HomeRules
Your house rules. On the phone.

A deal is a deal.

Put your family's own house rules on your child's iPhone: bedtime, school, homework and dinner. The apps you pick then lock by themselves. When your child asks “Can I have a bit longer?”, you give extra time with a code from your own phone.

Coming soon to theApp StoreHow it works
  • $0.79, once
  • No account
  • Works without internet
  • No spying
Why

Making rules is easy. Keeping them isn't.

86%of parents have screen time rules.
19%stick to them all the time.

No wonder. At 8:30 pm you're the one who has to say it's time, every single evening. HomeRules lets the phone keep the deal. You get to be the parent who can say yes.

Source: Pew Research Center, October 2025, survey of 3,054 parents of children aged 12 and under in the United States.

100 families: blue has screen rules, filled sticks to them all the time.
How it works

Three steps. Set it up once.

  1. 1Once, 2 minutes

    Your house rules on your child's phone.

    You pick which apps lock and switch on the rules that suit your family. After that the phone keeps them by itself, also when HomeRules is closed.

  2. 28:31 pm

    Can I have a bit longer?

    Sam sees which rule is on and until when. Want a bit longer? Then Sam asks you. In the room, or with a message. HomeRules sends nothing itself.

  3. Sam types the code
    48219073
    Done. Extra time until 8:46 pm.
    3A moment later

    You give a code.

    On your own phone you tap +15 min and glance at Face ID. You get an eight digit code. Sam types it in and the apps open right away. At 8:46 pm they close again by themselves.

midnight6 amnoon6 pmBedtimeSchoolHomeworkDinner8:31Bedtime until 7:00 am
A day with house rules

House rules that keep themselves.

A rule is a name, a few days and a time. Switch on what suits your family, or make your own rule. Up to twelve rules.

  • Bedtime8:30 pm to 7:00 am
  • SchoolMon to Fri, 8:30 am to 3:00 pm
  • HomeworkMon to Thu, 4:00 to 5:00 pm
  • Dinner6:00 to 6:45 pm
HomeRulesIn 5 minutes: Bedtime. Time to wrap up.
  • A heads-up five minutes before. Nobody loses a game halfway through.
  • Also when the app is closed. After a restart and in Low Power Mode.
  • Rules overlap? Then the lock stays until the last one ends.

Bedtime and Dinner are on from the start. The phone sleeps when your child does, and stays off at the table. You change the times in a tap.

The code

Extra time without internet. Just a code.

When you link, your phones share a secret once, through a QR code. After that your phone makes codes that only your child's phone recognises, and it checks each code by itself. Nothing goes over the internet, so it works in the car, on a campsite or when the data runs out.

  1. 4821 9073Eight digits. Works once.
  2. +15 minutesThe extra time is inside the code itself.
  3. For SamOnly works on Sam's phone.
  4. Until 8:46 pmValid for fifteen minutes. After that you make a new one.
  • Face ID

    Only you make codes.

    Before every code your phone asks for Face ID or your passcode. If your child picks up your phone, they get no further.

  • 100 million

    Guessing is pointless.

    That's how many eight digit codes there are. After five wrong tries your child has to wait: 1 minute, then 2, then 4, up to an hour.

  • Once

    Every code works once.

    Only on your child's phone and only for the time inside it. A newer code from you makes older ones invalid.

  • Up to 4

    parents per child.

    Both of you giving codes? Fine. Each on their own iPhone. On your phone you link up to eight children.

  • PIN

    Phone not at hand?

    With your six digit PIN you give extra time on your child's phone itself. Handy too if you lose your phone.

  • Clock back?

    Then no codes.

    If someone turns the clock on your child's phone back, it refuses codes until the time is right again.

Privacy

No spying. Just house rules.

HomeRules locks apps at the times you agree on. That's all. You don't see what your child does, and we certainly don't.

