For quite some time, this was my routine. I'd wake up and grab my phone before I was even properly awake, scrolling Slack, YouTube, LinkedIn and X. Then I'd sit on the toilet scrolling through half-open eyes. My brain would scream to get rid of it, but somehow I couldn't. By the end, I felt groggy, my legs hurt, my eyes were burning, and I felt tired & like shit. I tried to avoid using my phone right after waking up, but there was always some reason to pick up the phone, and then the whole thing just kept on repeating. Then one morning I left my phone at home and went out for a walk and to buy some groceries (I still have a habit of carrying cash with me). It was the best I'd felt in quite some time. That's when I realised the phone had to stay out of my mornings. I couldn't find a blocker that kicks in the moment you wake up, so I built one.

It's called AM Buffer. You set your alarms in the app and pick which apps to block. When the alarm goes off, those apps stay locked for as long as you choose. One feature came from testing it on myself. I woke up a bit early one morning to check that the alarm worked, and before it even rang I'd drifted back into scrolling. A lot of people wake up a little before their alarm, so the premium paid version now starts blocking an hour before your first alarm too (along with some other features). These days my mornings feel a bit calmer. I spend that time with my wife, doing house stuff or just chilling.

It's on TestFlight now, iPhone only, iOS 26 and up. The first three mornings unlock everything for free, including the pre-alarm blocking.

I'm the developer, and I'd really like to know three things:

- Is this actually useful to you, or does willpower already do the job? - Would you pay for it, and what feels fair? - What should I build next?

Some of the features that I am already planning to build are: - A group feature for some social accountability angle. - Personal streaks & group streaks.