The block is not a punishment. It is a gate that opens when you have paid yourself instead, and closes again on the 1st.
Sportsbooks, casinos, prediction markets, the memecoin apps you open at 2am. You choose them on your phone and iOS Screen Time holds them shut. Your picks stay on the device: iOS never tells us which apps you chose.
What you will move into savings or investing this month. Your number, not a default we picked for you. It is the only thing standing between you and the apps.
Connect a bank and deposits into your own account count themselves. Or screenshot the transfer and log it. Either counts, and both have to be money going to you.
Goal met, the block lifts for the rest of the month. Pull the money back out and the block returns. On the 1st everything re-arms and the deal renews.
A blocker you can switch off is a promise you made to yourself with no consequence. Amblee is built so the only way past it is the thing you wanted to do anyway.
A timer opens when the clock runs out. Amblee opens when a verified deposit into your own account clears. Waiting does nothing; paying yourself does everything.
What counts is what stays in the account, not what passed through it. Move the money in and move it back out and you are where you started, and so is the block.
The unlock is for this month only. On the 1st the block returns and a new number is due. There is no permanent off switch to find.
If your phone cannot reach our server for more than 48 hours, the block stays on. It never falls open. No connection, a stale connection, or a lapsed subscription all mean the same thing: blocked.
For a real emergency, a hardship unlock lifts the block for 24 hours after a 10-minute delay, up to 3 times a month. It works even if your subscription has lapsed. A billing failure can never lock you out of your own phone.
Both routes end in the same place: money in an account that is yours. Amblee never holds, moves, or invests it.
Link an account through Plaid and deposits count themselves. Access is read-only: Amblee can see that money moved. It can never move it. There is no balance to hold, no transfer to authorise, and no card in the middle.
No bank link, or an account Plaid does not reach? Screenshot the transfer confirmation and log it. The image is read on your phone and never leaves it. Only the amount is sent.
Either counts. A logged screenshot and a bank-verified deposit unlock the same way. Withdraw the money and the block returns either way.