Phone/tablet blocking with Offtime

Hi again

Part two of my massively long public service "blocking software" announcements. 🙂 This time for phones and tablets. (At least Android ones anyway. You Mac folk probably have something similar but I can't guarantee it's the same.)

This time I'm using Offtime. Another productivity app. It's free for the basic version. To use an automated schedule I DID have to pay, but it's a "what's it worth to you" honesty system and they suggest anything down to as little as 1 Euro.

The idea is I want to block internet access on my tablet and phone during the day, but leave all other functions of the phone (calls, messages, apps) intact. This can be done. Again, there's no password. It's pretty quick, even though this long message probably makes it seem complicated!

Download the Offtime app onto your device. Create a basic profile. I don't think I had to register it anywhere. You have to fiddle about giving it various permissions but it should lead you through it, and their website answers most FAQs. Give it Device Administrator permissions so that it can't easily be uninstalled.

Select which apps you want to ALLOW during the blocking period. The quickest way is to click "search" which will bring up all apps, then choose "Select all" from the top right hand corner, and make sure they're all ticked green - this means they WILL be allowed to run. Now do Search again for any browsers you have on the phone/tablet. I have one just called "Internet" and also Chrome. Deselecting them will bring up a "no entry" sign next to it. This means it will be BLOCKED during a blocking period. Do this for any app you have that allows web access. Finally also do it for the Play Store or whichever app you have that allows you to download other apps. Otherwise during a blocking period you will just download a new browser and gamble. 🙂

Finally go to your profile settings and set it so that you have to "wait" until the end of a period of blocking and you can't just press and hold to interrupt it. (Otherwise you can stop the blocking in 1 minute, it's designed just to stop people compulsively checking their phones, I think.)

Now you can test it by choosing a few minutes on the slider (you'll see what I mean) and pressing "Start". Give it a go. It shouldn't let you access any of your web apps or stop it manually. If it's not working right, adjust to taste. Their website is helpful.

Now you have a blocker you can use in an emergency if you're feeling the urge but don't want to slip. Block it for an hour and go and do something else.

But maybe you want to plan ahead. If you pay for Pro you can set up a schedule (remember you can get it as cheap as 1 Euro, and you still don't need to register or anything - you can pay with PayPal or through your phone bill and it's available straight away). I have set two schedules: one for weekdays and one for weekends. It starts blocking about 9am and stops about 6pm. My danger times. I like to browse on my tablet a bit longer in the morning at the weekend, but I know I'm safe from gambling as I'm with other people then.

Personally my gambling patterns are daytime only so this is when I've got my internet block set up for. If I need to access the internet during the day I am sitting at my laptop anyway - which has plenty of gambling blocks in place. And do I really need to access the internet when I'm out and about on my phone? Actually no. I have apps for things like train times and maps and email and weather and banking and anything else I might want to use. I don't need the standard web browser. I don't want to just randomly surf around when I'm out in the real world anyway. 🙂 And although I am blocking the Play Store so I can't download any other apps while I'm blocked, if I come across a new app I want then I just wait until the evening and download it while my phone/tablet's not blocked.

So if your gambling patterns are different (e.g. you do it in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed, and you're "safe" at all other times because you're with other people), just set up the schedule for your unsafe times and allow yourself full access during safe times. That way you can still enjoy all the benefits of your phone/tablet but just protect yourself from risky periods. Making my phone/tablet available for gambling would mean I would have to plan to do so in advance rather than being able to do it spontaneously and I find this highly effective.

As before, a final plea - if you happen to know ways around this, PLEASE don't say anything on this thread - not even "it's too easy to get around". Just keep it to yourself and allow me my effective block. Thanks. I hope this will all be helpful to other addicted online gamblers.

Best wishes to everyone

FF