StarBlocker / Use cases / Online shopping
Block online shopping on Mac, Windows, iPhone* and Android
Block online shopping and impulse buying
Browser extensions that add a pause at checkout stop working when you open the app on your phone. StarBlocker runs the same rule on every device you own and judges the screen, so a marketplace, a sale email, a TikTok shop and a checkout page are all shopping to it.
Rules you could write
- No online shopping or browsing stores unless it's groceries.
- Ten minutes a day of shopping sites, none after 9pm.
A rule is a sentence. StarBlocker's AI reads what is on your screen every few seconds and judges it against the sentence. There is no list to maintain, and a new site is covered the day it appears.
How StarBlocker handles it
Describe it, don't list it
Amazon, Temu, Shein, eBay, Etsy, Depop, the TikTok shop, the site you found through an ad: all of it is shopping to a rule that says so. Exceptions like groceries or work purchases go in the same sentence.
A daily budget instead of a ban
A time limit gives shopping ten minutes a day, spent across every device. When the budget is gone the screen is covered until tomorrow.
Late-night rules
A schedule turns the rule on at 9pm and off in the morning without you doing anything.
A wait you cannot skip
The block screen is a wait, not a confirm button. The first in a window is thirty seconds, then a minute, and the fourth is a ten-minute break on every device.
Every device, one account
- MacStarBlocker for macOS
- WindowsStarBlocker for Windows
- iPhoneStarBlocker for iOS
- AndroidStarBlocker for Android
* On iPhone, StarBlocker judges everything you do in Safari. It cannot see inside other apps: those can be blocked or time-limited, but not judged.
Questions
Does it block the Amazon app on my phone?
On Android, the app reads the screen and judges it like any site. On iPhone, Safari is judged and the Amazon app can be blocked outright or given a daily time limit; iOS does not let an app see inside another app.
Can I still buy things I actually need?
Yes. Write the exception into the rule, such as groceries, pharmacy or work supplies, and the AI judges each screen against the whole sentence. Or use a time limit instead of a block.
Does it see my card details?
Frames are judged and not kept. StarBlocker does not store screenshots on its servers, and nothing on screen is shown to anyone. The privacy policy describes what is processed.
What about shopping through social media?
A rule about shopping applies to a storefront inside Instagram or TikTok the same way, because StarBlocker judges what is on the screen, not which app drew it.
Related
One rule, every device.
Sign up, write a rule, and install StarBlocker on each device.
Get started free →