Glossary
Every word Fold’em uses, one sentence each, in alphabetical order. Each one links to the article that explains it in full.
- App shield
- Screen Time's block on the apps you ticked in Apple's picker, so tapping one draws a block screen instead of opening it. How does Fold’em block apps?
- Block screen
- What iOS draws over a blocked app instead of opening it, carrying one line from the pack you chose, a button that keeps you out and a button that takes you into Fold’em. What is the block screen?
- Category shield
- The old name for the Games layer. What does the Games layer do?
- Circle
- The people with you, one keyholder and up to three supporters, listed under Your circle on the People tab; a row that needs your answer turns red and says what. What does the People tab show?
- Cool down
- The old name for the wait that runs on a request to end protection: 48 hours when a keyholder agreed to it in person, and seven days from the request when nobody holds your key. How do I ask to end protection?
- Curated list
- The ten gambling domains Fold’em hands to Screen Time's own website filter, which takes effect inside Safari and nowhere else. Which sites are on the block list?
- Day count
- The whole days Today reports. It runs from your last bet, only your own You gambled admission resets it, and ending protection never touches it. How are my days counted?
- Deletion delay
- An optional restriction that stops any app on this phone being deleted while it holds, Fold’em included; turning it off opens a 72 hour window on the server. What is the deletion delay?
- Deletion lock
- The old name for the deletion delay. What is the deletion delay?
- DNS over HTTPS
- The encrypted form of the address lookup the web shield registers with iOS, which is why iOS calls it a DNS setting and why no traffic is tunnelled anywhere. How does Fold’em block betting sites?
- Exit request
- The old name for a request to end protection. How do I ask to end protection?
- Family Controls
- The Apple framework an app uses to ask for the one piece of Screen Time that blocks apps, granted once through a prompt iOS raises and confirms with Face ID. What are Screen Time and Family Controls?
- Fixed commitment
- The old name for protection that ended on a date you picked. There is no such date now and no length to choose. How long does protection run?
- Games
- The layer that blocks the whole App Store Games category through Screen Time, so a game installed later is caught without ever being named; turning it off starts a 72 hour wait on the phone's own clock. What does the Games layer do?
- Handover
- Moving the key to a new keyholder with both people's consent, which only a handover started before Fold’em 3.0 can still do: both yeses come within 7 days of the request, the key moves 7 days after the new keyholder accepts, and no request to end protection can start until it is over. Can I change who holds my key?
- Heartbeat
- The reading the phone sends about itself, on every foreground and on a background wake iOS schedules no sooner than four hours after the last one. How does Fold’em know the block is on?
- Invite code
- Your own eight character code: anyone who enters it before buying gets their first month free, and three of them paying past that month earns you a free year. How does the invite code work?
- Key
- The authority to answer your requests, held by one person at a time: on a request to end protection, saying no works from anywhere; a yes is a code they show you, from their app or their Wallet card, for you to scan while you are together; a request to end a Lockdown sooner they can answer from anywhere. What does my keyholder decide?
- Keyholder
- The one person you name to hold that key, invited with a link or a QR code you share yourself; they hold it once they ask to from your link and you accept their ask. How do I invite a keyholder?
- Lapse
- What follows when the subscription stops: a 72 hour window opens on the server, and if it runs out the server releases the shields. What happens if I stop paying?
- Layered self exclusion
- The app's checklist of four layers, of which Fold’em is the first and is already ticked; the other three are your country's support service, your bank's gambling block, and each operator's own scheme. Is Fold’em for me?
- Live Activity
- The lock screen and Dynamic Island banner that holds your place while you set Fold’em up, showing where you are and how far along. What is the setup Live Activity?
- Milestone
- A mark on your gambling free count at the milestone days the app shows on its ladder; if you share your run, the people in your circle see the milestones you reach. What is the gambling free count?
- Motivation notifications
- Short lines in a voice you pick, up to four a day inside a window you set, drawn and scheduled by your own phone; they ship switched off at a count of zero. What are motivation notifications?
