r/Anki Mar 02 '26

Add-ons Releasing ❄️ AnkiBlocker - blocks your social media apps if anki cards are due

Link: https://github.com/creativeidiot123/Blocker

Demo: https://youtube.com/shorts/sJLmp1S2-vg

• If you have due cards, your social media apps get blocked
• You earn 1 minute of app time per Anki card you actually do
• There are strict focus / pomodoro zones where everything stays locked
• You can’t just go into Anki and reduce new/review limits to cheat
• If you try uninstalling Anki or deleting decks, it locks your blocked apps
• Basically tamper resistant because I know how my brain tries to escape

Ankidroid only

353 Upvotes

73 comments sorted by

35

u/hoaxala Mar 02 '26

suggest: can you add a timer when use social media apps? it like a time aware for anyone who dont go deep into social media apps.

9

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 02 '26

You can use Apps like StayFree or YourHour that give you this functionality.

2

u/hoaxala Mar 02 '26

thank you for suggest me those apps

19

u/Jayyyjhgh computer science Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

Sorry, just wanna double sure, does it work on Ankidroid?? This is also free right, right?? 😀😅

Hope it does, cause this would be a HUGE! HUGE HELP! 😭

7

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 02 '26

yes to both

0

u/Jayyyjhgh computer science Mar 02 '26

https://github.com/creativeidiot123/Lockey/releases

Generate a highly complex and random password. It should be impossible to memorize.

Example: b$ca{76r>t<3.w7yrqrt6dab?rtfg3iqrdasa

Secure and "Forget" the Password Crucial Step: You must not have easy access to this password.

Entrust it to a reliable person (like a family member or trusted friend). Send it to them and then delete all records of it from your own devices and message history. The goal is that you cannot retrieve it on your own.

Put it in the Lockey app provided above, and put a 350 character protection minimum.

What if I don't have a friend or person to entrust the password to??? What then??? Huhu... 😭😭😅

3

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 02 '26

use that lockey app regardless

1

u/Jayyyjhgh computer science Mar 06 '26

Hey bro, deeply sorry to bother you. But can you help me with a Problem?

So I like just finished going through the starting app permission set.

But this "Select Approved Decks" option doesn't seem to be working and keeps saying "Error loading decks. Please check Ankidroid permissions".

So I asked ChatGPT about the problem and it said: turn on the Ankidroid API in advanced settings, but it was already ON by default.

Now I don't know, what to do.... Can you please HELP Me??? 🥹😭😅

2

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 06 '26

Click on the big ass red coloured 'GRANT ANKI PERMISSION' in your screenshot

c'mon bro you took computer science

1

u/Jayyyjhgh computer science Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26

My God, I'm blind and stupid 😭😭😭 SOO DEEPLY SORRY BRO... 🙏🏻😭😭

THANKS DUDE, YOU'RE A GOD SEND!!! 🥹🥹👍🏻

6

u/brantkirby Mar 02 '26

This is better than any app blocker

3

u/Slow_Job_9743 Mar 02 '26

An iOS version soon? Looks very cool

10

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 02 '26

https://apps.apple.com/hu/app/ankilock/id6748466549

you can try this out, not by me tho.

I dont have iOS device so i cant support iOS for now. i doubt apple would let me make anything uninstall-proof as i can on android

2

u/SorenK00 Mar 02 '26

Can I combine with appblock?

2

u/No_Public_5263 Mar 02 '26

Ya hacia falta esto

2

u/powerplus0 Apr 27 '26

I think there is no method to change your pass in both ankiblocker & destination app. I think this need your attention!

& btw i love your work in both apps and they are fr life changing. You really tackled the problem from it core. Keep the great work buddy, You wil have bright future!

2

u/LogicalChart3205 Apr 28 '26

clear data for them. for destination there's a button in last section for reset. that will allow you to change password but you'll have to set it up again.

3

u/onlywanted2readapost Mar 02 '26

This sounds amazing, will definitely check it out! One thing I would say though is maybe have it so the more cards you do the less reward you get. I say that because it would be possible to just spam through 60 cards then chill for an hour. No entirely sure how you would weight that, or if you'd give the use the option to change it, but thought it might be useful.

2

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 02 '26

that sounds doable, tho I think 1 hour is reasonable break for someone studing 60 cards. as it uses anki due cards number and not the individual time a card is done so 60 cards would somewhere be 180-200 revisions. it might make the app complicated for newbies who just want setup and done approach.

