Happy Squid

Feature Documentation

1. What Happy Squid does

Happy Squid is an intelligent blocker. You block the websites and apps that pull you away most often, and Happy Squid keeps them out of reach, without cutting off the parts of them that are worth keeping.

1.1 The idea

Most blockers treat a website as one thing: either you can open it or you cannot. But you might block Instagram and still need to message a friend, block YouTube and still need to watch a lecture, block Reddit and still need the one answer somebody posted three years ago.

Happy Squid can be as strict as you want it to be, up to a wall over the whole web that you cannot uninstall your way out of (section 11.7). What makes it different is what it does at the other end.

It blocks the site and lets you name the reasons worth making an exception for. Pick one of the exceptions Happy Squid suggests, write your own, or chat with Happy Squid to explain something you never saw coming. If your reason checks out, Happy Squid unblocks the site and holds you to that reason while you are there.

1.2 The words used in this guide

  • Block. The websites, categories and apps you have put together, with one switch, one set of exceptions, one Free Time budget, one schedule and one lock. A block can hold just one item or a mixture of them all.
  • Exception. A reason you have written down in advance for visiting a blocked site. Picking one opens the site, and Happy Squid checks that what you do there fits the reason you picked.
  • Task. A stretch of time where you tell Happy Squid what you are working on, and it blocks everything unrelated for the duration.
  • Free Time. A budget of minutes you can spend on your blocked sites, in your own time, without giving any reason at all.
  • Lock. A commitment with a deadline. While a lock runs you can make your blocks stricter, and you cannot make them looser.
  • Angry Squid. A harder mode. Your written exceptions come off the blocked page, and the only way through is to convince Happy Squid.
  • The blocked page. What you see instead of a blocked site. It is where your exceptions, Free Time and the chat all live.

1.3 The markers you will see

A few things in Happy Squid are drawn rather than written:

  • An open padlock. On a block's row: nothing is locked, and pressing it is how you lock the block.
  • A closed padlock with a time beside it. The block is locked for that time. Pressing it offers Extend lock.
  • A closed padlock without a time beside it. Global Lock can keep a block locked without showing a time on its row. You can still set or extend that block’s own lock.
  • A padlock that shakes. You pressed something a lock does not allow. The padlock that shakes is the one refusing.
  • A clock with a time beside it. On a block's row, what that block has left of its own Free Time (section 8.6). In the Mac menu bar, Free Time draining right now.
  • A flame, on the Task Goals row. Your streak. Press it to see the count.
  • The squid on the blocked page. It changes with the situation. The happy squid means you opened a blocked site. The blocked squid, above the words “has been blocked”, means Happy Squid took you off a page you were already on. The angry squid means Angry Squid is running (section 13).

1.4 The language you write in

For normal use Happy Squid's contextual evaluation is extremely solid in any language, but we have noticed improved performance in edge cases when exceptions and Tasks are written in English, especially when they are very short.

What Happy Squid collects, why, and what you can ask us to do with it is set out in our Privacy Policy.

2. Where you can use it

Happy Squid runs in your browser, on your Mac, and on your phone. You sign in with the same account everywhere, and your blocks and settings are there when you arrive.

2.1 The browser extension

The extension is where most people start, and it works on its own, and nothing else has to be installed. It is available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, and the Chrome version also covers the other Chromium browsers such as Brave, Arc, Opera and Vivaldi. You can find all of them on our download page.

Install it, sign in with your Happy Squid account, and you are ready to make your first block.

2.2 The desktop app

The desktop app runs on macOS and is what makes Happy Squid hard to walk away from. It adds three things the extension cannot do on its own.

  • It blocks applications, not just websites.
  • It closes any browser that is not running Happy Squid. Switch on Close browsers running without the extension and a browser opened without Happy Squid working in it is given a short grace period to connect, and then closed. Installing a second browser, or running one with the extension removed or disabled, is therefore not a way round your own blocks. It is your whole machine that is covered, not the one browser you set things up in.
  • It cannot be uninstalled while a lock is running. Happy Squid protects its own app on your Mac for as long as any lock is active, so deleting it is not an escape either. Once the lock ends it uninstalls normally.

