TOLL · EARLY ACCESS
Willpower is not a plan. Toll makes screen time cost something real: your body.
Get early accessSource: Chen et al. — 62% of people who tried to limit their phone use did not manage it.
TikTok, Reels, Shorts — locked behind a shield. Not by willpower. By the system.
20 squats. 10 push-ups. A washed sink. 10 pages of a book. Filmed live — your phone counts the reps on-device.
Minutes land instantly. They burn at 4 AM — you can't stockpile. And every next purchase today costs more.
The twist
You don't set the price. A friend does.
You price their vices, they price yours. AI checks every proof instantly — your friend audits the suspicious ones and a random sample. Like a tax office.
AI can be fooled. A friend can't.
Friction works — willpower doesn't. A one-second pause before opening an app cut opens by 57%.
one sec · PNAS 2023People already pay with their bodies. Downloads for an alarm clock that makes you do squats to turn it off.
Alarmy · 2026Built-in limits do almost nothing. The measured effect of screen-time limits. Statistically, close to zero.
Parry et al. · n=1849Step 1 of 3 · The list
A list is a list. It gets you a line in the ledger and one email when Toll opens. Nothing else here opens for an address.
No spam. One email when Toll opens. Delete anytime.
Step 2 of 3 · The toll
The app does not exist yet. The prototype does — seven screens, running in this browser. Money does not open it; there is no money in this product. An email does not open it. A toll does.
Prop the phone against something. Step back until your knees are in frame. Then squat.
The gate is open. Seven screens — the shield, the till, the proof, the receipt, and the two your keeper will see.
Enter the prototypeStep 3 of 3 · The keeper
Your keeper installs nothing. No shield on their phone, no camera, not one permission.
Three buttons, about two minutes a day.
They set what a minute costs you — half rate to triple — and they stamp your proofs, or they
halve them. They never see which apps you shut; they price the label you wrote yourself.
The system says no. Never them.
The beta is booked in pairs, and pairs are called first. One keeper. Not a list, not a chain.
We never store your friend's email. The invite is sent by you, from your device.
TOLL · RECEIPT
Screenshot this. It's your ticket.
Open the prototype