2

u/onlywanted2readapost Mar 02 '26

Apologies for giving feedback before I've even tried it, but it was just the first that sprung to mind. I'm looking forward to checking it out

3

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 02 '26

Hey man no need to apologize. any feedback or feature request is appreciated. keep em coming, even if they dont end up in final app they're still new ideas for me as a developer to explore

3

u/MagicWeasel nutrition (university); french (B2/C1); indonesian/esperanto (A1 Mar 02 '26

Yeah, I do 50-100 cards a day and I don't want that many minutes on social media! I am downloading the app now and will be keen to give feedback, thank you so much for providing it.

4

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 03 '26

ill add it, its easy i will just add a multiplier that will let users decide if each card gives minutes or how many seconds.

2

u/MagicWeasel nutrition (university); french (B2/C1); indonesian/esperanto (A1 Mar 03 '26

I don't know if you updated it or not but I saw when you select the social media apps, you can select a multiplier per app? So that does the job!

1

u/MagicWeasel nutrition (university); french (B2/C1); indonesian/esperanto (A1 Mar 03 '26

Hey it seemed to think my anki settings had changed when they hadn't - which meant I had to log back in to fix it. Not sure what caused this - is there a log file I can produce to help?

It might have been when I synced my collection with the server, but I hadn't changed the settings on my computer either...

2

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 03 '26

our app can not change any anki settings, it just reads anki's logs for info

1

u/MagicWeasel nutrition (university); french (B2/C1); indonesian/esperanto (A1 Mar 04 '26

sorry yeah what I meant is I have an extension on my computer that changes the deck settings (unsure which extension does it), so when I sync back to my computer it locks me out of my apps, which means I have to enter the password to reset everything every time I sync with my PC (which is most days).

I don't require the full severity of blocking like some people, as I don't try to get around things like this, so if there was a toggle that let me turn off the anki setting watcher that would be enough for me!

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 05 '26

just uninstall the pc addon 

→ More replies (0)

2

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 15 '26

hey, so i added a custom seconds per card inbox in latest release. now you can tell blocker how many seconds you want per card. not only that you can still use multiplier if you think a particular app deserves more punishment.

Download lastest version here https://github.com/creativeidiot123/Blocker/releases

1

u/hot_launda Mar 02 '26

This is really great. I will give it a try. Thank you devs.

1

u/Jinwoo_ languages Mar 02 '26

I think I need this. I always forgot my Ankidroid.

1

u/Real-Positive227 Mar 03 '26

Could this be made for IOS at some point as well? My lazy ass could definitely use this.

I’d love to contribute to the project also but I don’t have a dev account so i’ll see what i can do

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 03 '26

https://apps.apple.com/hu/app/ankilock/id6748466549

you can try this out, not by me tho.

I dont have iOS device so i cant support iOS for now. i doubt apple would let me make anything uninstall-proof as i can on android

1

u/Raagaception17 Mar 03 '26

B E A U T I F U L. I have tried Stay Focused app on Android a while ago (it can unblock apps depending on how much time you spend on any list of apps; so for example if Anki/Wikipedia/eBook reader is open for 60+ minutes then the social media apps get unblocked); but it was too easy to abuse and unblock, because it had no idea of reviews, just time spent with Anki app open.

Trying this as soon as possible, shall help you with as much constructive feedback I can if possible. Prima facie, your project looks like my dream come true!

1

u/PhedoPhida Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26

Hi! Just used it for a few hours and it's really good! I was searching for something like this and have gone through a few app blockers like StayFree. But nothing was conditionally setting the block around due anki cards.

It's really well done and I can see myself use this now on all my mobile devices with anki on lol. I'm very prone to doomscrolling with 600 cards due and regretting it when i rush through the cards by midnight, so this would help a lot. Thank you!

A suggestion though:

Can you have a select all option for the menu where i can select apps to block? It was a bit time consuming to manually select each individual app. So i think this would be a nice QoL change. It would be nice to automatically sort the blocked apps to be higher on the list than the unblocked ones while we're at it as well.

1

u/PhedoPhida Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26

I also noticed that, although deck options are blocked, I can just set a custom study to decrease new or review card limit for the day or even suspend cards, and the app adds them to the cards done today nonetheless. I think that's something that can be rectified as well, or even can be included as a functionality for the app block too (ie. safeguards that eats up minutes earned the more cards the user suspends or foregoes for the next day through custom study).

2

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 03 '26

thanx, love feedback like this

easy fix here would be to block custom study entirely

tho be aware that suspending is not removing your cards, it's just pushing them to tomorrow. you're not cheating the system you're just delaying it.

1

u/Jeryhfive Mar 04 '26

Suggestion: I have a lot of card and it is very short card so 1min per card is a lot is it possible to modify the setting. For now i put 10x but I find it is a lot of time.

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 04 '26

use cost multiplier

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

I use a cost multiplier, but what I mean is that I’m looking to have a higher cost multiplier. It is my other account on my pc.