Once the app is running, a small squid sits in the menu bar at the top of your screen. Click it to bring Happy Squid forward, and click it again to put it away. It also carries a countdown: a number on its own is a running Task, and a number behind a clock is Free Time draining.

Windows support is coming soon.

2.3 Android

2.3.1 Permissions

Happy Squid asks for three permissions when you first open it. You can check them any time in Happy Squid's Settings → Permissions, or find each one in your phone's Settings app as shown below. The names there vary slightly between phone makers.

  • Accessibility service lets Happy Squid see which website or app is open, so it can block it. Settings → Accessibility → Downloaded apps → Happy Squid.
  • Display over other apps lets Happy Squid show its block screen over a blocked app or website. Settings → Apps → Special app access → Display over other apps → Happy Squid.
  • Battery optimization must be off for Happy Squid, so Android does not stop it in the background. Settings → Apps → Happy Squid → App battery usage → Unrestricted.

Notifications are optional. Happy Squid uses them for warnings and countdowns. Turn them on in Happy Squid's Settings → Notifications, or in Settings → Apps → Happy Squid → Notifications.

2.3.2 Websites and apps

Happy Squid blocks websites and apps on Android. Blocking a website automatically selects its matching installed apps. You can also block apps by name before installing them.

2.3.3 Intelligent exceptions

Intelligent exceptions work in the YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok apps. Add the app under Apps in the block editor, then open Exceptions to add your reasons. Other apps can be opened through Free Time or the chat.

2.3.4 Uninstall protection

Uninstall protection, in Advanced Settings → Android, is off by default. Switch it on to protect Happy Squid from removal. Once it is on, a running lock keeps it on.

2.4 iOS

2.4.1 Permissions

Happy Squid asks for two permissions when you first open it. You can check them any time in Happy Squid's Settings → Permissions, or find each one in your iPhone's Settings app as shown below.

  • Screen Time lets Happy Squid block apps, and whole websites outside Safari. Settings → Screen Time → Apps with Screen Time Access.
  • Safari Extension must be on, with Other Websites set to Allow. Safari starts Other Websites on Ask, and until it is Allow the extension cannot do anything. Settings → Apps → Safari → Extensions → Happy Squid.

Notifications are optional. Happy Squid uses them for warnings and countdowns. Turn them on in Happy Squid's Settings → Notifications, or in Settings → Notifications → Happy Squid.

2.4.2 Safari and other browsers

Use Safari with the Happy Squid extension for Happy Squid to work fully. Outside Safari, Happy Squid can block apps and whole websites, but category blocking and intelligent website exceptions require Safari.

2.4.3 Choosing apps

Open Apps in the block editor, choose one app, then identify it by name. Repeat to add more apps to the block. You can rename an app later.

2.4.4 Opening a blocked app

A blocked app shows Open Happy Squid and, when available, Use Free Time. Open Happy Squid to chat about access. Once access is granted, Happy Squid opens the app for you where possible; otherwise, return to it yourself. If Open Happy Squid only closes the blocked app, open Happy Squid yourself.

2.4.5 Countdowns

Countdowns appear on the Lock Screen and, on supported iPhones, in the Dynamic Island. Choose which to show in Settings → Notifications.

2.4.6 Uninstall protection

Uninstall protection, in Advanced Settings → iOS, is on by default. It prevents app removal while a lock runs. Once it is on, a running lock keeps it on.

3. Blocking websites

Add Block opens the block editor. Give the block a name, add websites and categories under Websites, and write your reasons for access under Exceptions. On your Mac and phone, Apps lets you add applications to the same block.

3.1 Blocking one website

Choose Add Block, open Websites and add the address: youtube.com, instagram.com, news.ycombinator.com. You do not need https:// or www., and the mobile version of a site counts as the same site, so blocking youtube.com covers m.youtube.com too.

Block subdomains, in Advanced Settings, makes a block on youtube.com cover music.youtube.com too. It is off by default; once it is on, a running lock keeps it on. Selected sites, including Substack, Medium, WordPress.com, Tumblr and Reddit, always include their subdomains. On iOS, whole-website blocking outside the Safari extension includes subdomains regardless of this setting.

