Apps like Duolingo Focus Mode, for everything else

By the edgi team Updated October 23, 2026 Facts checked October 23, 2026

The app like Duolingo's Focus Mode, for everything that isn't a language, is edgi. It's free on iPhone: pick TikTok, Instagram or any app in edgi's Focus settings, and it stays locked until you finish a 60-second Lesson on psychology, history, space, money or whatever you're into. You choose how many times a day each app can open and for how long, and the Lesson that let you in becomes a card on a Map of everything you've learned.

We make edgi, and we built Focus so the toll on your scrolling is something you're glad you paid.

What Duolingo's Focus Mode does

Duolingo has been testing Focus Mode on iPhone. You give Duolingo Screen Time access, pick the apps that eat your day, and they stay greyed out until you've done your Duolingo lessons. It made headlines because it fixes the order of things: learn first, scroll after.

It has one limit built in. The only lesson it will ever send you to is a language lesson. If you aren't learning Spanish, or you're learning it somewhere else, the lock has nothing to offer you.

edgi's Focus: the same lock, any subject

edgi's Focus works the same way, and the Lesson can be about anything. edgi has more than 44,000 Lessons across 105,000 ideas, so the thing standing between you and TikTok might be how the Fed steers interest rates, why your phone's GPS needs Einstein, or why chili heat is a false alarm.

Setting it up takes a minute:

1. In edgi, open Settings, then Focus.
2. Pick the apps through the iPhone's own Screen Time picker.
3. For each app, choose how many times a day it can open (1 to 30), for how many minutes (1 to 60), and on which days.
4. Choose whether a Lesson is the price of every open, or only the first one each day.

Then when you reach for TikTok on reflex, you get "One lesson opens TikTok for 5 minutes" instead. Do the Lesson, a minute of guessing, tapping and testing one idea, collect the card, and TikTok opens for the time you chose. Loosening your limits waits until midnight, so the 11 p.m. version of you can't undo the plan the 9 a.m. version made.

Duolingo details from Tubefilter's and PocketGamer.biz's coverage, 2026.

Why a lesson works better than a wall

A blocker that only says no is easy to resent, and easy to switch off. The urge to open TikTok doesn't come from nowhere: the habit is wired to a cue (boredom, a red badge, the walk to the train), and the cue keeps firing. Psychologists call it stimulus control. You can't delete the cue, but you can change what it pays.

Stimulus control Stimulus control occurs when a behavior happens in the presence of a specific cue and does not happen in its absence.

60-second Lesson

Stimulus control

A cue controls an action once the action has paid with it. Moviegoers ate week-old popcorn as fast as fresh, but only at the cinema.

Play it here Read about stimulus control

That's why a lesson as the toll is such a good idea, and why Duolingo built one. The cue still fires, and now it pays out in something you're glad to have: a new idea, a card, a streak day. Some days you'll do the Lesson and not bother with TikTok at all.

A lock that leaves you with something

Every Lesson you do to get through the lock is a card in your collection. Cards turn foil and then gold as you come back to the idea, they fill Sets, and they light up your Map next to the ideas they connect to. A month of reaching for Instagram turns into a month of ideas you can see. That's the best part of Duolingo's idea, applied to everything you're curious about.

More on the lock itself, and how it compares with one sec, Opal and Screen Time, on an app that makes you learn before opening TikTok.

FAQ

Is there an app like Duolingo Focus Mode? Yes. edgi's Focus keeps the apps you pick locked until you finish a 60-second Lesson on any subject you like. It's free on iPhone.

Can I use Duolingo Focus Mode for something other than languages? Duolingo's Focus Mode sends you to your Duolingo lessons. For any other subject, edgi's Focus works the same way with Lessons on more than 44,000 topics.

How do I lock TikTok until I do a lesson? In edgi, open Settings, then Focus, pick TikTok, and choose how many opens and minutes it gets. The first open of the day, or every open, costs a 60-second Lesson.

Is edgi free? Yes. edgi is free on iPhone, Focus included.