two turns; a longer command in one sentence may be handled as another Siri action. You can also run Ask Paxt in Apple's Shortcuts app. Paxt still asks you to select the actual apps, review and hold to commit.

Yes. In commitment setup, tap Add another goal to add up to five goals, then choose Complete all or Complete any. All requires every goal; Any requires just one. For example, 500 active calories and 200 meters of swimming, or 500 active calories or 60 min of strength training. One rule applies to the whole set; you cannot mix All and Any inside it. Timers and schedules open early when their rule is met. On a budget, meeting the rule earns one batch of usage minutes, even if several alternatives are complete. Each goal keeps its usual plan requirements.

For edit penalties, a commitment is at play when a schedule is blocking or its daily or weekly budget is spent and blocking access. A commitment outside its blocking hours with budget remaining, or a block already earned or tapped out, does not incur these edit penalties. A partly completed Complete all rule is still at play. Editing next week leaves the current week unchanged.

Each activity can appear once in a goal set. For Workouts, each training type and measurement pair can appear once: swimming distance and swimming time are allowed, as are running time and swimming time. Two swimming-distance goals are not. Choices already used by another goal are unavailable for both Complete all and Complete any. Separate schedules and commitments can still use the same activity.

Complete any is the rule for a set of goals: meeting one goal is enough. Any workout is a workout type: completed workouts of any training type contribute to that one goal, measured in time or calories. It does not combine distances across different training types.

No. Raising a target in the same activity, adding a required goal to Complete all, removing an alternative from Complete any, or switching Any to All is free in both modes. One easier change elsewhere in the same save still counts: raising a calorie target does not cancel the cost of adding a one-step alternative.

With Complete all, every goal must be met; completing one does not make edits to the remaining goals free while the commitment is at play. With Complete any, one completed goal earns the block or one budget earn-back. Unfinished alternatives are not failures. Goals progress together, and the same activity can contribute to more than one relevant goal. Other active commitments or a clock-only schedule can still keep apps blocked. Waiting for a block to end keeps your streak too.

If the commitment is at play, loosening any of its schedule blocks has an edit penalty, including a later block. Making the commitment harder remains free. If the commitment is inactive or already earned open, the edit is free. Editing next week is always free and leaves this week unchanged.

Free includes Steps, walking/running Distance and Mindfulness. Paxt Plus adds Workouts, Active calories and Time in daylight. Paxt Premium includes all six too. Choose the effort in the commitment setup, then enter your goal. For workouts, also choose a training type and its measure. Time in daylight needs a compatible Apple Watch for automatic tracking.

Paxt counts steps during your commitment's counting period. Your iPhone can measure them without a watch. Compatible watches and third-party apps can contribute if they save steps to Apple Health on this iPhone. Allow Paxt to read Steps in Health; Motion access also enables live step updates from your iPhone. Data from another device or app must finish syncing before Paxt can use it.

The Distance choice counts walking and running distance saved to Apple Health during the counting period. Your iPhone can track it without an Apple Watch. Compatible watches and apps can contribute through Health. It does not combine cycling, swimming or other sports; choose a specific Workout and its Distance measure for those.

Goals use Health's recorded distance. The distance shown beside steps in Activity is a labelled estimate. With metric units, goals use meters below one kilometer and kilometers above it; the Miles setting uses feet below one mile and miles above it. Goal counters keep the target's unit on both sides. Weekly charts use compact m, km, ft or mi labels and the same unit for both weeks.

Paxt counts the duration of Mindful Sessions saved to Apple Health during the counting period. Overlapping sessions count once. Use an app or a watch feature that records mindful sessions and allow Paxt to read them. An Apple Watch is optional. Time spent in a meditation app does not count unless it writes a mindful session to Health. Finish and save the session, allow it to sync, then open Paxt to check progress.

Set an Active calories goal, such as 100 calories. Paxt reads Active Energy in Apple Health for the counting period, including everyday movement and exercise. It does not count resting calories, require a finished workout, or reuse calories from before the block. A compatible Apple Watch or another device or app that writes Active Energy to Health can supply the data. Allow Paxt to read Active Energy. Updates depend on recording and sync; they are not guaranteed live. Requires Paxt Plus or Paxt Premium.

Set a goal in minutes. Paxt reads Time in Daylight from Apple Health during the counting period. Automatic tracking needs a compatible Apple Watch with Time in Daylight enabled. The watch estimates outdoor daylight; Paxt does not use your location or camera to measure it. Watch Low Power Mode turns daylight tracking off. Allow the data to sync to your iPhone and open Paxt to check progress. This is daylight exposure, not all time spent outdoors, and updates are not guaranteed instant. Requires Paxt Plus or Paxt Premium.