- Ongoing commitment
- The old name for protection, back when it was one of two shapes. It is the only shape now, and it has no end date. How long does protection run?
- Pack
- One of the seven voices a block screen can speak in, six of them written and a seventh you write yourself; the screen draws one of its lines at random each time. What is the block screen?
- Panic pad
- The old name for the SOS widget. What is the SOS widget?
- Pledge
- The commitment you signed at the seal. How do I set Fold’em up?
- Protection
- What you sealed: the betting apps and addresses on this phone held shut, beginning the moment you seal it rather than the moment you pay. It has no end date and runs until it is ended, either by a request to end protection that is granted or by a lapse. How long does protection run?
- Protection on, Protection off and Not confirmed yet
- Three of the five words your keyholder and supporters see for you, read from the phone's own reports: the shield is applied, Screen Time is off or the shield is gone, or nothing has been heard for 24 hours or the apps are still being picked again after a reinstall. The other two are Protection at risk and Protection ended. The server's own names for the three, Verified, Revoked and Dark, are never shown to anyone. What do Protection on, Protection off and Not confirmed yet mean?
- Provisional delivery
- The tier iOS files a notification under with no banner, no sound and no permission prompt at all; a phone with protection on starts there. Why are notifications delivered quietly?
- Recovery
- Putting the block back after a reinstall or a move to a new phone: Screen Time is allowed again and the apps are picked again on that phone, and everything else comes back from the server. What if I delete and reinstall the app?
- Release
- What the server marks as available at the end of a wait; your apps open when you take it and not before, and the offer is held for seven days and then closes again unused. Why does protection not end by itself?
- Request to end protection
- The record the server writes when you ask to end protection; nothing about the block changes while it runs, and with a keyholder it is theirs to decide. How do I ask to end protection?
- Resolver
- Fold’em’s own name server at
dns.foldem.app, which every address lookup on this phone is pointed at and which answers a known gambling domain with0.0.0.0. How does Fold’em block betting sites? - Screen Time
- Apple's own restriction system, built into iOS, which is what actually holds the block on your apps; Fold’em asks for it and never sees which apps you use. What are Screen Time and Family Controls?
- Seal
- The slide at the end of setup that applies the shields: each row lights as the thing it names becomes true, your signature inks itself, and the day count starts. How do I set Fold’em up?
- Self exclusion
- Putting gambling out of your own reach, so that undoing it takes more than a change of mind; the app's checklist calls Fold’em layer one of the four it lists. What is Fold’em?
- Solo mode
- The old name for protection with nobody holding the key: no decision is waiting on anybody, and a request is ready seven days after you ask. How do I end protection with no keyholder?
- SOS
- The full screen that opens from the Need help right now? bar above the tab bar, the SOS widget and the block screen: short guides for before, during and after an urge, Talk to someone, and Lockdown; nothing on it can loosen protection. What is SOS?
- SOS widget
- The small home screen widget whose whole face is one tap to SOS; it never shows a day count or anybody's name, and the one line it can add is when your own Lockdown run ends. What is the SOS widget?
- Subscription and the lock
- The two things protection needs at once, and they are separate decisions: your subscription bills on Apple's dates and your protection runs until it is ended. The one place they meet is a lapse. What happens if I stop paying?
- Supporter
- A person in your circle who does not hold the key: they see how you are doing and hear when it matters, and have no say in ending protection; up to three of them. What is a supporter?
- Term
- The old name for your protection. How long does protection run?
- Trial
- The seven free days a subscription opens with when Apple says your account is eligible; the phone reminds you three days before it ends. How does the free trial work?
- Unlock request
- The old name for a request to end protection. How do I ask to end protection?
- Wall
- What setup calls the layers it builds before the seal: Screen Time, gambling sites, Games, gambling apps, the deletion delay and Lockdown. How do I set Fold’em up?
- Web shield
- The DNS setting that points every lookup this phone makes at Fold’em’s resolver, so a known gambling site never loads in any browser; iOS keeps the switch, so Fold’em can read it and never turn it off. How does Fold’em block betting sites?
- Witness
- The old name for a supporter. What is a supporter?
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