Support

Support

Paywall is built and answered by one person. Email founder@joinpaywall.com; replies usually come within a day. The answers below cover most of what comes in.

What Paywall does

You pick apps, put up a wall, and the apps stay blocked. Opening one for 15 minutes costs the price you set (from $1), or it is free after the wait you set (30 minutes to 24 hours). Waiting is always available and never depends on paying. Blocking works through Apple's Screen Time, so it needs a real iPhone on iOS 17 or later.

The wall

• I want the wall down. Open Paywall, tap TAKE THE WALL DOWN and keep the app open for 30 seconds. That pause is deliberate; leaving the app cancels it. Nothing about taking the wall down costs money or needs a subscription.
• A blocked app is still open after the 15 minutes. The block returns on its own within about a minute of the unlock ending, even if Paywall is closed. If an app stays open longer, opening Paywall once puts the wall back immediately. Tell us if that ever happens; it is a bug we want to hear about.
• I cannot change the price or the wait. The rules are locked while the wall is up. Take the wall down, change them, put it back up.
• The app asks for Screen Time permission again. Deleting the app, or turning the permission off in Settings → Screen Time, resets it. Grant it again and put the wall back up.
• Websites are blocked too. When you block a category, its websites are blocked in Safari as well, on purpose. Block individual apps if you want the websites left alone.
• The "time you will not get back" figures are empty. They come from Apple's Screen Time data and need the Screen Time permission and a few hours of use to appear.

Money

• Where is my money going? Each unlock is a one-time App Store purchase at the price you set. Apple charges your Apple Account and emails you the receipt. We keep the fee; that is the point of the product, and it is written up plainly on the honest page.
• I paid and the app did not open. Open Paywall once; a purchase that arrived while the app was closed is applied the moment the app sees it. If the app still shows the block, email us with the receipt time and we will sort it out, refund included.
• Refunds. Purchases are made through Apple, so refunds are requested from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. Fees you chose to pay are not refundable by design. A charge caused by a bug is refunded, no argument; write to us and we will help with the Apple request.
• The weekly cap stopped me from paying. That is the cap you set. Until the week rolls over, the free wait is the only way in. The cap can be changed while the wall is down.
• The price went up during the day. That is surge: each further paid unlock the same day costs the next step of the ladder, and it resets at midnight. Turn it off in the rules while the wall is down.

Pro and the free week

• The first week is free from the day you install, without a subscription, a card or a trial sign-up. After that, putting the wall up needs Pro: $29.99 a year or $4.99 a month. A wall that is already up never falls because a subscription ended.
• Cancel in iPhone Settings → your name → Subscriptions, like any Apple subscription. Cancelling stops future renewals and keeps the current period.
• Restore purchases. Pro is tied to your Apple Account. On a new phone, sign in with the same account and open Paywall; the subscription is recognised automatically.

Privacy

The app collects no data and has no account. What stays on the phone and how Apple handles payments is on the privacy page.

When you write

Include your iPhone model, the iOS version, and what you tapped before it went wrong. A screenshot of the app's settings screen helps; it shows the app version at the bottom. Never send a receipt with your card details on it; the time and the amount are enough.