How Popcue works
What does Popcue actually do?
You pick which apps on your phone it should watch. When one of them opens, a card from your own goals and notes appears instead of the app. You tap to reveal the answer, then rate whether you got it: “Got it” or “Still learning.” Then the app opens. Both ratings are equally good answers; neither is a failure.
Is there a way to skip the card?
No. There is no skip button, on either step, and there never will be. A breathing pause is a speed bump; a forced recall is a lesson. That distinction is the entire product, and adding a bypass would delete it.
Why does it pick 5 out of 10 opens, and not every time?
Because a blocker that fires every single time stops being a habit and starts being a punishment, and you can always turn it off. Five out of ten, randomized within the ratio, keeps the interruption rare enough to stay a real interruption. You choose the number per app.
Do I need my own notes to use it?
No. You can name a topic and let AI write the deck. Five active paths are free. Connecting Notion, AnkiDroid or your own LLM is where it gets genuinely useful, and every connected path stays free forever, no matter how many you add. Todoist is coming soon.
Can it block websites, not just apps?
Not yet. The wrap mechanic is Android-app-shaped today. Browser blocking is on the roadmap; active hours, per-app ratios and per-goal hours all already work.
Permissions, platform and price
What permissions does it need, and why?
Two for the interrupt itself: usage access, so it knows when one of the apps you picked opens, and Draw over other apps, so the card can be the thing on screen. Anything else is optional and asked for only when you use the feature that needs it: notifications if you turn on reminders, photo access on Android 12 and older to attach an image, and AnkiDroid access if you connect it. Nothing about what happens inside the apps you wrap, ever. You can check every one of them in Settings → Apps → Popcue → Permissions.
Does it work on iPhone?
No. Popcue is Android and web only for now, and we would rather ship one platform properly than hint at a date we cannot stand behind. Android is also the better fit for this specifically: it lets us build a real interruption screen, where iOS restricts what third-party apps can show.
What happens if I want my phone back?
You can pause any app, adjust its ratio to zero, or turn the whole thing off from Settings. No email, no support ticket, no fee. Compare that to the apps that charge you a password-recovery fee to get back into your own blocker.
What does it cost?
Free forever if your cards come from your own tools (Notion, AnkiDroid, your own LLM; Todoist is coming soon), with no cap on how many. Free also includes five active AI-written paths, all eight card types, streaks and stats. Pro is ₹149/month or ₹999/year, and it exists mainly to lift the AI-path cap and unlock the starter-deck library. Pro has a seven-day trial, and the app shows the terms before you subscribe.
Is Popcue shipped yet?
Not yet. Popcue is not on the Google Play Store and has no App Store listing, so there are no public ratings, reviews or install counts for it. The Android and web builds exist and are being verified; the remaining work is Play Console setup, a release signing key, and a compliance launch gate. Join the waitlist and you’ll hear when it is on the Play Store, and you’ll get the build earlier.
Questions people search for
These are the phrasings the question is actually asked in, rather than the phrasings a product team would use. Each answer is the same length as the ones above, on purpose: an answer that only works if you have read the rest of the page is not an answer.
Is there an app that blocks apps until you learn something?
Yes, and that is what Popcue is. It wraps the apps you choose and puts a recall card from your own notes in front of them, with no skip button on either step. The difference from the rest of the category is where the card comes from. Most blockers that ask you a question first want you to upload a PDF or copy your material into their own storage, and your notes then live in two places. Popcue reads Notion, AnkiDroid or an MCP-compatible LLM endpoint you already run, free and uncapped.
Can a screen time app have a quiz instead of a delay?
Yes, and that is the whole design. A conventional screen time app makes you wait out a delay or serve a lockout screen, and nothing is retrieved while you wait. Popcue replaces the delay with two required taps: reveal the answer, then rate whether you remembered it. Every rating feeds an SM-2 scheduler, so the same app teaches as it blocks, and the interruption is rare enough to stay an interruption rather than becoming wallpaper.
Which app blocker does NOT need Accessibility permission?
Popcue does not use the Android AccessibilityService API. It needs two permissions instead: usage access, so it knows when one of the wrapped apps opens, and draw over other apps, so the card can be the thing on screen. Both are granted by you and both are listed in Android's own Settings under Apps, then Popcue, then Permissions, so you can read back exactly what Popcue holds and revoke either one. To be clear about the status: Popcue is not yet on the Play Store, so you cannot install it to check today. The waitlist at popcue.online is where the build arrives first.
What can an Android app blocker actually block?
Any app you can launch from your home screen. There is one shared constraint that every Android blocker has, and it is worth naming rather than leaving you to discover it: system apps such as Settings and Phone are off-limits, because an app that can lock you out of your own Settings menu is a phone you cannot fix. That is a platform constraint rather than a limitation of any one blocker, and it applies equally to every app in the category.
Is there an app blocker that works offline?
Popcue does not claim it, and we would rather say so than imply it. Two things are true and worth keeping apart. The cards are generated and buffered ahead of need, so the interrupt itself has no loading state to sit through: by the time your thumb lands on the icon, the card is already there. But the connected sources, Notion, AnkiDroid and your own LLM, each need a network to read new material, and full offline operation is not a verified shipped feature of Popcue. If never touching the network is the actual requirement, a plain blocker with no card in it is the honest answer.
Does Popcue send my notes to a server?
Your notes go to whichever service is doing the reading. If you connect Notion, the material is read by Notion through your own Notion connection. If you point Popcue at your own MCP-compatible endpoint, it goes to your model on your infrastructure. What never leaves the device is anything from the apps you wrap: Popcue reads that a wrapped app came to the foreground, and nothing about what happened inside it. What does leave the device is your account, your goals and your card ratings, so that streaks, mastery and stats follow you across devices.
Which app blocker doesn't need a subscription?
Two fair answers. ScreenZen is free and supported by donations rather than a subscription, and it is a good choice if you want a straightforward blocker with no learning content. Popcue's connected paths are also free forever with no cap: Notion, AnkiDroid and your own LLM, plus five active AI-written paths. Popcue does have a paid tier, Pro at ₹149 a month or ₹999 a year, and it exists to lift the AI-path cap and open the starter-deck library. It is not yet purchasable, because there is no store listing or billing credential.
How do I stop myself bypassing my own blocker?
Popcue has no skip button, and inside the app there is no way past the card. Beyond that, be clear about what is possible: you own the phone, so you can always uninstall the app, revoke its permissions, or turn it off from Settings. Any self-applied blocker is reversible by design, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. What Popcue will never do is charge you a password-recovery fee to get back into your own phone, which is the difference worth caring about.