Set the tasks. Your child does the work and snaps a photo. You approve it from your phone — and their apps unlock. No fights, no begging.
Download EarnedBack — freeiPhone · Free to start · Built by a dad, not a big tech company
earned, not begged ✓Everything runs from the parent's phone. Your child's phone only holds up their end.
Homework, chores, reading — you decide what earns screen time, and which apps stay locked until it's done.
Your child finishes the task and submits photo proof right in the app. Stuck on homework? Built-in AI help teaches the method — it never hands over answers.
One tap on your phone and their apps open up. They didn't beg for it — they earned it ✓
Built on Apple's own Screen Time controls. Locked apps are locked — not on the honor system.
Your child submits a photo of the finished work. A private AI check flags what looks incomplete — for your eyes only. You make the call.
When they're stuck, the AI tutor shows the method with a worked example — never the answer to their actual problem.
Only a parent can choose which apps get blocked. Kids can't quietly change the deal.
Grab both phones and do this together once. After that, everything runs from yours.
1. On your phone: add your child in EarnedBack and share the invite code.
2. On their phone: open EarnedBack, enter the code, and follow the setup card.
3. Apple requires the child's iPhone to have a device passcode at the moment you approve Screen Time access. If there isn't one, iOS will ask you to create one — that's Apple's rule, and it only matters during this one-time setup.
4. Approve access and pick the apps your child has to earn. Your Parent PIN protects this picker.
Yes. The passcode is only needed for that one-time approval. After setup, you can turn it off (Settings → Face ID & Passcode) and App Lock keeps working.
That said, we recommend two quick settings on your child's phone that make the deal much stronger — see the next section.
Both live in Settings → Screen Time on your child's phone:
Set a Screen Time passcode your child doesn't know. It's separate from the device passcode and stops them from switching off Screen Time access.
Turn on "Don't Allow Deleting Apps" (Content & Privacy Restrictions → iTunes & App Store Purchases). This blocks the oldest trick in the book: deleting the app to escape the lock.
Lock and unlock changes apply the next time your child opens EarnedBack on their phone. Their apps stay exactly as they were until then.
Does my child's phone need internet? Yes — updates travel over Wi-Fi or cellular.
New phone? Run the same 5-minute setup once on the new one.
Can my child change which apps are blocked? No — the app picker asks for your Parent PIN.
Can I change the blocked apps from my phone? Tap "Request new app selection" on your child's page. The picker opens on their phone next time they open EarnedBack — PIN required.
Free to start. Five minutes to set up. work before play ✓
Get EarnedBack on the App Store