Help with Tollie

Tollie is a strict app blocker for iPhone. It closes the apps you pick, and the key to open them is a spot in your home or a walk. Most questions are answered below. For anything else, write to hello@magentic.nl.

Blocks and keys

A booth closed and I want ten minutes

Pay the toll: walk to the spot you scanned during setup and scan it again, or walk the number of steps shown on the shield. You get a 10-minute pass. Passes don't stack. On the Strict level, the next pass in the same block costs more.

The scan doesn't recognise my spot

Stand where you stood during setup, at the same distance, with the lights on. Blank walls and very dark rooms don't scan well. If the spot has changed (you moved the furniture), re-scan the key from the booth page. Re-scanning counts as making the rule easier, so it applies after 24 hours; until then the walk key works.

Steps aren't counting

Tollie counts steps with the phone's motion sensors, so the phone has to be on you and you have to actually walk. Shaking it doesn't count. Check that Motion & Fitness is allowed for Tollie under Settings, Privacy & Security.

I want to make a rule easier

Any change that loosens a rule (fewer apps, a shorter window, more free minutes, fewer steps, an easier strictness level, deleting a booth) waits 24 hours and applies when the booth is open. Making a rule stricter applies at once. This is on purpose.

A block didn't start

Open Tollie once and check the booth shows its next closing time. If Screen Time access was switched off under Settings, Tollie will ask for it again. Low power mode does not stop blocks.

Break Glass and the witness

How Break Glass works

One tap opens every booth for 30 minutes, then everything re-arms as it would have been. Once per rolling seven days; the rest of the week the button is simply not there. On the Strict level it is one Break Glass, ever.

Who the witness is and what they see

One person you name. When you break the glass, make a rule easier, or switch Tollie off under Settings, they get a short note within a minute. The note says that a rule was eased and when it applies, not which one. They never see your apps, your rules or your usage. A witness who installed Tollie gets a push; anyone else gets a text you send from Messages. "Nobody" is a valid choice.

Purchases

Restoring Tollie Forever on a new phone

Sign in to the same Apple ID, open Tollie, go to Settings and tap Restore Purchases. No Tollie account exists, so there is nothing else to sign in to. Your booths and keys come back through your own iCloud; apps are re-picked once, because Apple ties them to the device.

Family Sharing

Tollie Forever can be shared with your Family Sharing group. The yearly and monthly plans can't.

Cancelling Tollie Plus

Subscriptions are managed by Apple: Settings, your name, Subscriptions. Cancelling keeps Plus until the end of the paid period.

Refunds

Apple handles refunds for App Store purchases at reportaproblem.apple.com. If something in Tollie went wrong, tell us as well, so we can fix it.

Privacy and the app

What Tollie keeps

Nothing on our side. No account, no server, no analytics. Rules and keys sync through your own iCloud. The photo key is a 3D feature map of a scene plus one photo so you can see which spot it is, both kept on your phone. Full details in the privacy policy.

Deleting Tollie

While a block you scheduled is running, iOS won't let the app be removed; wait for the booth to open or use Break Glass. Deleting Tollie also removes the Screen Time shields it set.

Requirements

iPhone with iOS 17 or later. Tollie is not available for iPad, Mac or Android.

Contact

Email hello@magentic.nl. Tollie is made by Magentic B.V. in the Netherlands. We answer within two working days, usually sooner.