Almost everything Furlough does happens while you are looking at something else. Opening the app is for writing rules; the rest of the time it is the shield, a notification and a countdown on the lock screen.
Notifications
- Around a window: one when it opens, one five minutes before it closes, one five minutes before the budget runs out, and one when it is spent.
- Around a pending change: one an hour before a queued loosening lands, while you can still cancel it, and one when it lands.
On the screen
- The shield. iOS draws it over a blocked app: why it is blocked and when it opens next.
- The lock screen. A Live Activity while a window is open, counting down, with the same hourglass in the Dynamic Island.
- The home screen. A widget with the next opening, or the time left in the one running.
Asking
- What's Open is Furlough's one Shortcut. It says what is open now and when the next thing opens, without opening the app. It changes nothing, so it is always allowed.
- Where the time goes. Settings ranks the apps that took your last two weeks and suggests a rule for each. Screen Time draws those cards in a sandbox of its own; the numbers never reach the app.
The hourglass is the same drawing everywhere it appears — shield, widget, Dynamic Island, and the marks on these pages. The top bulb is the window draining with the countdown; the mound turns amber five minutes out and ember once the budget is spent.
More: Windows and budgets · All help · support@furloughapp.com