Support

Screen Time permission

Latch is built on Apple's Screen Time framework, and iOS will not let any app shield another app without your explicit permission. Latch asks for it once, during onboarding. If you decline, nothing in the app can block anything.

To grant it after declining: open Latch and tap Ask me again on the recovery screen. If that screen doesn't appear, go to iOS Settings → Screen Time → App & Website Activity and make sure it is on, then reopen Latch.

If Latch is missing from Screen Time settings entirely, delete and reinstall the app. Your session history lives in the app's container and will not survive a reinstall, but your subscription will restore.

Screen Time permission can be revoked at any time in iOS Settings. Latch degrades to a permission screen rather than failing quietly.

Shields aren't appearing

Work down this list in order. The first three cover almost every report.

1. Check that a latch is actually running. The dial on the Home tab shows a countdown while a latch is active. If it's idle, nothing is shielded.
2. Check that the app you opened is in your selection. Go to the Groups tab and confirm the app is in the group you latched. Picking a category does not always cover every app you'd expect it to; iOS decides category membership, not Latch.
3. Confirm Screen Time permission is still granted (see above). Revoking it disables shielding with no warning.
4. Restart your iPhone. iOS's Screen Time daemon occasionally stops applying shields until the device is restarted. This is an iOS-level issue and a restart clears it.
5. Check Screen Time isn't managed by someone else. If your device is under Family Sharing parental controls or an employer's MDM profile, those can take precedence over Latch.

A schedule didn't fire

Schedules register with iOS one activity per weekday, against a system budget of roughly 20. If a schedule fails to arm, Latch stores it disabled and shows a Didn't arm · tap to retry row on the card rather than pretending it worked.

If you see that row, you're likely at the system limit. Delete or disable a schedule you no longer use and tap retry. Reducing the number of weekdays on an existing rule frees budget too.

If a schedule looks armed but nothing happened, open the Schedules tab once. Latch checks its registrations against iOS every time that tab appears and re-arms anything that drifted.

Getting out of a Golden Latch

A Golden Latch is designed to have no exit. That is the entire feature, and it is working correctly when you can't stop it.

There is one deliberate way out: Settings → Golden Latch → press and hold the lockpick for 30 seconds. That spends one ticket and clears every no-bypass latch running at that moment, including any active golden schedule window, which is also disabled and demoted to an ordinary schedule so you have to turn it back on deliberately.

Tickets are limited on purpose. Deleting and reinstalling Latch does not give you more.

The Focus tab is empty or blank

The Focus tab draws real per-app numbers from Apple's Screen Time, inside a sandboxed system component. Two things cause an empty tab:

• There's no data for that day yet. Screen Time reports usage with a delay, and a brand-new install has no history to show.
• The report came up blank on first open. Tap a different day in the week strip and then tap back. This is an iOS-side quirk in how those reports load.

Latch cannot fix or verify those numbers. They come from Apple, and Latch only draws them.

Widgets and the Lock Screen

If a widget shows stale numbers, open Latch once. Widgets refresh on iOS's own schedule and opening the app forces an update.

A Live Activity only starts if Latch is open when the latch begins. If you start one from a widget, from Siri, or from the Action Button while Latch is fully closed, the Live Activity appears the next time you open the app. That's an ActivityKit restriction, not a bug in Latch.

Subscriptions, billing, and refunds

All purchases are handled by Apple. Latch never sees your payment details and has no ability to charge, refund, or cancel anything on your behalf.

• Manage or cancel: iOS Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Latch Pro. Cancelling stops the next renewal; you keep Pro until the current period ends.
• Free trial: the yearly plan starts with 7 days free. Cancel at least 24 hours before it ends and you won't be charged.
• Refunds: request one from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple decides refunds, not Latch.
• Restore a purchase on a new device or after a reinstall: Latch → Settings → Restore Purchases. Use the same Apple Account you bought with.
• Lifetime is a single payment and never renews. There is nothing to cancel.

If Restore Purchases finds nothing and you're certain you bought Pro, check that you're signed into the same Apple Account, then email me with the date of purchase.

Deleting your data

Delete the app. Everything Latch stores lives on your device, so removing the app removes all of it: sessions, stats, streaks, schedules, and settings. There is no server holding a copy, because there is no server. See the Privacy Policy for the full picture.

One exception: a small counter tracking free Golden Latch trials lives in your device Keychain and survives a reinstall by design.

Requirements

iPhone running iOS 18 or later. Latch does not currently support iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch.

Reporting a bug or asking for a feature

Email keatnkeat3752@gmail.com. For a bug, the most useful things you can include are your iPhone model, your iOS version, the Latch version from Settings, and what you did right before it went wrong.