Time in daylight needs a compatible Apple Watch for automatic tracking. Steps and walking/running Distance can come from your iPhone. Mindfulness needs an app or device that saves Mindful Sessions. Active calories need a source that saves Active Energy. Workouts can come from a compatible watch or fitness app that saves completed workouts to Apple Health on your iPhone. Paxt reads Apple Health; it does not connect directly to those accounts.

Pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone as usual and allow Paxt to read the Apple Health types used by your goal. Steps, walking/running distance, active calories and time in daylight can contribute as the watch records and syncs them. Workout and mindfulness goals use saved sessions, so finish and save those first. Daylight tracking needs a compatible model and must be enabled. Open Paxt to update your progress after syncing. There is no separate watch connection to set up inside Paxt.

Yes, if their app saves workouts to Apple Health on your iPhone. Enable its Apple Health connection and allow it to write workouts and the energy or distance data your goal needs. Allow Paxt to read those types too. Paxt reads the saved workout through Health; it does not connect directly to your fitness app's account. Workout goals require Paxt Plus or Paxt Premium.

Paxt currently counts completed workouts saved to Apple Health, not a live session on your watch or in another app. Finish and save the workout, allow it to sync, then open Paxt. A workout counts when it finishes during the commitment's counting period, even if it started earlier. Steps and walking/running distance goals are separate and can update as new measurements arrive.

An Active calories goal counts active energy saved to Apple Health from everyday movement and exercise during the counting period. A Workout goal measured in calories counts only matching completed workouts. Both exclude resting energy and display cal, like Apple Fitness. Workout time and distance goals use the recorded workout duration or distance. Active calories already include workout energy; Paxt does not add workout calories to that total again.

Check that the finished workout appears in Apple Health on this iPhone, its type matches your goal, and it contains the time, active calories or distance you chose. Any workout accepts every type for time or calories. Check Paxt's read permissions in Health > Summary > [your profile picture] > Apps > Paxt. Then let your watch or recording app finish syncing and reopen Paxt. A workout completed before the counting period does not count toward a fresh goal. Each budget earn-back needs fresh effort; effort already spent on an earlier earn-back cannot be used again.

Open Paxt after your activity has synced to Apple Health. Complete all needs every goal; Complete any needs one. Earning a block removes that block, but another active commitment, a clock-only schedule or a spent budget may still restrict the apps. With unchanged goals, a block stays earned open even if Apple Health later adjusts your numbers down. If you edit a goal, the updated requirement is checked again against activity from the same block.

Tapping out ends that commitment's blocking until midnight, or ends a timer permanently, and resets your streak to zero. Other commitments still apply. With Streak shield enabled and a shield banked, you can choose to spend it. It protects your streak for that day, including later tap-outs and edit penalties. The tap-out still appears in your history.

Paxt does not currently have Screen Time access, so it cannot enforce its commitments on this phone. Tap ALLOW SCREEN TIME ACCESS and approve Apple's request. Paxt then checks your commitments and restores the blocks that still apply. A guarded phone also reports the loss of access to its guardian when it can sync.

iOS can retain restrictions after Paxt is deleted. Reinstall Paxt, open it and restore Screen Time access so it can clear leftover restrictions. On a guarded phone, guardian commitments may be restored and continue blocking; ask your guardian to change or remove those. Restrictions from another Screen Time app still apply.

The real key is whoever holds the Screen Time passcode, if you set one up with Make Paxt unbreakable. They can manage those restrictions in iPhone Settings > Screen Time on the blocked phone. On a guarded phone, your guardian can unlock or remove any commitment they set. A hardcore block with neither of those is doing exactly what you asked it to. It opens on schedule.

Choose one when you create the commitment. Soft allows Tap out and current-week edits. Loosening or changing an activity type while the commitment is at play has an edit penalty; making it harder stays free. Deleting an active commitment has the same cost. Hardcore has no Tap out, allows only changes that make this week harder, and defers deletion until Monday. Both modes use the same blocking and goal-completion rules. Running timers only allow adding apps.

A block carries an effort goal or goal set. Meeting its rule can open that block early. A lock has no effort goal and lasts until its hours end. You choose this separately from Soft or Hardcore. A spent scheduled budget also locks until its reset. A standalone budget can earn extra minutes only if Earn extra time is enabled. Other commitments on the same apps still apply.