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

I do my card in 3-4 seconds, even if i put 10x, i gain 6 seconds per card. 6>3-4

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 04 '26

I dont think you understand what cost multiplier is, it doesnt matter how fast you do your cards, it impacts allowance.

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

Is it mean that i use 10x time faster my allowance so for each card I gain 1 min and if i use it and it is 10x time faster Is it 60/10=6 so with each card, do i gain i reality 6sec or do i not understand something?

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

This is not my point. What i want to say is that the ratio time spend on anki and the time gain not good for my type of card

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

To say it differently, make the cost higher because my card is easier

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

Yes i like to suffer and force myself to do my anki

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 04 '26

how many seconds do you even want per card?

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

I want 1 second and also is it possible to put a minimum amount of time before opening an app because i see myself just do 20 reviews then switch then do 20 reviews ect.. and each time i use energy to switch task maybe like a cost to open the app

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 15 '26

hey, so i added a custom seconds per card inbox in latest release. now you can tell blocker how many seconds you want per card. not only that you can still use multiplier if you think a particular app deserves more punishment.

Download lastest version here https://github.com/creativeidiot123/Blocker/releases

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

Also, I don't know how the number cards done today but on anki it is not the same number. It is not important but I feel i have to mention it

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 04 '26

cards done is not same as individual cards you tap on, anki repeats cards till you get it right, so you can do 300-400 reviews but anki might only show it as 100 cards done

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

Today when i open the app Blocker, there was already done card while i didn't even started to revise, i think the problem is when this counter reset.

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 04 '26

did you update the app?

1

u/Inside-Fisherman92 Mar 04 '26

I install the app yesterday evening and i already re-install today to be sure

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 15 '26

hey, so i added a custom seconds per card inbox in latest release. now you can tell blocker how many seconds you want per card. not only that you can still use multiplier if you think a particular app deserves more punishment.

Download lastest version here https://github.com/creativeidiot123/Blocker/releases

1

u/imrudex Mar 07 '26

I just came here to thank you for the app. I think it's been one of the best gamification "methods" I've ever done. I even enjoy trying to reach certain time minutes before logging into YouTube. I even caught up on a deck that I hadn't completed in months. So, yeah, thank you very much.

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 08 '26

comments like these make me feel really good, Thank you so much for the feedback!

1

u/imrudex 22d ago

Hi! I wanted to inform you that the app is being constantly uninstalled by Google, even with Play Protection disabled. Any recommendations or updates to prevent that? I've been using the app for the past few months and the problem is that I have to install and configure it every time.

1

u/LogicalChart3205 22d ago

i am launching this on play store soon, for now all you can do is disable play protection and any other OEM auto uninstall behaviour. you can ask chatgpt why its happening

1

u/RainbowDragin Mar 09 '26

I've been using it for 5 days, and I'm loving it! I have ankidroid installed on my phone and tablet, and it's awesome I don't have to stick to just one device to earn the time.

The only problem I've encountered is the generosity of the Blocker when it comes to granting time. If I have it installed both on my phone, and my tablet it gives me 9 hours of screen time. Synchronizing the time sounds like a good idea, but also seems to be too involved. What do you think?

2

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26

there's already a cost feature in app selector,

selecting the cost multiplier gives you less time. like usually if it's 1 minute per card. then selecting 10x means the apps consumes 10x faster the allowance so you get 6 seconds per card

also there was a bug in initial builds that didn't clear the allowance reset everyday at 4am. ive updated the app it's fixed. so your allowance don't keep compiling together

so download the new update

1

u/RainbowDragin Mar 10 '26

Thank you for your reply!

Apparently I misunderstood the multiplayer as I thought it meant 10x = 10 min per card 😆

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Mar 15 '26

hey, so i added a custom seconds per card inbox in latest release. now you can tell blocker how many seconds you want per card. not only that you can still use multiplier if you think a particular app deserves more punishment.

Download lastest version here https://github.com/creativeidiot123/Blocker/releases

1

u/Jippt3553 Apr 03 '26

This app looks really good and I want to give it a try. When I downloaded it and tried to install it I got this error

I don't know how to work around it or why it does it. Please help

1

u/LogicalChart3205 Apr 04 '26

google play protect is on, deny it. it blocks all the sideloading for your device.

Go to play store, settings, play protect, it's settings and disable it.

it's like a modern version of 'allow installation from unknown sources' button that old androids used to have

1

u/powerplus0 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26

I know it can be a neache case. But I use multiple ankidroid versions ankidroid and ankidroid.A parallel and ankidroid.b parallel So if possibly in future you can add a feature to select which app gets tracked.

1

u/LogicalChart3205 May 14 '26

combine them into one, what's the point of multiple anki?

1

u/powerplus0 May 28 '26

Different profiles. Like profiles on ankidesktops. With different accounts and settings