Start clearly, adjust calmly.

Start with your choice

1. Open Protect in RLX and grant Screen Time access when Apple asks.
2. Choose your apps, categories, or websites in Apple’s own picker. For one app, RLX shows the name and icon Apple makes available. For a larger or mixed choice, RLX summarises what Apple provides.
3. Review your choice and turn on Shield when you are ready.

Making a choice is not the same as activating a boundary. RLX shows separately when Shield is actually on. If Apple does not provide an app name, RLX does not invent one.

Adjust protection

Under Rules, first manage your fixed choice for Shield. Automatic rules block their own selection at a set time or after a daily limit, and also join as soon as Shield is on. Use Locked only for a deliberate period of stricter protection, with an exit you choose in advance.

To change something, open the matching selection or rule and choose a different app, category, website, time, or limit. RLX keeps these layers visibly separate.

Pause Before Opening

Pause Before Opening works only with individual apps. Choose an app you do not want to block, but do want to open more deliberately. When you open it, RLX first shows a brief pause. If you continue, that same app stays open for 15 minutes.

Apple also shows categories and websites in the picker, but RLX does not save them for Pause Before Opening. Before saving, you see exactly which individual apps will be kept. Use Protect and Rules for categories and websites.

When a permission is off

Open Settings in RLX, then choose Permissions & Privacy. It shows the current, verifiable state of each connection. Restore denied Screen Time, calendar, microphone, or speech access on the RLX page in iOS Settings; notifications have their own iOS Notifications page. Manage Health permissions in Apple Health. RLX does not show a button to a system screen that iOS cannot actually open.

Having a selection is not the same as active enforcement. If in doubt, check under Protect whether Screen Time access is allowed, which layer is active, and when it ends.

What RLX can and cannot protect

RLX uses Apple Screen Time on iPhone. Apple determines which apps, categories, and websites are available in the system picker. RLX protects only what you choose there; website and category choices can also apply in Safari and WebKit through Apple’s protection.

Alongside what you choose in Apple’s picker, Safari has a separate optional layer. It limits only the adult-site filter (18+) or clearly named domain sets you deliberately enable. It is not a universal filter for every page in every browser or app.

Child Mode on the device

Child Mode runs locally on the child’s iPhone. A parent manages the boundaries on that device with a local PIN; Apple Family Sharing and Screen Time authorization determine access. RLX has no account, server, or remote monitoring.

Your data, iCloud copy, and restore

Under Your Data, you can erase individual sections, create a complete manual export, or manage the optional iCloud copy. That copy contains rules, settings, tasks, parked purchases, Child Mode settings, Finally, Minimal links, and article and protection progress. Your journal, worries, support plan, and wellbeing data stay local and are included only when you deliberately make a complete export. Apple app selections, Screen Time tokens, steps, sleep, and daylight read from Apple Health, passcodes, and active hard commitments are included in neither.

Erase all your data attempts to remove all local RLX data and device secrets, then asks iCloud to delete the RLX copy. If RLX cannot confirm that every local storage layer is empty, it says that only part was erased and lets you retry; data already erased is not restored. If iCloud is temporarily unavailable, RLX keeps only a content-free pending marker and retries when you open the app again. Copies you previously exported or shared remain wherever you chose to save them. During Strict Mode or an active Locked commitment, erasing remains unavailable because it would otherwise bypass that commitment.

Wellbeing and urgent help

RLX is a wellbeing utility, not medical care or an emergency service. If you or someone else may be in immediate danger, contact the local emergency services or a trusted person nearby. Do not wait for the app or email support.

Contact

For a bug, question, privacy, or security concern, email Jan Litjens (Dutch Yankees) at litjens@me.com. Do not include journal text, app selections, Screen Time tokens, passcodes, Apple Account details, or screenshots with private child information unless strictly necessary. If something must be included, send as little as possible.