Opening a blocked app shows Paxt's block screen. If it has several goals, the screen explains whether you need all of them or any one. Back closes the shielded app. OPEN PAXT opens Paxt on iOS 26.5 and later; older versions use a notification that you can tap to open it. If that notification does not appear, check iPhone Settings > Notifications > Paxt. Also open iPhone Settings > Focus and check whether your active Focus silences Paxt. You can always open Paxt directly.

It walks you through setting a Screen Time passcode with someone you trust. That passcode stops Paxt being deleted, guards the switch that would turn its Screen Time access off, and pins the clock. It only works if they hold the code and you don't. Commitments block fine without it. The passcode protects them from you. Open Paxt > Settings > Make Paxt unbreakable to follow the guide.

No. iOS never lets an app block itself, so Paxt always opens, whatever you committed. There is no lockout risk, ever.

Deleting Paxt is not a reliable way to end a commitment: iOS can retain its restrictions. Reinstall and open Paxt with Screen Time access to reconcile leftover blocks. Guardian commitments are also shared through iCloud and can return when the guarded phone reconnects to its account.

The day it starts. An evening schedule that runs into the small hours is one single block owned by its start day, tail included. The week grid marks it with a +1.

A one-week commitment. It blocks exactly like any other until next Monday at midnight, then deletes itself. Nothing carries into the next week.

Because sealed always wins. While a locked schedule is active, the whole commitment is locked and no goal opens anything. It lifts the moment that schedule's hours end.

Steps, walking/running distance, mindfulness, active calories and daylight count from the block's own start. Completed workouts are different: they count when they finish within the counting period, even if they started earlier. The same activity can progress separate commitments with overlapping counting periods. Each block still follows its own Complete all or Complete any rule.

While a commitment is at play, a looser rule or any activity, workout-type or measurement change has an edit penalty. This includes changing a later schedule in that commitment, lowering a goal, removing an AND requirement, adding an OR option, switching All to Any, adding an early unlock, removing blocked apps, or enabling or easing spent-budget earn-back. Raising a spent budget also has an edit penalty. The review states whether your streak resets or a streak shield protects it. The new rules still determine access; the warning does not promise an unlock. Edits that make a commitment harder are free, as are edits outside play.

Yes. Each daily or weekly budget is shared across the whole selection in that commitment. Usage adds up across your selected apps and categories.

Apps: 20 min on App 1 + 20 min on App 2 = 40 min used.

Categories: 20 min in Category 1 + 20 min in Category 2 = 40 min used. Each category includes usage from the apps inside it.

Apps and categories: 10 min on App 1 + 10 min on App 2 + 10 min in Category 1 + 10 min in Category 2 = 40 min used. In this example, App 1 and App 2 are outside the selected categories.

When a budget is spent, the commitment blocks its whole selection.

The same usage counts toward both budgets. For example, 20 min of usage uses 20 min of your daily budget and 20 min of your weekly budget. A 30 min daily budget and a 120 min weekly budget give you up to 30 min each day within 120 min for the week, before any earned extra time. Spending either budget blocks the whole selection. The daily reset does not refill the weekly budget.

Budget minutes are used while you use the selected apps or apps in the selected categories. Time away from the selected activity does not use your budget. A daily budget resets at midnight and a weekly budget resets on Monday at midnight, in your phone's local time. Unused minutes do not carry into the next period. A daily reset does not refill a spent weekly budget.

The schedule rules its hours, and the free minutes rule the gaps. While a schedule is blocking, the apps are closed and no minutes are spent. Between blocking schedules, and during a schedule you earned open, your use counts against the free minutes. Spend them all and the gaps lock too, until the reset.

That's deliberate. Time you spent on the app before the commitment existed never counts against it. The meter starts fresh the moment you commit.

iOS can deliver a usage notification late, so blocking may start after the budget is spent. When both daily and weekly budgets are set, Paxt can compensate the weekly budget for confirmed usage beyond the daily budget. This does not refill the daily budget. Compensation depends on the delay Paxt can confirm and may not cover every extra minute.

When a daily budget is set, the weekly display counts each day up to that day's budget, including earned extra time. This reduces the effect of usage allowed by a delayed block. The weekly Screen Time measurement and the displayed totals update separately, so they may not match exactly while updates or delay compensation are being applied. Without a daily budget, usage adds up across the week.

