Set your night
Choose a bedtime, a wake-up time and the nights it runs. Then pick the apps that keep you up.
Bedtime app blocker
Don’t remove the choice. Make the distraction wait.
Nightcap pauses the apps that keep you up — Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whatever you pick — during the hours you sleep. Really need one? Wait a couple of minutes, get a short break, and it pauses again.
● Android — in testing now · coming soon to Google Play · iPhone later
You planned to sleep at 10:30. It’s 1 AM, you’re still scrolling, and tomorrow is already tired. Nightcap is built for that exact moment.
How it works
A closing time for your night
Not a wall you fight until you uninstall it. A small pause between the impulse and the app — and the impulse rarely survives it.
Reach for an app, and wait
After bedtime, a paused app shows a calm “It’s time to rest.” Still need it? Start a wait — two minutes, or whatever you set. It can’t be skipped.
A short break, then rest
If you still want in, you choose to open it — Nightcap never does it for you. You get five minutes, or your own length, then it pauses again.
- 10:30 PMBedtime — your apps pause
- 11:40 PMInstagram? “It’s time to rest.”
- WaitTwo minutes to reconsider
- BreakFive minutes, if you still want it
- Paused againThe next unlock waits in full
- 6:00 AMGood morning — see your night
Features
Everything a better night needs. Nothing it doesn’t.
Sleep schedule
Runs by itself every night you choose — across midnight, time zones and restarts.
Your apps, your list
Pause only the apps that pull you back. Everything else on your phone works as usual.
Emergency Unlock, always
Never locked out. Every unlock pays the full wait — no shortcuts, no “just this once.”
Settled until morning
Once your night starts, a tired 2 AM you can’t shorten the wait or unpause an app. Making it stricter is always fine.
See that you chose sleep
Insights shows how often you reached for an app and chose to rest anyway — and how many nights you protected.
Never blocks the essentials
Calls, messages, your alarm, Settings and emergency services are never paused.
Why a wait, not a wall
Late-night scrolling isn’t a willpower problem. It’s a friction problem.
- A hard block
- starts a fight. You want the app, it’s gone, so you switch the blocker off — and now nothing protects you.
- A wait
- doesn’t fight you. It puts a couple of minutes between the urge and the app, and you stay the one who decides.
- No shame
- No streaks to lose, no “you failed”, no lectures. Just a calm “It’s time to rest.”
Private by design
Your nights stay on your phone
✓No account
No sign-in, no email, no name. We don’t know who you are.
✓Your nights never leave the phone
No server, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. Your schedule, apps and history are never sent anywhere — only your purchase status is checked, through RevenueCat, with a random ID — never your name or email.
✓Yours to delete
“Delete all my data” erases everything Nightcap stored. Read the privacy policy · How to delete your data.
Plans
Genuinely useful for free
The whole mechanic is in the free plan. Pro adds room, not the core.
Free
Free forever- One sleep schedule
- Up to 3 paused apps
- Full Emergency Unlock — your wait, your break
- Weekly insights
Nightcap Pro
Weekly, monthly, yearly or lifetime- Unlimited paused apps
- Monthly and all-time insights
Questions
Good to know
Can I still use a paused app if I really need it?
Always. Tap Emergency Unlock, wait out the timer, and open the app for a short break. Nightcap makes the distraction wait — it never takes the choice away.
Will it ever block calls or an emergency?
No. Your phone, messages, alarm clock, Settings and emergency services are never paused, whatever you select.
Can I switch it off at 2 AM?
Not on a whim. While a night is running, the wait, the break, your apps and your schedule can only be made stricter — you decide in the evening, not when you’re tired. If you really need to change something, type a short sentence, wait the same time as Emergency Unlock, and your settings open for 10 minutes. Your phone’s own settings always let you remove Nightcap.
Does Nightcap track my sleep?
No. It doesn’t measure sleep or anything about your body. It counts how often a paused app was reached for and what you chose — on your phone only.
What permissions does it need?
Two, on Android: Usage Access, to see which app is on screen, and Display over other apps, to show the pause screen on top of it. Notifications are optional — a bedtime heads-up, a note when your break is ready, and morning and weekly summaries, all scheduled on your phone. Nothing it sees leaves your phone.
Is there an iPhone version?
Later. Android comes first; iPhone needs Apple’s Screen Time approval, which we’ll apply for next.
Get Nightcap
Protect tonight’s sleep
Nightcap is in testing on Android, through Google Play. The iPhone version is coming soon.
Nightcap isn’t on iPhone yet — it’s coming soon.