Hard Mode
How release works
The way out of Hard Mode — the cooling-off timer — and what a commitment period changes.
Hard Mode has no off switch. It has one door, and it is slow on purpose. Nobody at Fokyo can open it for you.
The cooling-off timer
- 1Ask for a release, from the Fokyo app or from Devices in your dashboard.
- 2A timer starts: 24 hours by default, or the longer period you chose when you set Hard Mode up. It runs on Fokyo’s servers, so changing the clock, the time zone or the phone does not move it.
- 3Nothing else changes while it runs. Your goals stay locked and your blocks keep holding.
- 4When it reaches zero you are released: Fokyo gives you the Screen Time passcode, and you use it in Settings › Screen Time to take the lock off.
You can withdraw the request at any point before the timer ends. Hard Mode then simply carries on, and a later request starts a fresh timer.
Commitment periods
At setup you can add a commitment of up to 90 days. Until it is over, the door stays shut: you cannot start a cooling-off timer at all, and there is no other way out. If your plan ends, the commitment stops applying.
What support can and cannot do. We can explain, and we can check that a request was registered. We cannot shorten a timer, end a commitment or read your passcode — the system gives us no way to.
Good to know
- Hard Mode is set per device. Releasing one iPhone does not release another.
- Calls, including emergency calls, are never blocked by Fokyo.