Why Unlure makes you wait three days to turn blocking off

Disclosure: this article was drafted with AI assistance. I built Unlure.

Most blockers can be switched off in a few seconds. I built Unlure (https://unlure.in), a porn blocker for Windows and Android, around the opposite choice: turning protection off, unblocking a site or switching off a filter each takes three days. Protection stays on while you wait.

This post explains the idea behind that wait, using two public sources: a 2023 study of a phone app that adds a short pause, and a rule that regulates online gambling in Britain. Neither tested Unlure, and neither says three days is the right length. They show why a pause before acting is a recognised design idea, and Unlure is my application of it.

A short pause changes what people do

In 2023, researchers published a field study in PNAS of one sec, a smartphone app that makes chosen apps wait 10 seconds before opening and offers a button to close instead. The researchers followed 280 participants over six weeks. On average, in 36% of attempts to open a chosen app, people closed it again after the pause. Over the six weeks they also attempted to open those apps 37% less than in the first week. Together, the authors report that one sec decreased actual openings by 57% after six weeks.

A preregistered online experiment with 500 participants then tested the app's parts. The option to dismiss had the strongest effect. The authors report that the time delay also played a role.

The limits matter. The six-week field study compared people with their own first week and had no control group. Participants chose to install the app, and the work covered phone apps, not blocking adult content. One of the authors, Frederik Riedel, created one sec, and the paper discloses this.

Tighten now, loosen later

The UK Gambling Commission sets technical standards for online gambling operators. Requirement 12D covers the financial limits customers set on their own accounts. A customer's request to lower a limit must be applied immediately, unless a system or technical failure prevents it. A request to raise a limit can only happen after a cooling-off period of at least 24 hours, and only once the customer takes a positive action at the end of that period to confirm.

The rule is about gambling limits, not blockers. I found it useful as a public example of the same asymmetry: making yourself safer should be instant, and making yourself less safe should take longer.

How Unlure applies the idea

Unlure uses that asymmetry. Adding a site to your block list or switching a filter back on happens at once. Turning protection off, unblocking a site, switching off a filter or shortening the wait takes three days. During the wait you can cancel the request at any point and nothing changes. When the wait ends, a code appears in your dashboard. Type it in and protection switches off. If you do nothing with the code for a day, the request lapses and protection stays on.

Three days is my design choice for Unlure. The studies above did not test it, and nothing here shows it works better than another length for any particular person.

What Unlure is

• A blocker for adult sites in every browser and app on Windows 10/11 and Android. iPhone, iPad and Mac are not supported yet.
• Designed to work on the address lookups a device already makes, rather than routing pages through Unlure.
• Designed not to record the sites you visit, screenshots, what you type, your location or which apps you use. The dashboard shows your settings, your blocked sites and counts of lookups blocked and answered.
• Not a medical product. It blocks; it does not diagnose or treat anything.

Limits worth knowing

• On Windows, someone with an administrator account can still remove it by hand. For stronger protection, use a standard account day to day and keep the administrator password with someone you trust.
• Unlure is new, so Windows may show a warning when you open the installer.

Pricing

Unlure is sold as time-limited packs of 1, 3 or 6 months, from Rs 199, paid once per pack by UPI or card through Dodo Payments. Nothing renews by itself. When a pack ends, protection stays on for three more days and then switches off. If Unlure does not work on your device, you can ask for a full refund within 7 days of paying.

Details and the case studies: https://unlure.in and https://www.unlure.in/case-studies

Sources

• Grüning, Riedel and Lorenz-Spreen (2023), Directing smartphone use through the self-nudge app one sec, PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2213114120
• UK Gambling Commission, Remote gambling and software technical standards, RTS 12 Financial limits (requirement 12D): https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/standards/remote-gambling-and-software-technical-standards/rts-12-financial-limits