Digital wellbeing

Your relationship with your phone, at ease.

Munen uses friction that adapts to you to help you use your phone less — no shame, no rigid blocks. Just mindful pauses when they matter most.

Download Munen How it works

Free to start · iPhone · No ads

Not another blocker. An ally that reads your day.

Rigid blocks breed resistance and get switched off. Munen is different: it measures your real digital rhythm and adjusts the friction — sometimes a few seconds' pause, sometimes just a reminder. The choice is always yours; we only make it conscious.

Why it's so hard

It's not a lack of willpower

These apps are engineered by thousands of people to hold your attention. The fight was never fair.

01

"Just one minute"

You open it to check one thing and — before you notice — an hour's gone. Again.

02

The guilt that follows

You end up worse than you started — tired, scattered, with that sense of having wasted your time.

03

Blockers don't stick

Rigid walls breed resistance. You switch them off by day three and you're right back where you were.

Your state, not a grade

From Pause to Flow

Munen mirrors how your day is going as a qualitative zone — a kind reflection, never a grade that judges you.

  • PauseYou're running hot — time to slow down.
  • CautionA little more friction than usual.
  • AttentionYour rhythm is steady.
  • BalanceYou're handling your usage well.
  • FlowAt your best.
Munen zones screen showing the five zones, from Pause to Flow
A glimpse

Calm you feel the moment you open it

Munen home screen with the breathing orb and the zone of the day
Your home. An orb that breathes your day and a qualitative zone — no grades that judge.
Munen friction shield showing a short pause before opening an app
Friction that adapts. Before you open a distraction, a short pause with your own why. The choice is yours.
Munen progress screen showing the time reclaimed this week
Your life, reclaimed. See the time you win back and your week take shape — no rush.
Munen journal with a reflection and the AI coach response
Journal + AI. Reflect and let AI give you a warm perspective on what you're feeling.
What Munen does

Calm tools, not punishments

Adaptive shields

Friction adjusts to your state of the day. A hard day gets a different pause than a good one.

Focus mode

Concentration blocks for what truly matters, scheduled or on demand.

Your life, reclaimed

See the time you win back and your weekly progress — small wins that add up.

Journal + AI Coach

Understand yourself instead of escaping. Reflect and get AI companionship.

Premium
Why Munen

Built to be on your side

What's yours stays yours

Your journal, your reflections and your metrics are stored on your phone. Only when you turn on an AI feature is the text needed to generate that response sent out. We spell it out, no fine print, in the privacy policy.

No lectures, no guilt

Guilt never changed a habit. Every screen is meant to walk with you, not scold you.

No black boxes

Your zone comes from clear signals of your use — screen time, nighttime use, app opens — computed on your phone. You can always see why.

What we build on

The research behind the friction

Munen didn't invent these ideas — it borrowed them from published, peer-reviewed research. These studies are about the problem and the mechanism, not about Munen; we don't promise you their results.

  1. Limiting social media to 10 minutes per platform per day for three weeks reduced loneliness and depression in 143 undergraduates.

    Hunt, Marx, Lipson & Young (2018). No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(10), 751–768.

  2. Subtle interaction friction cut usage time 15.6% more than a timed lockout, with a 25.3% higher user acceptance rate.

    InteractOut: Leveraging Interaction Proxies as Input Manipulation Strategies for Reducing Smartphone Overuse. CHI 2024.

  3. Across 184 datasets, autonomous motivation — deciding for yourself — is associated with better health outcomes than external pressure. That's why Munen pauses instead of forbidding.

    Ng, Ntoumanis, Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Deci, Ryan, Duda & Williams (2012). Self-Determination Theory Applied to Health Contexts: A Meta-Analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(4), 325–340.

Who's behind it

An app built by one person, not a committee

Munen is built by Guillermo Escobar, an independent developer in Jalisco, Mexico. It started as a personal problem: blocking apps only lasted me three days. There are no investors demanding more screen time, no ads, and no data for sale. If something doesn't add up, email me at support@munen.app — you'll reach me.

FAQ

What people ask before downloading

What is Munen?

Munen is a digital wellbeing app for iPhone that helps you use your phone less through adaptive friction: short pauses before you open the apps that distract you — longer on days you're running hot, almost absent on days you're doing well.

Is Munen just another app blocker?

No. A blocker keeps you out, which is why you end up switching it off. Munen never decides for you: it adds a mindful pause, reminds you of your own reason, and lets you continue. The final choice is always yours.

How much does Munen cost?

Munen is free to start: adaptive shields, focus mode and your progress cost nothing. Premium is 4.99 USD per month or 39.99 USD per year (save 33%), with a 14-day trial, and adds the AI Coach, SOS, AI analysis, weekly summaries and unlimited history — the free plan keeps your last two weeks.

Which devices does it work on?

iPhone only, on iOS 17.2 or later. Munen uses Apple's Screen Time APIs, which have no equivalent on Android, so there is no Android version today.

What happens to my journal and my data?

Your usage metrics, reflections and progress are stored on your phone. When you turn on an AI feature, the text needed to generate that response is sent to an AI provider; the rest never leaves the device. It's spelled out in the privacy policy.

How does Munen decide how much friction to apply?

With a transparent calculation on your phone from clear signals: screen time, nighttime use, app opens and long sessions. That calculation places you in one of five zones — from Pause to Flow — and each zone sets how long the pause lasts. No opaque models, no data in the cloud.

Start using your phone with intention

The friction is free. Always. Premium adds the AI Coach, SOS, AI analysis, weekly summaries and unlimited history (free keeps two weeks). 4.99 USD a month, or 39.99 a year and save 33%. 14-day trial, no ads, no guilt.

Download Munen

* Prices shown in USD and may vary by App Store region.