Everything, except what you chose
Pick the apps and sites that stay open during a session. Everything else stays blocked until it ends, with no timer to argue with and no “one more minute”.
A blocker for iPhone
Getting back in should take more than a tap.
Start a session and the apps you chose stay blocked until it ends. How it ends is up to you, from a tap in the app to a key you have to get up and find. You choose how hard to make it on yourself.
Tavla Block
[ SESSION LIVE ]
00:24:38
deep work — since 09:12.
Public beta Free. iPhone only.
Join the beta on TestFlightIt opens in Apple’s TestFlight app, which installs the beta and keeps it updated. It is an early build, and what you tell us shapes what comes next. Privacy
A session, not a setting.
You decide once, at the start, and after that the phone stops being a negotiation.
A key you have to reach for
Your session has a key. Today that key is a code you scan or an NFC tag you tap; leave it in another room and the walk back gives you a moment to reconsider. Not ready for that yet? Keep it simple and end sessions from the app instead.
Breaks that don’t end it
Step out for a set number of minutes and the session waits for you. Take the break in one go or split it up, and once the time is used, it’s used.
Hours you can spend
Every hour blocked earns an hour back. Put a price on the things you actually want, and take them when your balance covers it.
A Pomodoro timer, built in
Work for 25 minutes, rest for 5, and take a longer break after 4 rounds. Your apps stay blocked the whole time, because the break is from the work, not from the block.
What it added up to
Hours held, sessions kept, goals met, all quietly recorded so the month and the year can show you something true.
Hard to get out of.
Never a trap.
A blocker that can’t be escaped is a phone you can’t use in an emergency. Tavla Block always keeps a way out and counts it, so leaving early stays a deliberate choice you can see, rather than an impossible one or a free one. And Tavla is not against screens. It is against the feed, the scroll, and the hour you didn’t mean to spend.
Roadmap
Where this is going
The beta is the start. Here is what comes next, in roughly the order we expect to get there.
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Now
Public beta
Open on TestFlight. At this stage we’re looking for feedback while we keep working on what we believe makes it better.
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Next
App Store launch
Our first official release, free for everyone, no sign-in required. It ends a session the way Tavla does: with a moment of writing.
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In progress
Português
The app already speaks Portuguese, though not everywhere yet: a few screens are still catching up while we finish the rest. There is a team of Brazilians behind Tavla, after all.
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Later
More Tavla
More apps under the Tavla name, growing into a set of tools for focus and a calmer everyday. Tavla Plus will bring an accountability partner who can hold your sessions with you, and it is being thought out across devices, iPad included.
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Later still
Android
Only once everything has been proven with iPhone users first.