On a Budget commitment with Earn extra time enabled, yes. This option starts enabled for new budgets; you can turn it off during setup. Fresh effort after the budget blocks earns one batch of usage minutes at the rate you set, such as 1,000 steps for 10 min. With several goals, Complete all requires every goal and Complete any requires one. Completing extra alternatives does not multiply the minutes. Once those minutes are spent, blocking returns and the next batch needs fresh effort. Earlier or surplus effort is not banked. The extra minutes are shared across the whole selection. If daily and weekly budgets are both enabled, the same batch is credited to both: earning 10 min gives 10 min of additional usage, not 20. Time away from the selected activity does not spend these extra minutes. A schedule's budget cannot earn extra minutes; it waits for its reset.

Raising a spent budget still has an edit penalty, but the new budget starts at the next reset: midnight for daily minutes or Monday for weekly minutes. Saving the edit does not grant immediate access. The separate Tap out action is the way to end that commitment's current block early; other active restrictions can still apply.

Only the tile on the commitment's own page can read your live usage, straight from Screen Time. The list row can't know the remaining minutes, so it says UNBLOCKED and leaves the number to the tile. The tile can take a moment to settle. It is Apple's meter, not ours.

Free includes up to three individual apps across your live commitments, with timers and steps, distance or mindfulness goals. Whole categories and websites need Paxt Plus. Paxt Plus also removes the app limit and adds schedules, budgets, workouts, active calories and time in daylight. Paxt Premium includes everything in Paxt Plus and adds Guardian mode. A guarded phone's commitments follow its guardian's access. Both plans offer monthly and yearly subscriptions. Any free trial depends on your Apple ID's eligibility and the offer shown before purchase. Only Paxt Premium has a lifetime option, with no trial.

The PLUS label marks a feature that needs an upgrade from Free. It disappears when your current access includes it. Both Paxt Plus and Paxt Premium include those features. The Subscription card still shows your plan.

Pay once for Paxt Premium, including Guardian mode, with no renewal. Your purchase stays with your Apple ID and can be restored on a new phone. There is no free trial on lifetime. Buying lifetime does not cancel an existing subscription. To manage its renewal, open iPhone Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions, then select your Paxt subscription.

Yes, while your total stays at three individual apps or fewer. A running app timer keeps its slots until it ends, then they free up. Categories and websites require Paxt Plus.

A purchase follows your Apple ID, and Paxt checks with the App Store every time it opens, so a new phone usually catches up on its own. If it hasn't, open Paxt > Settings > Paxt Free, then tap Restore purchases to ask the App Store again. If Paxt already shows a paid plan, open Compare plans for a subscription or Purchase details for lifetime, then tap Restore purchases. Those rows are in Paxt's Settings, under Subscription. Nothing is removed while Paxt can't reach the App Store.

After the App Store confirms a downgrade to Free, Paxt removes schedules, budgets, and any commitment containing a category or website, including a mixed app/category commitment or a queued edit that adds one. A block active at removal resets your streak, like other active deletions; a banked streak shield can absorb it. App-only timers finish normally. Moving from Paxt Premium to Paxt Plus keeps categories and websites, but unpairs guarded phones. Paxt waits through the verification grace period and keeps your commitments while it cannot verify the downgrade or a different Apple ID is signed in. Activity history stays on the phone.

Your streak counts the days you held every commitment without tapping out. Earned days and waited days both count. A day your schedule has no block on counts as waited too, and a day with nothing committed at all simply passes through without breaking anything. One unprotected tap out or edit penalty resets it to zero. Completing an edited goal later does not undo that reset.

A day where you opened at least one block with effort. On a schedule or timer, that means meeting its goal rule before the block ends. On a budget, the first earn-back of the day records an earned outcome. A block that runs its course without being earned records Waited. In Activity, a checkmark means Earned, a clock means Waited, and a half-filled circle means Waited and Earned: some blocks were waited out and others earned through activity. Earned, waited and mixed days can all keep your streak alive. A commitment that blocks only categories or websites counts too. An unprotected tap out or edit penalty still resets that day's streak, even if you later earn access.

With Streak shield enabled, seven consecutive earned days bank one shield. Days that also include waited outcomes do not count toward those seven. Today counts only after its commitments have resolved.

When a tap out, active deletion or edit penalty would reset your streak, the review lets you spend a banked shield. It protects that day, including later penalties, without changing the action's access rules. A shield does not itself unlock apps. You can keep it for another day and accept the reset instead. Only one shield can be banked at a time.

