New App Will Block Users from 'Mindless Scrolling' Until They 'Literally' Touch Grass

Mar. 15, 2025

The “Touch Grass” app image.Photo:Apple

Apple

A new app will force users toactuallytouch grass in an effort to reduce their most addictive phone habits.

True to its name, the app will require users to prove they have “literally” touched grass using “computer vision” for “smart grass detection.”

Users will get to choose which apps to block and simply “take a photo of grass” when they want to access them.

Touch Grass is aimed at “breaking phone addiction” and “building healthier habits” while “finding balance with technology” and “reconnecting with nature,” according to its app store description.

Rhys Kentish, the British developer behind the app, toldCNETthat he got the idea for the app after realizing he was spending too much time on his own cellphone.

“My reflex in the morning was to reach over, grab my phone and start scrolling,” Kentish explained. “I knew this wasn’t healthy and on top of that, I needed an incentive to get outside more especially in the winter months.”

He added, “I also love apps that merge the digital world with the real world and I found the concept of touching grass funny, so I thought, why not create an app that forces me to do so?”

Images from the Touch Grass app.Apple

On top of forcing its users outside, Touch Grass will also “track your screen time progress” and offer “flexible unblock durations” as well as a free “skip” once a month.

Additionally, 50% of all “skip purchase profits” will support rewilding projects in the United Kingdom.

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Kentish said Touch Grass has more than 28,000 preorders ahead of its launch, according to CNET. The app will initially only be available to iPhone users, but an Android version of the app is on the way.

“I hope it first gives [users] a good laugh,” Kentish told CNET, “but more importantly I hope it offers them a chance to disconnect from the shackles of the digital world and allow them to connect with nature more.”

source: people.com