For sites Happy Squid already knows, the editor offers a short list of ready-made exceptions you can tick straight away. See section 6.

Open a website from the block editor’s Websites list for two more controls. Black and white removes its colour only while you access it through that block. Each block keeps its own setting for the website. Access through another block, a Task or with the block switched off does not use this setting. Redirect to chooses the page to open when the website is unblocked. An exception can also have its own destination (section 6.3).

3.2 Blocking part of a site rather than all of it

Add a path after the address and only that part of the site is blocked. youtube.com/shorts blocks Shorts and leaves the rest of YouTube open. reddit.com/r/politics blocks one subreddit. The path matches itself and everything under it, so youtube.com/shorts also covers youtube.com/shorts/anything.

3.3 Putting several websites in one block

Add several addresses under Websites to keep them in one block. Give it a name, such as “Socials”, “News” or “Shopping”. The Exceptions tab holds the reasons the block shares.

One switch, one set of exceptions, one Free Time budget, one schedule and one lock cover every website in the block.

You can add a website to a group at any time, a locked group included, because a site added covers more than the block covered before. A website already in a locked group stays in it until the lock ends.

Locking a block also locks every block that shares one of its websites. The lock dialog lists those blocks before you confirm, and the commitment lasts for the same length of time across them.

While a website is locked, it stays in the blocks that already contain it and cannot be added to another one. Once its lock ends, you can add it elsewhere again.

3.4 Turning a block off, and deleting it

Every block has its own switch on the settings list. Switching a block off keeps everything you set up (the websites, the exceptions, the Free Time) and stops it blocking access. Switching it back on picks up exactly where it left off.

Content Blocking keeps its filters active while a block is off (section 3.6).

On your computer, delete a block with the × beside it in the settings list. On your phone, hold its row and choose Delete, or use Delete block in its editor. Deleting removes the block and the websites that only existed inside it. You can delete a locked block once its lock ends.

3.5 A website in more than one block

The same website can sit in several blocks at once: instagram.com might be in your “Socials” group, in the social media category, and have its own individual block as well. That is fine, and each block keeps its own switch, its own exceptions and its own Free Time.

You build that up while the website is free to be added, though. Once a website is locked, it cannot be put into a further block until its lock ends, as section 3.3 describes.

When you land on the blocked page, Happy Squid shows you the most specific block that covers the site: an individual block first, then a group, then a category. If more than one block applies you can pick between them right there. See section 7.2.

3.6 Content Blocking

Content Blocking, next to Advanced Settings on your computer and in Settings on your phone, lets you hide feeds, recommendations, comments and other distractions, or disable scrolling and autoplay. Choose a website to see its options. Supported sites are YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Substack.

Your choices apply to the website, including during exceptions and Free Time, while its block is off, and when it has no block of its own. While the website is locked, you can add filters but not remove ones you have saved.

These filters work on websites in your desktop browser and in Safari on iOS. The Android app lets you choose the filters for your desktop browsing.

4. Categories and the Everything block

Sometimes naming websites one at a time is the wrong tool. A category blocks a whole kind of website at once, and Happy Squid keeps the list of what belongs to it.

4.1 Blocking a category

In the block editor, open Websites and choose Add category under Website categories. You can add more than one category to a block. The categories are:

  • Social media
  • Streaming
  • Shopping
  • Gambling
  • Adult content
  • Everything: the whole web, covered in section 4.4

The category shares the block’s switch, exceptions, Free Time, schedule and lock. Happy Squid keeps its list of websites, and the list grows as new sites are added.

4.2 Adding websites alongside a category

Add your own addresses under Websites in the same block as the category. A shopping site you add there is blocked and unblocked along with the category, even if it is not in Happy Squid’s list.

4.3 Exempting websites from a category

In the block editor’s Websites tab, open the category under Website categories. Add an address under Exempt websites to leave that site open while the category blocks the rest. Remove an address from the list to block it with the category again.

4.4 The Everything block

Everything is the category that covers the whole web. Add it under Website categories in the block editor’s Websites tab. Switch the block on and every website is blocked, without you naming a single one.