Turn it off in Paxt > Settings > Streak shield. The shield progress disappears from Paxt's Activity and Settings pages, and you cannot earn or spend a shield while it is off. An already-banked shield is kept and becomes available when you turn it on again. Progress toward the next shield restarts from the day you turn it back on. Turning it off does not erase days already protected by a shield.

Tap Today, This week or All time at the top, or swipe sideways to switch between them. Each keeps its scroll position. Today includes your day streak, horizontally scrollable day history, shield progress while enabled, and effort goals with their progress. This week compares daily activity with the same point last week. All time shows recorded outcomes, best and current streaks, and activity totals with real-world comparisons. Swipe the day history to see earlier days; touch and hold a weekly chart to see daily values.

Each ring is one goal, with a matching colored dot beside its name and progress. The color follows the activity type, not its position in the set or your chosen app theme. Workout goals share a color across training types and measurements. All goals means every ring must be complete; Any goal means one is enough. A single goal needs no rule label. Counters stop at their target. Earned applies to the commitment once its rule is met; unfinished Any alternatives keep their own progress. Card titles and progress amounts follow your chosen theme.

Each chart runs Monday to Sunday. The solid colored line is this week; the dashed line is last week. Totals and percentage changes compare the same elapsed period: Friday at 11:00 compares Monday through Friday at 11:00 in both weeks. The percentage is so far, not a prediction for the full week. Later days stay empty. Touch and hold a chart, then move across it to see each day's values. If last week was zero, Paxt shows Up from zero instead of dividing by zero.

Apple Health may have older activity, but Paxt also needs the original periods when your commitments were blocking. Those details may be missing from older Paxt history, or Health access may cover only part of the period. Paxt keeps the history it can read and leaves gaps where it cannot make a reliable daily comparison. It does not reconstruct old blocked hours from your current schedule. Percentages appear only when both periods can be compared. Before you had commitments, there was no while-blocked activity to count.

Zero means Paxt has no recorded progress for that goal in its counting period yet. That is normal if, for example, you have not recorded a hike or mindful session. It can also appear while a Health reading is unavailable; it does not prove you did no activity. If Apple Health has activity you expect to count, check the counting period, let it sync and reopen Paxt. Also check read access in Health > Summary > [your profile picture] > Apps > Paxt. Apple can return no data when read access is off, so zero alone does not tell Paxt whether permission was granted. Weekly charts still leave gaps where a reading could not be obtained.

Totals labelled While your commitments were blocking : describe activity within Paxt's counting periods, including effort used for budget earn-back. They are not your full-day Apple Health totals. Goal rings stop at each target, while activity totals can keep growing. The same movement can contribute to different measures, such as Steps, Distance and Active calories; those measures should not be added together as separate exercise. Distances estimated from steps and real-world comparisons are labelled approximations.

It is the share of recorded outcomes earned through activity: Earned divided by Earned, Waited and Tapped/Edited combined. These are outcomes, not a count of goals or days. Completing one block with five goals does not record five earned outcomes. Green means earned, gray means waited, and brick orange means tapped out or edited, in every app theme. Best streak and Current are separate day counts. A shield can preserve your streak while a tap-out or edit remains in the outcome history.

Check Paxt's iCloud access on both phones. On each phone, open iPhone Settings > [your name] > iCloud > See All > Paxt and make sure it is on. Your name is at the top of the iPhone Settings app. See All is beside Saved to iCloud; some iOS versions call it Show All. Paxt's switch is usually enabled already. Each person should be signed into their own Apple Account used for the pairing. Make sure both phones have internet access, then open Paxt on both and let it sync.

Because iOS only hands real control to family child accounts. On a child account, iOS itself blocks deleting Paxt, and only you can loosen what you set. On any other account those guarantees don't exist, so pairing requires one. Commitments you set on a guarded phone are always hardcore for the child. They can't tap out, they ask to unlock instead. Guardian mode is part of Paxt Premium.

With family Screen Time authorization on a child account, iOS prevents them from deleting Paxt, and Paxt keeps the clock on automatic whenever a commitment or a pairing exists, so time can't be moved to skip a block. Deleting Paxt or resetting the phone does not end the pairing either. The next time Paxt opens on that Apple ID, it finds its guardian again. Protected, not impossible, and we say it like it is.

Their commitments and the lockdown stay exactly as they were, and nothing updates until the phone is back on the Apple ID that was paired. Paxt never lets a change of account undo a guardian.

