How to lock apps until you’ve read the Quran

Guide · 29 October 2026

If you pick up your phone meaning to read and end up scrolling, the problem isn’t willpower. It’s the order: the apps come first. Here are three ways to change that, from your phone’s built-in settings to an app made for it.

The steps below are for iPhone. Apple renamed these settings in iOS 27. Both names are given below; to see which version you have, open Settings → General → About.

1. A quiet time every day

On iPhone, the Screen Time settings can keep most apps closed during set hours. In iOS 27 this is Settings → Screen Time → Screen Time Schedule; in iOS 26 and earlier it’s Downtime.

1. Add a time window that starts at your reading time, for example straight after Fajr, and ends half an hour later.
2. Allow your Quran app during it, so it stays open while everything else waits.

Good for: a fixed, phone-free window. The catch: it ends when the clock says so, whether you read or not, and on your own phone you can switch it off.

2. A daily allowance

You can also cap how long you spend each day on apps or categories such as Social Media. In iOS 27 this is Settings → Screen Time → Time Allowances; in iOS 26 and earlier it’s App Limits.

Good for: using those apps less overall. The catch: it limits the apps but doesn’t point you to the Quran, and on your own phone more time is easy to allow.

A Screen Time passcode that someone else keeps makes both of these harder to switch off. That works for some people; others find it turns a habit into a fight.

3. Unlock by reading, not by the clock

What these settings can’t do is tie your apps to the reading itself. On iPhone, apps built for this use Apple’s Screen Time to pause the apps you choose until you’ve read in the app. This is what Qalil does:

1. Choose the apps that distract you, and a daily time.
2. At that time, they pause. Open one and you’ll see a Qalil screen instead, with a way into the reader.
3. Read the Quran for your daily minutes (five to start). Only active reading counts.
4. Your apps unlock for the rest of the day.

The daily time grows a little after each week where you read on at least 5 days, up to a maximum you set. For travel or illness, Pause turns it off for 1 to 10 days and it resumes by itself.

Which one to choose

• You want a phone-free half hour: a Screen Time schedule.
• You want to use social apps less overall: a daily allowance.
• You want the Quran to come first, every day: an app that unlocks after reading.

They also work together: a daily allowance for the rest of the day, and reading first at your chosen time.

A few habits that help any of them

• Put your Quran app on the first home screen and move social apps off it.
• Read at the same time every day. See how to build a daily Quran habit that lasts.
• Start with minutes you can keep on a bad day. Five is enough.

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