  • 0accountsNo email address, no password, no sign-in.
  • 0serversCodes go from your phone to your child's, through you.
  • 0datacollected. That's what the App Store will say too.

What HomeRules doesn't do

  • Reads no messages.
  • Tracks no location.
  • Doesn't watch the web.
  • Takes no screenshots.
  • Keeps no screen time reports.
  • Sends nothing to us.
Everything stays on the phones.

Codes and the link secret stay in the Keychain of each phone. They never go into a backup and never to us. It's all in the privacy policy.

What your child sees

Which rule is on, until when, and how to ask for more time. A lock screen explains. It doesn't scold.

Price

Pay once, for the whole family.

No subscription, no trial, no in-app purchases. You pay once and that's that.

$35 to $125A year, for parental apps with a subscription.

What you pay in three years

HomeRules$0.79
Parental app with a subscription$105 to $375

Yearly prices of popular parental control apps in the US App Store, October 2026.

One purchase. Your iPhone and your child's.

With Family Sharing you share HomeRules with your family without paying again. It's the same Family Sharing the full version needs, so you'll have it anyway.

6family members use it with one purchase.
  • No subscription
  • No trial
  • No in-app purchases
  • No ads
Fair is fair

What HomeRules can't do.

Better now than after you buy.

  • Light mode

    Is your child not a child account in your Family Sharing? Then HomeRules runs in light mode, and your child can switch it off. The app says so too. Turn on Family Sharing for the full version.

  • Factory reset

    If your child resets the phone to factory settings, HomeRules is gone, like everything else. You set it up again in a few minutes.

  • Two iPhones

    HomeRules works on iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later, for you and your child. No Android. No iPhone yourself? Then you give extra time with your PIN on your child's phone.

  • No web filter

    HomeRules locks apps at set times. Filtering websites is something your iPhone does itself, in Screen Time under Content and Privacy Restrictions.

  • Not remote

    Codes don't travel over the internet, so you can't lock your child's phone from a distance. The house rules already do that, at the times you agreed.

  • No lock is unbreakable

    So we don't promise that. What we do promise: if HomeRules is off, your child's phone says so. No silent gaps.

Questions

What parents ask.

More answers and the setup steps are on Support.

Question not here?

Email info@abn.company. We answer within a few working days.

Does my child need their own Apple Account?

For the full version, yes: a child account in your Family Sharing. Apple asks for your Apple Account during setup, and after that your child can't delete or switch off HomeRules on their own.

Without Family Sharing, HomeRules runs in light mode. Then your child can switch it off.

Does it work when the app is closed?

Yes. The rules run inside iOS itself: with the app closed, after a restart and in Low Power Mode.

Do I need internet to give extra time?

No. Your phone makes the code, your child's phone checks it. You can also just read it out, so it even works without signal.

Can my child guess the code?

A code has eight digits: a hundred million possibilities. After five wrong tries your child has to wait longer each time, up to an hour. After thirty wrong codes in a row, codes stop until you link again.

Can both parents give codes?

Yes. Up to four parents per child, each with HomeRules on their own iPhone. Codes from both work.

I lost my phone. Now what?

Your PIN still works on your child's phone. Or delete HomeRules on your child's phone with your Apple Account and set it up again.

Does HomeRules see what my child does?

No. No messages, no location, no websites, no screen time reports. HomeRules only knows which apps lock and when, and that stays on the phone.

My child has an Android phone. Will it work?

No, sorry. The lock uses Apple's Screen Time, so your child's phone has to be an iPhone. Yours too, or you give extra time with your PIN on your child's phone.

What does it cost?

$0.79, once. With Family Sharing you use HomeRules on your iPhone and your child's. No subscription, no in-app purchases.

Which iPhones?

iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later, for you and your child. There's no version for iPad or Mac.

The phone goes to bed too.

HomeRules is coming soon to the App Store. $0.79, once, for the whole family.

Coming soon to theApp Store