Each pass costs more than the last

What counts as a pass?

The count is per app per day and resets at local midnight. A pass is a round you start and finish. A round you fail does not raise the next cost, and the check you do while setting up an automation is free. The idea is that the first pass is cheap, and by the fifth you are paying a minute of your attention for a few minutes of feed.

An example day with Pro: you open a feed app at 8:10 and pass a 15-second round, open it again at lunch and pass 30 seconds, then the evening opening costs 60 seconds. If you set a limit of five passes, the sixth opening shows Done for today. None of this locks the app, and all of it is visible in your log.

Why does a pass cost more each time?

The point of an escalating cost is that the fifth opening of the day should feel different from the first. A 15-second round is easy to accept at 8 am. Sixty seconds of focus at 10 pm, for a feed you have already opened four times, makes you ask whether you want it. Cost is the only part of Ebb that grows with your own behavior, which is why it sits at the center of Pro.

The doubling stops at 60 seconds on purpose. A longer round would turn the gate into a wall and invite you to delete the automation, which would defeat the whole idea.

What does a day with Ebb Pro look like in practice?

Picture a weekday with a limit of five passes on a social app. At 7:40 the first opening costs 15 seconds and you take 5 minutes. At lunch the second costs 30 seconds. By the evening the third costs 60, and you decide the feed is not worth a full minute, so you close the gate and count it as turning back.

The log for that day would read three runs, two passes and one turn back. The numbers appear on the Today screen and in the weekly receipt, so you can compare weeks without keeping notes.

Can I set a daily limit?

In Pro, each gate has a passes-per-day setting with 3, 5, 10 or no limit, and the default budget is 5. When you use it up, Ebb shows Done for today and says that you set the limit, and that Ebb cannot stop you but this is the line you drew. You can still choose something else to do.

What are the Morning and Night rules?

Two optional Pro rules make the gate harder at the hours when scrolling tends to take over. The Morning rule covers the first 60 minutes after your wake time with 60-second rounds. The Night rule runs from bedtime to wake time with 60-second rounds and a 5-minute maximum after a pass. You set both times in the app.

How do you pick a pass limit?

Start with the default of 5 and look at your gate log after a week. If you rarely reach the limit, lower it to 3 for the apps that cost you the most. If you hit it every day by mid-afternoon, the limit is too tight for your habits, and a fixed 5 with Morning and Night rules may work better than a harsh number you ignore.

• 3 passes: for the one app you most want to cut down.
• 5 passes: the default, a reasonable first week.
• 10 passes: for apps you use for work or messaging.
• No limit: costs still escalate, but nothing says Done for today.

What is a focus session?

A session lasts 25, 50 or 90 minutes. During it, every gate shows the time left and costs 60 seconds to pass. You can end it early at no cost. Free includes one session a day and Pro has no limit.

What stays the same in the free version?

Free keeps a fixed 15-second round and 5 minutes after a pass for one app. The reason is plain: the free gate should work well enough to judge. Pro adds the escalation and extra controls. See the gate for the full flow and the focus game for the rounds.