Open Everything in that list to shape what stays reachable. Exempt websites lists the sites that stay open while the wall is up. Happy Squid also offers a few ready-made exemptions to tick, such as Wikipedia and PDF files.

Everything you can do with any other block, you can do with this one: give it exceptions, give it Free Time, schedule it, lock it.

It also makes the strictest way of working Happy Squid supports. Leave the Everything block switched on all the time, give it no exceptions, and the only way onto any website is to start a Task and say what you are working on. Nothing is reachable by habit, and everything is reachable by saying what it is for.

4.5 Include all apps

On your phone, open Everything under Website categories in the block editor. Include all apps extends the block from every website to every application on your phone. An app you install tomorrow is covered the first time you open it.

Underneath it, Exempt apps lists the apps that stay open anyway. On Android, Happy Squid ticks a sensible starting set for you (your clock, your wallet, your messaging app), and you add whatever else you need. A short list of apps is never blocked at all, so calls and your keyboard always work.

4.6 Morning Lock

Morning Lock is a standing overnight commitment, set up in Advanced Settings. It is for the hours you would rather not spend on your devices at all, late at night and the first stretch after waking up, and it holds on every device you use at once: unlocking on your phone lifts the wall on your laptop too.

While its window runs it walls the whole web, and every application on your phone with it. There is no list to keep: everything is behind the wall until the morning lets it out.

Free Time is unavailable during Morning Lock.

It has four settings:

  • Unlock delay: how long the wall stays up after you say you are awake. In the morning your devices show an Unlock your devices card, and its Start Unlock button starts this countdown, so the phone is not the first thing your morning goes on. Press Start Unlock on any device to unlock them all together. On Android and iOS, Start Unlock is also on the Morning Lock notification or Lock Screen countdown when available, so you can start the countdown without opening Happy Squid.
  • Minimum lock hours: hours at the start of the window with no Start Unlock button at all. Until it runs out the only thing that can end the morning is Automatically unlocks at, so a commitment made at night cannot be lifted an hour later. It is zero unless you change it, which leaves the button there from the moment the wall goes up.
  • Start lock at: the time each night the wall goes up.
  • Automatically unlocks at: the backstop. The lock ends at this time whether or not anybody pressed anything, so it can never outlast the morning.

It carries two lists of its own:

  • Exempt websites: the sites that stay open through a morning.
  • Exempt apps: the same for applications on your phone. Switch it on and Happy Squid ticks the ones you actually need, such as your messages app, your clock and your wallet, so a morning never stands between you and a sign-in code. Add and remove ticks from there.

Changes you make while a window is already running land on the next morning: today's wall stands on the settings it went up with. The two that would open a hole in the wall standing right now are the lists above, and those can be tightened mid-morning but not loosened, so you can always take something away and never hand it back before the morning is over.

Morning Lock can be locked itself, from the padlock beside its heading. Press it, choose how long, and confirm, exactly as you would lock a block. That is what turns a nightly habit into a commitment: without it the whole thing can be moved or switched off in the evening you did not fancy it. While that lock runs, everything here stays as you set it, times and exemptions alike.

5. Blocking apps

Applications are blocked on your Mac and on your phone. When a blocked app is opened, Happy Squid blocks access to it and shows you the same kind of wall a blocked website gets, carrying that block's Free Time and the chat. The iOS flow is described in section 2.4.4.

Supported Android apps also offer intelligent exceptions (section 2.3.3).

5.1 Blocking an app

Choose Add Block and open Apps. On Android you get the list of what is installed and tick as many apps as you like; on your Mac you pick the application itself. On iOS, add apps one at a time (section 2.4.3).

One block can hold several apps, and they share everything the way websites in a group do: one switch, one Free Time budget, one schedule, one lock. A “Socials” app block covering Instagram, TikTok and X is one row, not three.

5.2 Blocking an app before you install it

On Android, search for it by name in the app picker and it appears even if it is not on the phone. Tick it and it is blocked from the moment it is installed, which is what makes “I do not want TikTok on this phone” a block you can actually make, rather than one you can only make after giving in once.

