What is an Intention Gate?

It is a doorway rather than a lock. When an app you have selected is about to open, Sanctuary runs a short breathing timer — four seconds unless you change it — and asks what you are opening the app for, offering a specific purpose, just checking, a habit, or a timed session. Whatever you answer, the app then opens and Sanctuary grants a temporary session so you are not asked again a minute later. The mechanism is deliberately weak: it cannot stop you, and it is not trying to. It exists so that an action which normally happens below the level of decision has to surface into one, and a noticeable share of automatic opens do not survive that.

How long is the pause before an app opens?

Four seconds by default, and configurable. Four is long enough that an unmotivated impulse usually dissolves, and short enough that it does not become an obstacle when you genuinely mean to open the app. If you find yourself tapping through without reading the question, the pause has become wallpaper — either lengthen it or, more often, reduce the number of apps you have gated.

Does the Intention Gate appear every time I switch back to the app?

No. Once you pass a gate, Sanctuary grants a temporary session for that app, so switching away to check something and coming back does not re-prompt you. The gate is designed to catch the decision to enter an app, not to interrupt work you are already doing inside it.

What does Sanctuary record when I pass a gate?

The reason you selected, and whether you continued, cancelled, or overrode a limit. These are stored on your device and nowhere else — there is no account, no analytics, and no developer-operated cloud, so there is no copy anywhere for anyone to read. Because there is no cloud copy, uninstalling Sanctuary deletes this history; a local export is available in Settings if you want to keep it.

Can I get past an Intention Gate?

Yes, always, and that is deliberate. There is no password, no lockout, and no mode you cannot exit. Tools that refuse eventually refuse at a moment when you have a genuine reason to proceed, and the usual outcome is that the tool gets uninstalled and every constraint disappears at once. A gate you can always pass is one that is still installed a year later.

Core feature

Intention Gates

Four seconds and one question, placed between you and the apps you open without deciding to. This is exactly how the gate works, what it records, and why it never says no.

What an Intention Gate is

An Intention Gate is a short, deliberate pause that Sanctuary places between you and an app you selected. When that app is about to open, Sanctuary shows a breathing timer — four seconds by default, and configurable — and asks one question: what are you opening this for?

You choose a reason. Then the app opens, normally, every time. The gate has no refusal state. Its entire function is to convert an automatic tap into a conscious decision, and a decision you make and then act on is a success, not a failure.

The word "gate" is slightly misleading in one respect: it is not there to keep you out. It is closer to a doorway with someone standing in it who asks where you are going. Most of the time you have an answer and walk through. Occasionally you realise you do not, and turn around. That second case is the whole product.

What happens when you tap

The complete sequence, from tap to app.

1
Sanctuary notices the app is opening
If you tapped it inside Sanctuary, the launcher already knows. If you opened it from a notification, a link, a widget, or the Recents switcher, the optional Accessibility Service is what tells Sanctuary that a selected app has entered the foreground. Without that permission, gates fire only for apps launched from Sanctuary itself.
2
The breathing timer runs
A few seconds during which nothing is asked of you. Four by default; set it shorter if it becomes wallpaper, longer if you want more room. This is the part that does most of the work, because an impulse with no motivation behind it rarely survives being made to wait.
3
The question appears
What are you opening this for? You pick from a specific purpose, just checking, a habit, or a timed session. "A habit" is a legitimate answer and is not treated as a failure — a tool that punishes the honest answer will only ever be given the dishonest one.
4
The app opens and a session begins
Sanctuary grants a temporary session so you are not re-prompted every time you switch back over the next few minutes. The gate is meant to catch the decision to enter, not to interrupt you once you are inside doing what you meant to do.
5
The outcome is recorded locally
Purposeful opens, cancellations, and overrides are stored on your device. Nothing is uploaded, because there is nowhere to upload it to. You can review the pattern later, and the review has no score attached to it.

Why it never says no

A tool that refuses eventually refuses at the wrong moment. When that happens you do not patiently accept it — you disable the tool, and disabling it removes every constraint at once, including the ones that were working. The strictness that felt like an advantage in week one is what ends the whole arrangement in week three.

A gate that always lets you through never creates that confrontation, so it stays installed. And an intervention that is still running in a year, quietly catching a few dozen automatic opens a day, does far more total work than a severe one that lasted eleven days.

There is also a subtler reason. The moment you cannot pass through, the tool becomes the thing you are reacting to, and your attention moves from your own behaviour to the software. The gate is trying to make you notice yourself. It cannot do that while it is being an obstacle.

Gate two or three apps, not fifteen

The most common way to make Intention Gates useless is to apply them everywhere. A pause that appears constantly stops registering within a week and becomes an obstacle you tap through without reading, which is the opposite of the intended effect and reliably ends with the feature switched off. Pick the two or three apps that genuinely account for your unchosen time, and leave everything else alone.

Specifics

Default pause: Four seconds, configurable.
Applied: Per app. You choose which apps get a gate.
Reason options: A specific purpose, just checking, a habit, or a timed session.
After passing: A temporary session, so you are not re-prompted every few seconds.
Recorded: Purposeful opens, cancellations, overrides — on your device only.
Can it be bypassed: Always, by design. There is no password and no lockout.
Needs Accessibility: Only to fire for apps opened outside Sanctuary. Optional either way.
Availability: Included in the free version.

Straight answers.

What is an Intention Gate?: It is a doorway rather than a lock. When an app you have selected is about to open, Sanctuary runs a short breathing timer — four seconds unless you change it — and asks what you are opening the app for, offering a specific purpose, just checking, a habit, or a timed session. Whatever you answer, the app then opens and Sanctuary grants a temporary session so you are not asked again a minute later. The mechanism is deliberately weak: it cannot stop you, and it is not trying to. It exists so that an action which normally happens below the level of decision has to surface into one, and a noticeable share of automatic opens do not survive that.
How long is the pause before an app opens?: Four seconds by default, and configurable. Four is long enough that an unmotivated impulse usually dissolves, and short enough that it does not become an obstacle when you genuinely mean to open the app. If you find yourself tapping through without reading the question, the pause has become wallpaper — either lengthen it or, more often, reduce the number of apps you have gated.
Does the Intention Gate appear every time I switch back to the app?: No. Once you pass a gate, Sanctuary grants a temporary session for that app, so switching away to check something and coming back does not re-prompt you. The gate is designed to catch the decision to enter an app, not to interrupt work you are already doing inside it.
What does Sanctuary record when I pass a gate?: The reason you selected, and whether you continued, cancelled, or overrode a limit. These are stored on your device and nowhere else — there is no account, no analytics, and no developer-operated cloud, so there is no copy anywhere for anyone to read. Because there is no cloud copy, uninstalling Sanctuary deletes this history; a local export is available in Settings if you want to keep it.
Can I get past an Intention Gate?: Yes, always, and that is deliberate. There is no password, no lockout, and no mode you cannot exit. Tools that refuse eventually refuse at a moment when you have a genuine reason to proceed, and the usual outcome is that the tool gets uninstalled and every constraint disappears at once. A gate you can always pass is one that is still installed a year later.

Related guides

Core feature

Feel what four seconds does.

There is a working Intention Gate on the home page you can try in the browser before installing anything.

Get Sanctuary for Android

Intention Gates

What an Intention Gate is

What happens when you tap

Sanctuary notices the app is opening

The breathing timer runs

The question appears

The app opens and a session begins

The outcome is recorded locally

Why it never says no

Gate two or three apps, not fifteen

Specifics

Straight answers.

Related guides

App time limits

App blockers on Android

Mindful phone use

Stop doomscrolling

Feel what four seconds does.