Monkly · An app for readers

Your apps are locked.
Reading is the key.

Monkly shields your most distracting apps and gives the time back — one page at a time. Pick what to block. Open a book. Watch the minutes return.

Get early access iPhone · iOS 16+ · coming soon

Plate I · The Meter

Watch the minutes add up while you read.

One minute of reading earns two minutes of app time — counted live, right on the page. The little amber meter at the top never stops while your eyes move.

Fig. I — the live earn meter, reading Meditations.

Monkly's reader showing Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, with a live earn meter reading plus zero minutes twenty-six seconds at the top.

Plate II · The Wallet

Earn it. Bank it. Spend it where you like.

Your reading becomes a balance you can see — minutes available, today's haul, your streak. When it runs dry, the apps close and the book reopens.

Today: 16 minutes available.

Fig. II — your balance on the home page. That forest-green “Unlock Apps” button is the same green as the button on this site.

Monkly home screen showing 16 minutes available to spend, a 1-day reading streak, 13 app categories blocked, and an Unlock Apps button.

The Rule

No book, no apps. That's the whole deal.

Monkly doesn't nag, gamify, or shame. It just holds the door until you've read — then gets out of your way.

How it works

Simple. Ruthless. Effective.

No willpower required — just a deal you make with yourself once.

Block your time-traps.

Pick the apps that pull you in. Monkly locks them during your chosen hours. No exceptions.

Read to earn it back.

Open any book. Every minute you read banks two minutes of app time, counted live.

Spend it, guilt-free.

Unlock your apps with minutes you actually earned. Run out, and the book is waiting.

Plate III · The Library

A shelf of great books, ready to open.

Stoics and strategists, detectives and adventurers — Meditations, The Art of War, Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll & Hyde and more public-domain classics, free to read. Or import your own EPUB. Every one of them earns minutes the same way.

Fig. III — the shelf, six volumes in. The amber “+3m” badge on Meditations means the library and the meter are one system.

Monkly library with six book covers including Meditations, The Art of War, Sherlock Holmes, and Jekyll and Hyde, each showing reading progress.

Plate IV · The Payoff

Twelve books a year, instead of four hundred hours of scrolling.

Monkly keeps the receipts — hours read, pages turned, books finished, your streak held. Watch the time you'd have lost turn into chapters you actually keep.

read this week
3.2h
pages read
1,432
books finished
7
total reading
52h

Fig. IV — a week of reading, in full.

Monkly stats showing 3.2 hours read this week, 1,432 pages read, 7 books finished, and a bar chart of daily reading.

The Colophon

Be proud of your screen time.

Streaks, stats, and a quiet monk rooting for you. Monkly is coming to iPhone — leave your email and we'll send the download the day it ships.

Get early access App Store · soon iPhone · we'll only email you once

— your monk