5.3 Adding apps to a website block

Open Apps in the block editor to add applications alongside its websites and categories.

On Android, adding a website or category also selects its matching installed apps. Add youtube.com and the YouTube app is selected; add the social media category and its matching social apps are selected. Remove any you want to leave out. Opening a saved block keeps the choices you made.

The result is one block over the site and the app together: one row on your home screen, one switch, one Free Time budget, one lock.

5.4 Blocking every app

To block every application on your phone at once, open Everything in the block editor and switch on Include all apps. See section 4.5.

6. Exceptions

Exceptions are what make cutting back on a website different from cutting it off. Each one is a reason, written in your own words, for opening a site you have blocked. They live in the block editor, under Exceptions, and they appear on the blocked page as buttons you can press.

Picking an exception opens the site. While you are there, Happy Squid checks that the pages you visit fit the reason you picked, so an exception is a door into part of a website, not the whole of it.

6.1 The exceptions Happy Squid suggests

For sites we already know about, the block editor offers ready-made exceptions the moment you type the address. On YouTube that is things like watching a lecture or looking up a tutorial; on Instagram, messaging somebody. Tick the ones that apply.

Some of them go straight where they are useful rather than to the homepage. An exception for managing your own content on YouTube opens YouTube Studio.

6.2 Writing your own

Under Exceptions in the block editor, type your reason and press + to add it: “Look up a recipe”, “Reply to my team”, “Watch football highlights”. Open the exception and use Add detail for anything else Happy Squid should know about that reason.

Exceptions belong to the block they are written in, so every website in a group shares them, and a category block's exceptions cover every site in the category.

6.3 Exception settings

Open an exception under Exceptions in the block editor to set when it is available, where it opens and what Happy Squid remembers between visits.

  • Redirect to: a page the exception opens instead of the site's front page. If your reason for opening a shopping site is a delivery you are tracking, send the exception straight to the orders page and skip the shop front.
  • Retain context for the day: normally each use of an exception starts fresh. Tick this and Happy Squid picks up where the last use of that exception left off for the rest of the day. An exception of “watch one episode” is the case it is built for: with this ticked, one episode is all you get for the whole day, because the second use knows about the first.
  • Schedule exception: choose a daily time range and Enable to offer the exception during those hours, or Disable to offer it outside them. The exception appears on the blocked page only when it is available. Access you have already been given continues for its agreed time.

7. When a site is blocked

Opening a blocked site takes you to the blocked page. Your exceptions, Free Time and the chat are there, ready for the reason you want to get in.

7.1 What is on the blocked page

  • Which site is blocked, and which of your blocks is blocking it.
  • Your exceptions for that block, as buttons.
  • Use Free Time, when you have minutes left and Free Time is available for this block.
  • The chat, for a reason you did not write down in advance.
  • Edit Block, which opens the editor for the block that is blocking you.
  • Lock Website, on your computer and Android, if you want to commit to the block on the spot. On iOS, use the block’s padlock in Happy Squid.
  • Continue task opens the site for your running Task. Happy Squid checks that your browsing fits the Task. During a Task your exceptions are hidden, unless Allow exceptions during task is on (section 9.6).

7.2 Picking which block you are blocked from

When a site sits in more than one of your blocks, the blocked page lets you choose which one you are dealing with. Happy Squid selects the most specific one for you (an individual block first, then a group, then a category), and the picker lists the others.

The choice matters, because a block's exceptions and its Free Time belong to it. If instagram.com is both in your “Socials” group and in the social media category, picking the group shows the group's exceptions and spends the group's Free Time; picking the category shows the category's. Pick the one whose reasons you are actually here for.

7.3 Using an exception

Press the exception that matches why you are here and the site opens. Happy Squid then keeps an eye on whether the pages you visit fit that reason, so picking “watch a lecture” and then opening the homepage feed will not last long, while picking it and watching a lecture will.

An exception with a schedule appears only during its available hours (section 6.3).

7.4 Chatting with Happy Squid

For the reasons you did not see coming, there is the chat. Explain why you need the site. If your reason checks out, Happy Squid unblocks it for you, for as long as that reason takes.

