Blocky
Blog ·
Ways to block TikTok until you drink your water
Reminder apps, Screen Time, apps that want a photo of the glass, and a block you clear with a tap. No sensor knows you drank water, so here's what each way rests on.
Water is the hardest habit to prove. No phone and no watch can tell you drank a glass. So every app that keeps TikTok shut until you drink water rests on you in the end. The real differences are how easy the logging is, and whether anything happens when it isn't done.
| The way | How it knows you drank | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|
| A reminder app | It doesn't. It asks. | A reminder can be swiped away without a sip. |
| Screen Time | It doesn't. It limits time in the app. | It ends on the clock, and Ignore Limit is one tap. |
| An app that wants a photo of the glass | The camera sees a glass. | A glass in a photo isn't a sip, and every glass is a photo to take. |
| A block you clear by logging a glass | You tell it, in a tap. | It's on your word. |
Reminders
Water reminder apps are the usual answer, and they fail the usual way. The ping comes while you're busy, it's dismissed without a sip, and by the fourth day it's invisible. A reminder asks at the moment that suits the app, not the one where it would work.
Screen Time
Screen Time limits how long TikTok is open. It knows nothing about water, so it can't wait for any.
A photo of the glass
Some apps want a picture of your drink before TikTok opens. It feels like proof, but a photo of a full glass proves a full glass. And taking a photo eight times a day is enough friction that the habit becomes about the photo.
A tap, and a block in front of the feed
Thirsty?
Blocky doesn't pretend to see the water either. Water is the one habit in Blocky you log by hand. What Blocky changes is where the ask lands. TikTok stays blocked until the day's water is logged, so the question arrives at the one moment it can't be ignored: when you reach for the feed. Nothing to dismiss, and no alarm to mute.
And the log is wherever your thumb already is: a tap in Blocky, a tap on a Lock Screen or Home Screen widget, or "Log a glass in Blocky" to Siri with the phone locked. A milestone can unblock some apps on the way, Messages at 16 oz and the rest at 64. A glass logged with no signal still unblocks the apps. More on the water page.
Which one fits
- A nudge, and nothing more: a reminder app.
- Proof you'll accept from a camera: an app that wants a photo.
- Water before the feed, logged in a tap: a block you clear by logging a glass.
Try Blocky free for seven days
iPhone, iOS 26.5 or later.
The Blocky team