The app is half of ANKOR
The dock gives your phone a place. The app is what makes the place mean something. Scan your ANKOR to start a session, the apps you chose go quiet, and you scan again when you want them back.
What the app does
A session starts with a scan.
Hold your phone to the dock and the session begins. Nothing to open and nothing to press.
The apps you chose go quiet.
Selected apps are blocked and notifications are muted, using Apple’s own Screen Time controls. Anything you left off the list keeps working.
Scan again when you want them back.
When you need your phone, hold it to the dock a second time and the session ends.
Every session is recorded.
When it started, when it ended, how long it ran. Plus streaks, history and totals.
You can see your friends’ sessions.
Optional, built on iCloud with Sign in with Apple. If someone you know is anchored right now, you can see it.
What it looks like
Four screens from the current build.
A session, running. Started by putting the phone down.
You choose what goes quiet. Everything else keeps working.
Every session recorded. What you did, not what you should have done.
The running timer sits on the lock screen, so you never pick the phone up to check.
What you need
An ANKOR dock.
A physical object, sold separately. The app is the companion to the hardware.
An iPhone or iPad.
iOS 17.0 or later. iOS only for now, there is no Android version.
The ANKOR app.
Free, 2.8 MB, and required. ANKOR does not work without it.
The Shortcuts app.
Apple’s own, already on your phone. One automation, set up once.
It collects nothing
The App Store privacy card lists Data Not Collected for the whole app. You do not have to take our word for it, it is on the listing and you can check it in two taps. There is no account to create, no subscription and no in-app purchase.
Setting it up
It takes a few minutes, once. The app walks you through it in six steps.
ANKOR uses a Shortcuts automation to notice the dock. That is deliberate. The chip is written so that iOS shows no banner when you hold your phone to it, which means there is no notification to tap and nothing between putting the phone down and it going quiet. The trade is that the automation has to be created once, by you.
Questions
Does ANKOR work without the app?
No. The dock starts a session and the app is what runs it. They are two halves of one product.
Is there an Android version?
Not at the moment. The app is iOS only for now.
Does it need Wi-Fi?
No. A session starts over NFC, directly between the dock and the phone. Your phone still needs its own signal for whatever you use during the day, but the dock connects to nothing.
Can I still be reached during a session?
Yes. You choose what a session covers, so calls and anything you leave off the list keep working.
Does the app cost anything?
No. It is free, there is no subscription and there are no in-app purchases.
The dock is the part you see.
The app is the part that makes it work. One object on the wall, one app on the phone, and a place that does not need you to remember it.
If something does not work, write to us.
Not every question is answered on this site. A person reads every message.