A screen time app with custom messages instead of a generic block screen
How to make a block screen you'll actually listen to: your own words, six tones, lines written per app. timre for Android does this by default.
Published 21 September 2026 · by the maker of timre
The block screen is the whole product. Everything else — timers, charts, streaks — exists to get you to that one screen at the one moment it matters. So what it says decides whether the app works.
Three kinds of block screen
- System text. "You've reached your daily limit for Instagram." Accurate, forgettable, dismissed in one motion. This is what most timers show.
- Motivational quotes. Better for a few days; then you've seen them all and they become wallpaper.
- Your own words, varied. The goal you typed. The reason behind it. A line that speaks about this app at this time of day. That's the category timre is in.
How timre's messages work
- Your goal is on every wall. Not "stay focused" — the thing you actually wrote: "Finish the thesis by December."
- A library per app. What Instagram does to a morning is not what X does to a lunch break. Each app starts with lines written for it, in each tone.
- Six tones: Gentle, Motivational, Direct, Brutal, Funny, Personal. Pick one; every wall speaks that way.
- Write your own. One line only you would say. Heart the ones that land, mute the ones that don't.
- Fresh batches. Optionally, AI drafts a batch of lines in your tone about your goal, naming the app. A line you've already seen is never repeated. Free gets one shared batch a month; Pro gets a fresh batch per app.
- Routines speak about the time: a Morning wall says something about mornings.
Setting it up
Install timre, type your goal and why, pick a tone under Plan → Your voice, and preview the wall before it ever appears for real. Add your own lines under Lines per app.
Alternatives
Several Android blockers let you edit the block-screen text (one fixed message). If you want one sentence you never change, that's enough. If you want the wall to keep surprising you in your own voice, that is the difference timre is built on.
Questions people ask
Can I write my own block screen message?
Yes — per app, as many lines as you like. Lines you heart appear more often; muted lines never appear.
Do the AI-generated lines use my usage data?
No. The AI receives your goal, your why, your tone and the app's name — never which apps you opened or for how long.
Can I turn off AI entirely?
Yes. The bundled library and your own lines work without it, offline.
timre is a free Android app that limits your time in apps you choose and, when you reach the limit, shows a full-screen reminder written in your own words — your goal, your reason, and optionally a photo of who it's for.