Always Blocking: A Game for 30 Minutes, Then Your Evening

Always blocking is planned to keep your selected apps blocked whenever protection is on, with temporary sessions when you choose to open one. It is intended for future Zomok Pro. Scheduled blocking would apply only during your chosen daily interval instead.

Sometimes you want to play a game. You just don't want the whole evening to disappear into it. The useful question is what happens around that game: when you start, when you stop, and what you want to do afterward.

That might be an agreement with your child about playing before dinner, or a decision you make for yourself after a long day. Zomok is still in development. The examples below explain planned Android behavior, not features available today.

Always or Scheduled: which boundary do you mean?

In planned Always mode, selected apps would stay blocked at any time of day while protection is active, except during a temporary session opened for an individual app. When that session expires, the app is intended to block again if protection is still active.

Scheduled blocking would apply during one recurring daily interval. A schedule from 9 pm to 8 am could protect the same stretch every night; outside that interval, the selected apps would be available normally. Always is intended for apps you want to open only after making a deliberate decision, whatever the time.

An evening gaming agreement with your child

Imagine dinner is at seven. Your child wants to play a game at half past six. Before opening it, agree on the plan: half an hour of play, then save, put the phone down and come to the table.

With planned Pro PIN Unlock, a default 30-minute session starting at 6:30 would expire at 7:00. In Always mode, the game would then be blocked again while protection remained active.

Talk about the ending before play begins. Is there time for one short round? Where can the game be saved? A separate reminder a few minutes before seven can give everyone time to finish. Zomok should not be assumed to save a game automatically.

If only the parent knows the PIN, the child would need the parent to enter it for another PIN session. Unlimited sessions would mean there is no fixed quota for the person entering the PIN—not that the game can be unlocked through PIN Unlock without the code.

A private PIN alone does not make the whole phone childproof. Changing protection, using another unlock route or removing the app may still offer a way around the boundary. Zomok does not promise tamperproof parental controls or remote supervision, so keep the agreement about when to stop clear too.

An easy reset for the person responsible

Forgetting a PIN should not leave you stuck. The plan for future Pro is a simple reset after verifying the owner or parent. The recovery method is still to be decided; it is not an available or tested feature yet.

That verification matters in the family example. A reset that anyone holding the phone could complete would also let a child replace the PIN. The aim is an easy way back in for the person responsible, with verification required before the PIN can be reset.

Choosing half an hour for yourself

Perhaps you want to play from 8:00 until 8:30, then read in bed. Decide that before you open the game. Put the book where you will see it, and choose a place to leave your phone afterward.

A planned 30-minute PIN session would make the end of that window explicit. You can try the routine today with an ordinary timer: choose your starting time, set an alarm and decide what follows.

If the game usually takes 45 minutes to reach a sensible stopping point, choose a shorter activity or a different window. Give yourself a plan that fits what you actually want to do.

Thirty minutes means elapsed time

The planned session clock would keep running when you switch apps, lock the screen or put the phone down. Start at 8:00, spend ten minutes making tea, and the session would still expire at 8:30. It would not pause and save those ten minutes for later.

Automatic reblocking at expiry is planned while protection remains active; it is not a verified device guarantee. Understand that timing before starting, especially when your evening is likely to be interrupted.

A session is not a daily allowance

A 30-minute session would not mean “only 30 minutes today.” Planned sessions are unlimited, with no daily unlock quota. Each new PIN session would still require the PIN. If a parent keeps that code private, another PIN session would require their help. Always mode would create a decision point around each visit, but it would not enforce a cumulative daily gaming limit.

For a family routine, keep the agreement clear: “We're playing until dinner,” rather than assuming the app has imposed a daily allowance. For yourself, decide whether another session still fits the evening you wanted.

Where the different unlocks fit

The 30-minute example uses future Pro PIN Unlock. Its planned default is 30 minutes, with per-app choices of 30, 60, 90, 120 or 150 minutes. PIN entry supplies the friction; there is no additional countdown or daily quota.

Planned Free Quick Unlock would offer 10 minutes after a cancellable 20-second wait. Future Pro Quick Unlock would offer 5, 10 or 15 minutes after the same wait. Both would allow unlimited sessions. Always mode is also planned for Pro; Free is planned around one recurring daily schedule.

Zomok is not available to download or purchase yet. What you can use now is the routine: choose the time, prepare the stopping point and decide what comes next.