Pause-before-you-open apps

Looking for a Clema alternative?

Clema calls itself a screen-time companion: instead of a hard block, you talk the urge through with a character that stays alive while you stay focused. Paused is a different shape of app, so this is a comparison rather than a pitch — the table starts with what Clema does better.

Clema vs Paused, side by side

ClemaPaused
Known forClema calls itself a screen-time companion: instead of a hard block, you talk the urge through with a character that stays alive while you stay focused.Block Schedules that switch your chosen apps off at set times and back on afterwards, one-tap Focus sessions for right now, and a streak that counts the days you kept the block.
Genuinely better atGentleness. Clema is designed for people who find blockers cold, and turns each urge to scroll into a short, guided check-in.Paused is the opposite temperament — a quiet, automatic block on a schedule — for people who would rather not negotiate at all.
Day to day it feels likeThe apps still open, but not instantly: a pause, a breath, a question or a reason first. It lowers the number of impulse opens rather than switching anything off.A small, boring wall. You pick the apps, pick the hours, and they stop opening — no coins, no plants, no hardware, no reasons to type. A calm Paused screen where the app used to be.

Stay with Clema if…

…you want encouragement more than enforcement. Paused enforces.

We would rather you kept an app that fits than switched and quietly turned it off after a fortnight. A blocker you have disabled is not a blocker.

What Paused does not do

Said up front, because this is the part comparison pages usually leave out.

What you get if you do switch

Get Paused — free on the App StoreGet →