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Your term

Does the block switch off at the end?

Updated September 2026

No. Reaching the end of a term marks it complete and leaves every shield exactly where it was, because a block that lifted itself at midnight would meet you at the worst possible moment with no decision made. The apps stay sealed, the sites stay blocked and Home says so. Ending the block is a separate act, and there are only three things that end one: your own explicit stop after a completed term, the early exit path, or a subscription lapse.

The end is a fork, not a fade

When a fixed term reaches its end instant, the server marks it complete and, in the same write, clears the field that would grant a release. Nothing is loosened. Your phone reads that state, keeps applying the same shield store it was already applying, and shows you the completed face. This is the designed behaviour and not a delay: the expired state exists precisely so a term can finish without anything opening by itself.

It is worth being blunt about who decides. Your phone never decides that a block ends. It applies what the server says and re applies it after a restart, a reinstall or a new phone, and it runs no timer that could unlock anything.

A term, from the pledge to what comes after it A line runs from left to right. It starts at the pledge, then the seal, then the days tick upward. Milestones sit on the line at 7, 30 and 90 days of the term, and at 180 and 365 days of the gambling free run, which a new term does not reset, lit in sun colours. At the end of the term the line forks three ways: renew for another term, extend the one you are in, or the ongoing line, which has no end. A TERM, START TO END Pledge you sign it Seal day 1 begins 7 30 90 180 365 7, 30, 90 on the term; 180, 365 on your run Term end Renewanother term Extendthis one, further Ongoingno end date Nothing switches off at the end.
A term runs from the pledge and the seal through the term's milestones at 7, 30 and 90 days to its end, with 180 and 365 counted on your gambling free run, which a new term does not reset,, where it forks: renew, extend, or the ongoing line with no end date. Nothing switches off by itself.

What it looks like on the day

  1. The word changes, the block does not

    Home reads TERM COMPLETE, the readout turns around to show what you held, and the four lenses stay lit because every layer is still running. Nothing on the screen offers to unlock anything. The one card is Start a new term, and the way out sits behind it, deliberately smaller.

    Home reading TERM COMPLETE with all four lenses still lit and a card offering to start a new term.

    Complete, and still holding

The three things that do end a block

You stop it after a completed term. The quiet fork under Start a new term asks the server to release you, and it confirms first. Nothing on the phone is cleared when you tap it; the shields hold until the server's grant arrives.

You leave early. That is the exit path, and it has its own page. Your keyholder can only agree in person, a wait of at least 72 hours starts from the moment they do, the wait is 14 days if you have no keyholder, and even at the end of it the apps open when you take the release rather than by themselves.

Your subscription lapses. When the entitlement ends, the server opens a window and releases the block three days later, the lapse window. That is the fastest way out of the product and it is still a server decision: the phone does not drop a shield because a receipt expired, and your keyholder is told.

The one thing your phone decides alone

There is exactly one release your own phone runs, and naming it is the honest way to say the rule holds everywhere else. Switching off the Games category shield starts a 72 hour wait counted on the phone's own clock, and when it runs out the category opens. It is allowed to work that way because the server never owned that switch, and it touches nothing else: not your term, not the apps you picked, not the web shield, not the deletion lock and not an exit.

What this does not do

A completed term does not keep you blocked forever without your agreement: stopping is one tap and a confirmation away, and it is meant to be findable. Equally, nothing here makes the block permanent against the three routes above, and none of them is instant. Deleting the app does not end a term, and neither does deleting your account during one. What a completed term does is put the decision in your hands on a day you chose in advance, rather than making it for you at midnight.

Still stuck? Email support@foldem.app and we answer within two working days.