Boot Up

Boot Up was created to solve my problem of opening instagram reels whenever I had a second to spare. It uses Apple's Screen Time APIs to lock down user selected apps and enforces/integrates a fake loading screen as the only way to unlock them.

Join the Beta test!

The Psychology

I like playing video games but I found myself scrolling on instagram even when I had the time to make some progress in the video game I am playing at the time. Why? Because instagram reels loads instantly and my PC or Steam deck takes a minute or two to boot up a game. So I thought, why dont I force a loading screen on instagram as well so I will play my game instead of brain rotting. (lesser of two evils?)

Features

• It's open source because idk what I am doing, I am an Electrical Engineer who just likes to program tools
• It's free because I am an engineer and my income is decent, a donation wouldnt hurt to help pay me back for the apple developer fee
• It is all locally hosted and doesn't send any information anywhere else. I dont care to see what apps you might be using more than you should be
• Cool terminal aesthetic because I wanted it to look like a loading screen from a game. The loading screen is entertaining to me, idc what you think

How it works (the pipeline in my head and my notes)

[1] First Launch
└── open Boot Up
    ├── Get FamilyControls authorization
    └── Get Notification authorization
        └── Tap + in top right to choose apps to lock (FamilyActivityPicker)
            ├── saves selection (UserDefaults?? better way to do this?)
            └── locks chosen apps via ManagedSettingsStore
                ├── user clicks new app shown in the LockedAppsView to add a name to them
                    ├── [Note 1] This is necessary because I need to link the app to a bundleID 
                         and a urlScheme like this, bundleID: com.instagram instagram urlScheme: instagram://
                    ├── [Note 2] This allows me to send the custom boot timer information with the notification
                          and it also allows me to deeplink back to the app after the loading screen finishes.
                    └── [Note 3] These bundleIDs and urlSchemes are saved in the AppDatabase.swift file for
                          popular apps. If the app the user wants to use is not, yeah idk

[2] Static Shielded App Screen (Apple's Shield Configuration Extension)
└── user taps locked app
    └── iOS displays Static Shield UI

[3] Buttons on static shield screen (Apple's Shield Action Extension)
└── user taps primary button (BOOT UP) on the static shield screen
    └── fire notification that includes bundleID to figure out custom boot time set and app name

[4] Actual Loading Screen
└── user taps notification
    └── bring user to Boot Up app
        └── Boot Up shows ShieldLoadingView (my cool loading screen)
            └── hits 100%
                ├── Calls ManagedSettingsStore
                │   └── Locked app is temporarily unlocked
                └── Start DeviceActivityMonitorExtension
                    └── Schedule user's set grace period

[5] relock (Apple's Device Activity Monitor Extension)
[Note] I dont really do any of this, the timing and unlocking is all handled by Apple extensions
└── locked app temporarily unclocked
    └── grace time successfully reached
        └── iOS wakes DeviceActivityMonitorExtension in background
            └── Extension reads app token saved in UserDefaults
                └── Extension calls ManagedSettingsStore
                    └── app is relocked

Things to do/figure out

• Make a github pages thing
• Add good onboarding tutorial thing I guess
• Add turn off buttons, turn off for every app, turn off per app, potentially turn off grace period or boot timer button option?
• Figure out how to go directly into app without a notification from static shield screen.
  • this was solved by the shortcut automation option in v1.2, its not perfect as it requres user set up so leaving this still here
  • Need to update pipeline in readme to include shortcut automation potential pipeline
• make notifications still come through for the shielded apps so I still get instagram dms. also doesnt seem possible with current api
• Shield api locking down widgets for some apps. Somehow unlock the widgets but leave apps locked
• speed up notification coming from primary button in static shield screen somehow
• Figure out @AppStorage to replace UserDefaults, it broke the DeviceActivityMonitor extension before...
• Add a donation link in github repo or maybe even in app donation? apple takes a 30% cut bruh

If you have a solution or want to help with any of this please make a pull request. thanks