Unlock Screen Time. Earn It Back.
BrainUnlock helps families replace endless scrolling with real achievement. Kids complete brain challenges to earn screen time — parents stay in control. The games are free forever. Try Pro free for 14 days to unlock the full parent control layer.
The Screen Time Crisis Is Real
Today's kids are growing up in a world engineered to hijack their attention. Endless feeds, autoplay, and dopamine loops are quietly eroding the cognitive skills they need most — focus, memory, problem-solving, and the ability to delay gratification and push through frustration without giving up.
Average daily screen time for kids ages 8–121
Drop in sustained attention spans over the past decade2
Predictor of long-term success: the ability to delay gratification3
BrainUnlock flips the script.
Instead of just limiting screen time, we make kids earn it — by completing brain challenges that build the exact skills screens destroy. Every session is practice in delayed gratification and frustration tolerance. No more battles. No more guilt. Just a smarter way to raise resilient kids in a screen-saturated world.
- 1Common Sense Media, The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens. 2021.
- 2Uncapher, M.R. & Wagner, A.D., Minds and brains of media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018.
- 3Mischel, W. et al., Delay of gratification as a predictor of life outcomes. Psychological Science, 1988.
How It Works
Three simple steps that change the entire dynamic in your home.
Parent Sets the Rules
Open the parent dashboard and set which apps require earning, how many challenges to complete, and the time windows that apply.
Kid Completes Brain Challenges
Your child completes 5 age-appropriate brain challenges — math, memory, logic, reaction time, and more. Each ~10-minute session hits the research-backed sweet spot for cognitive growth. Games adapt automatically to your child's performance level so they're always challenged, never stuck.
Screen Time Is Earned
Once the challenges are done, the device unlocks for the session. Everyone wins — kids get their time, parents get their peace of mind.
What Your Child Actually Builds
Delayed Gratification
The #1 predictor of long-term success — practiced every single day.
Frustration Tolerance
Learning to push through hard things instead of giving up.
Cognitive Fitness
Memory, focus, logic, and pattern recognition that screens erode — with games that adapt to your child's level.
Real Achievement
A sense of earned reward — not just passive consumption.
Spaced Learning
Optional cooldown between sessions gives the brain time to consolidate what was just learned, just like sleep does for memory.
Families love BrainUnlock
Real parents. Real results. No more screen time battles.
“We used to fight over the iPad every single morning. Within a week of BrainUnlock, my 9-year-old was waking up early to do his brain session before I even asked. The games are genuinely fun — he doesn't see it as a chore.”
Sarah M.
Mom of 3, Texas
“The Face ID for the parent dashboard is a small thing but I love it. The app blocking actually works — my daughter can't just delete it. And the skills breakdown showing her progress by subject is surprisingly motivating for her.”
David K.
Dad of 2, California
“I was skeptical that any app could stop my kids from just handing each other phones, but the per-child profiles solved that. The 14-day trial let me test everything before committing. We've been Pro subscribers since day 3.”
Rachel T.
Mom of twins, New York
Simple, honest pricing
The brain games are free — always. Try Pro free for 14 days when you're ready for the full parent control layer.
Free
$0
Forever free — no card required
- ✓All 9 brain training games
- ✓Progressive AI difficulty — adapts to each child's performance
- ✓Basic progress stats
- ✓1 child device
BrainUnlock Pro
Parent controls add-on — games always free
$2.99
/ month
No charge for 14 days — cancel anytime
- ✓Everything in Free
- ✓OS-level app blocking (Apple Family Controls)
- ✓Session duration & daily screen time caps
- ✓Session cooldown timer — configurable rest between sessions
- ✓Daily lock schedules (e.g. 7am–10pm)
- ✓Always-allowed apps picker
- ✓Difficulty cap per child
- ✓Unlock / Lock commands from parent's phone
- ✓Face ID / Touch ID for parent access
- ✓Session history & weekly progress charts
- ✓Skills breakdown by subject
- ✓Multiple child profiles
- ✓Push notifications when your child earns time
Free for 14 days, then $2.99/mo. Manage or cancel anytime in iOS Settings.
Questions parents ask
Everything you need to know before handing it to your kid.
Real blocking — not the honor system. BrainUnlock Pro uses Apple's Family Controls framework (the same technology behind Screen Time) to lock apps at the OS level. Your child can't access blocked apps until BrainUnlock grants permission, and they can't delete the app without your parent PIN.
The games work best for kids aged 6–14. Younger kids (6–8) do well on Memory Match, Focus Challenge, and Sequence Memory. Older kids (9–14) tend to enjoy Math Sprint, Logic Puzzles, and Pattern Recognition. The adaptive difficulty system adjusts automatically, so every age gets an appropriate challenge.
All 9 brain training games are free — forever, no trial. The Pro subscription ($2.99/mo) adds the full parent control layer: OS-level app blocking, session duration settings, daily lock schedules, remote unlock/lock from your phone, Face ID for parent access, session history, skills progress charts, and multiple child profiles.
BrainUnlock locks apps on the specific device it's installed on. If your child has multiple devices, you install BrainUnlock on each one and link them all to your parent account. Web browsers can be added to the blocked app list, so kids can't just open Safari to get around it.
When the earned session ends, the device locks automatically — no manual step required. A notification warns your child 5 minutes before time's up. If you've set a session cooldown, they'll see a countdown showing when they can start their next brain session.
Not yet — BrainUnlock is currently iOS only. An Android version is on the roadmap. Join our Discord community to stay updated and vote on what we build next.
Built for Real Families
Clean, intuitive, and designed to be handed to a child without a tutorial.
Ready to take back control?
Join families already using BrainUnlock to turn screen time into something worth earning. Free to download. Pro features include a 14-day free trial — no credit card required to start.
Download Free on the App StoreiOS 15.0 or later required