Support

Screen Time access won’t turn on, or it stopped working

Foremost blocks apps through Apple’s Screen Time frameworks, so it cannot block anything until you grant Screen Time access. It asks the first time you choose apps, using Apple’s own dialog, and it asks for individual authorization — access to your own device, for yourself. Foremost never asks to manage a child’s device and has no parental-control features.

If you declined the dialog, or if blocking stopped for no visible reason, check three things on the iPhone, in this order:

• Screen Time itself is switched on, in iOS Settings → Screen Time.
• Foremost is allowed under Settings → Screen Time → Apps With Screen Time Access. Access can be revoked here, and once it is, Foremost stops blocking silently — there is no notice.
• Then open Foremost and choose your apps again. Picking apps re-runs the authorization request, so it is also the way back in if you refused the first time.

One more thing worth knowing: the opaque tokens Apple gives Foremost for the apps you selected can be invalidated by an iOS or app update. If a block list is suddenly blocking fewer apps than it used to, open it and pick the apps again.

My Todoist tasks aren’t showing up

The quickest fix is to reconnect: Settings → Integrations → Disconnect Todoist, then Connect Todoist again. You never need to re-enter a token or a password by hand — Foremost refreshes its Todoist access on its own, and there is nothing to paste anywhere.

Before you reconnect, check which list Foremost is reading. In Settings → Integrations, Read tasks from names the Todoist project or filter Foremost counts. If that filter has nothing in it, Foremost correctly shows nothing. The built-in Today source counts everything due today and everything overdue.

Also check that Active source in the same section is set to Todoist, and not to Apple Reminders or to Foremost’s own manual list.

My Apple Reminders aren’t showing up

Apple Reminders needs two things: permission, and a list.

Permission is asked once, by iOS. If you declined it, no amount of reconnecting inside Foremost will bring the reminders back — turn it on in iOS Settings → Foremost → Reminders, then return to the app.

The list is chosen in Settings → Integrations → Task list. Foremost reads exactly one Reminders list, not all of them, and it counts only reminders that are still unfinished; a completed reminder disappears from Foremost the same way it disappears from the Reminders app.

I finished a task but my apps are still blocked

Foremost has to re-count your unfinished tasks before it can lift a block, and it does that in four ways. Fastest first:

• Tap “I finished my tasks” on the block screen. That button re-counts on the spot and lifts the block immediately if nothing is left. It is there precisely for this moment.
• Open Foremost. Bringing the app to the foreground re-counts and re-applies the block.
• Wait for the background check. With no help from you, Foremost re-counts roughly every fifteen minutes. Fifteen is not a setting — it is the shortest interval Apple allows a Screen Time extension to be woken at.
• Todoist only, and only if you allowed notifications: emptying your list in Todoist itself sends Foremost a push, and the block lifts within seconds, even with Foremost force-quit. You will see a short banner saying so.

There is no equivalent for Apple Reminders or for manual tasks, because iOS gives an app that is not running no way to hear about a reminder that changed. Those sources fall back to the three checks above, which is why the button on the block screen exists.

Notifications are never required. Refusing them costs you the instant path and nothing else.

How do I cancel my subscription?

Apple bills the subscription, so Apple cancels it. On the iPhone: Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Foremost → Cancel Subscription. You keep Foremost Pro until the end of the period you already paid for.

You can also get there from inside the app: Settings → Subscription → Manage subscription opens the subscription-management screen, which hands you on to the same Apple settings.

Deleting your Foremost account does not cancel a subscription, and neither does deleting the app. Cancel first.

How do I restore a purchase?

Settings → Subscription → Restore purchases inside the app, or the restore option on the purchase screen. Both ask the App Store what your Apple Account owns and re-apply it.

Two things make a restore fail. One: you are signed in to a different Apple Account from the one that made the purchase — restores follow the Apple Account, not the email address you used with Foremost. Two: you have signed in to Foremost with a different Apple ID than last time; the entitlement is bound to your Foremost account, which is what carries it between your devices.

How do I delete my account, and what goes with it?

Settings → Account → Delete account. Foremost asks twice, because none of it is recoverable.

What is deleted: your Foremost account itself; the Todoist connection held on our side; your entry on our mailing list; and, on the device, your block lists and schedules, your manual tasks, your task-source configuration and every blocking schedule Foremost had registered with iOS. Blocking stops at once.

What is not deleted: the tasks themselves. Your Todoist projects and your Apple Reminders belong to you and to those services, and Foremost leaves them alone — disconnecting or deleting only removes Foremost’s access. Your App Store subscription is also untouched; cancel it separately, as above.

There is no cloud backup of block lists. Signing out clears them from the device too, and rebuilding them afterwards means picking your apps again.

Does Foremost work on iPad?

Not in version 1.0. Foremost is built for iPhone, and iPad is not supported. Blocking on iPad is not something you can enable in the app — it is not there yet.

If iPad matters to you, write in and say so. It is the kind of thing that moves up the list when people ask.

Still stuck

Email [email protected]. There is no ticket number, no queue and no bot in front of it.