The guardian can sign into Paxt on a replacement phone with the same Apple ID to find the pairing again. Their commitments keep applying in the meantime. If that is not possible, the person who holds the Screen Time passcode can open iPhone Settings > Screen Time on the guarded phone to manage Paxt's access. Removing that access stops Paxt enforcing restrictions on that phone. Deleting or reinstalling the app does not by itself remove the iCloud pairing.

A phone that already guards someone can't be guarded too. Paxt refuses the scan and says so. Pair the person's own phone instead.

They can create their own commitments freely, including stricter ones stacked on the same apps. Wanting harder is always allowed. Yours they can only see and serve. No edit, no tap out, no delete. They can ask to unlock, one open ask per commitment per day, and an unanswered ask expires at midnight.

Effort on the commitments you set, their streak, and their daily outcomes. Paxt shares daily and weekly effort summaries through your private iCloud storage with the paired child's account. You do not see the details of commitments they set for themselves, and Paxt does not upload raw Health records.

Our developer account does not let us browse, retrieve or export your family's private iCloud records. The Paxt app on the paired phones can read them to provide Guardian mode. If you email us a screenshot or other information, we receive what you choose to send; that does not give us access to your private iCloud records.

Your commitments keep blocking, but iOS stops guaranteeing the rest. They can now delete Paxt, and Paxt reports the change when it detects it and can sync. You can still unlock and remove what you set. Creating and editing pauses until the account is a child one again.

Seconds when their phone is awake. A push wakes Paxt and applies the change. Longer when iOS throttles background wake-ups, and a pull-to-refresh nudges it. Pairing is its own case. Create the code and scan it in the same session, because backing out discards it, and if a pairing fails, wait before retrying. Apple throttles the account lookup for hours.

Paxt reports it when the guarded phone detects the change and can sync. That is usually quicker while Paxt is open. Background checks depend on iOS and may be delayed; an offline phone cannot report a change. Check LAST CHECK-IN under their name to see how fresh the information is.

Yes, with Paxt Plus or Paxt Premium. Continue past the app picker without selecting an app or category, then add websites or turn on Block adult websites. Choose a Timer or Schedule, with an optional activity goal. Website-only commitments do not support budgets, including budgets between scheduled blocks. Budgets need at least one app or category to measure usage. A mixed commitment can include websites alongside its apps and categories; the websites follow its blocking rules.

Turn it on in the website step, below your website list. Paxt uses Apple's adult-content filter while that commitment blocks. It can be your only selection, or you can combine it with specific websites, apps and categories. Earning access, a schedule ending or tapping out lifts that commitment's filter; another active commitment can keep it on. Apple decides which content the filter limits. It is not a custom list maintained by Paxt.

Pressing Tap out ends that commitment's blocking until midnight and marks the whole day Tapped out. Editing it afterward keeps that result and saves the changes for tomorrow. It cannot become Earned today. On Sunday, a this-week-only edit has no time left to apply: carry it into future weeks or edit next week instead. A timer ends permanently instead of restarting tomorrow. Other commitments still apply. Earlier Edited markers remain visible over the gray day. The gray column records the day's outcome, not the exact hours you were unblocked.

An edit penalty affects your streak without granting access until midnight. The edited rules still apply, so an unmet goal keeps blocking and a completed goal can show Earned. The schedule keeps its normal blocks with a small Edited marker. Earning access does not repair that day's streak. Tap out is a separate action that stops this commitment blocking for the rest of the day. A streak shield can protect either consequence without changing those access rules.

Categories require Paxt Plus or Paxt Premium. A category blocks every app inside it as one unit. iOS never reveals which apps a category holds, so Paxt can't either. A category always wins over an individual app's earn, and a budget on a category is the category's combined total, not per app.

iPhone protects a limited number of commitments at once with always-on enforcement. Past that, this commitment still blocks, but mainly when Paxt is opened. Remove a commitment you don't need and the rest get full protection back.

If you see this message, Paxt couldn't read its saved data on this phone. Unlock your phone and tap Try again first.

Only use Start over if retrying doesn't help. Confirming Clear and start over deletes your commitments and history on this phone and removes their blocks. Your Guardian pairing and permissions stay. Nothing is deleted until you confirm.

That was Paxt learning the app's name. iOS reveals an app's name only from behind a block, so a freshly picked app is blocked once until it is opened. Open it, the name lands, and that block lifts for good.

Blocking websites uses Apple's content filter, and Apple disables private browsing whenever one is active, across the whole phone. The platform's rule, not ours.