What is Allowance?
Allowance is an iPhone app that turns physical movement into the time you spend on your phone. You pick an exercise and a set of apps you'd rather use less. Each rep — or each block of steps — credits a minute to a single shared balance. When you open one of those apps, that balance ticks down. When it hits zero, the apps close.
The mental model
One balance. All the chosen apps draw from it. There is no per-app accounting, no daily reset that wipes you back to the same starting line, no friction you can dismiss with a tap. Surplus carries day to day, so a hard workout on Tuesday can be the reason you scroll easily on Friday.
What it isn't
- It isn't a fitness tracker. Reps are a pricing mechanism, not a training plan.
- It isn't a willpower app. It's a contract — the kind that holds up because you signed it on a quiet morning, not in the moment.
- It isn't social. There's no leaderboard, no streak shaming, nobody to share your balance with.
Who it's for
People who already know what they want their phone to be. Allowance is the friction that lets them follow through without having to remember, every time, that they meant to.