This works the other way round too. If Happy Squid is about to block a page you are on, the chat is where you make your case. See 7.6.

7.5 How long you get in for, and when access ends

Access is granted to the tab you are in, and it normally has no timer on it at all. You picked a reason, and you keep the site for as long as you are there for that reason. What ends it is going off that reason, not a clock running out.

A timer appears only when Happy Squid gives you one. If you talk your way in through the chat and what you asked for is the sort of thing that has a natural length, it may let you in for that long and say so. Free Time is the other timed case, and there the clock is your budget.

So access ends when:

  • the time you were given runs out;
  • you close the last tab you were using it in;
  • you keep browsing well away from the reason you gave, and Happy Squid blocks the site again;
  • Free Time runs out;
  • you start a Task, which replaces whatever was open with the Task's own rules;
  • the day rolls over. For website access, the day starts at 4 in the morning, not at midnight, so a late evening is still the same day.

7.6 If Happy Squid is about to block you

Happy Squid usually does not close a page out from under you. If you drift onto something that does not fit the reason you gave, it will normally say so in the chat first and give you about twenty seconds before the block lands.

That is your chance to answer. Tell Happy Squid why you need this page, and if your reason holds up the page stays and the block is called off. Going back to what you were doing calls it off too.

To reply to a warning notification, tap Reply on Android or hold the notification on iOS.

7.7 The emergency button

On a phone with no connection, the chat has nothing to reach, so the blocked page offers an Emergency button instead. One press opens the blocked site or app for three minutes.

You get one press a day, and the button only appears while your phone is actually offline. With a connection, the chat is right there and is the better door.

8. Free Time

Free Time is a budget of minutes you can spend on your blocked sites without giving a reason. It is the answer to wanting a break rather than an exception: you keep every block exactly as it is, and Happy Squid puts them back the moment your minutes are gone.

You spend it from the blocked page: press Free Time and the site opens while the clock runs.

8.1 Free Time Settings

Free Time Settings is where you set how much you get and how often it comes back. Choose the number of hours and minutes, and Daily or Weekly for how often the budget refills.

A daily budget refills at 4 in the morning; a weekly one refills on Sunday at the same time. This budget covers every block you have, unless you change that below.

8.2 Schedule free time

Schedule free time sets the hours Free Time may be spent in, and the day buttons under them choose the days of the week it runs on. Use it to keep your break out of your working hours, so Free Time is available in the evening and refused during the day, without you having to remember. It can also lock your Free Time settings while its hours run (section 12.3).

8.3 Disable for specific blocks

In Free Time Settings, Disable for specific blocks on your computer, or Disable for on your phone, lists the blocks you can exclude. Select a block to take the shared Free Time budget off it. Its blocked page shows Use Free Time only when Free Time is available.

This is how you keep casual browsing available for most of your blocks while one of them stays firm.

8.4 Disable during Angry Squid

Free Time stays available during Angry Squid unless you say otherwise. Disable during Angry Squid, in Free Time Settings, is the switch that takes it away, and it is off until you turn it on. Turning it on makes Angry Squid a good deal harder: the written exceptions are already gone, so with Free Time gone too the chat is the only way through.

8.5 Free Time during Morning Lock

See section 4.6.

8.6 Per block free time

Switch on Per block free time in Advanced Settings and each block editor gains a Free Time section of its own. A block with its own budget spends that one instead of the shared one: thirty minutes a day for YouTube specifically, separate from the hour you have for everything else.

8.7 Using it, and what happens when it runs out

Free Time counts down while you are actually using the site or app. It is shown as a countdown in the Happy Squid popup, on the blocked page and in the desktop app's menu bar, and it is the same budget everywhere, so minutes spent on your phone are minutes gone on your laptop.

Using the same Free Time budget on two devices at once counts that time once. Ten minutes together use ten minutes of the budget; ten minutes on one and then ten on the other use twenty.

When the budget runs out, every site it was holding open is blocked again straight away, and the blocked page comes back. Your exceptions and the chat still work; only Free Time is spent. It returns at the next daily or weekly refill.

On the desktop, Don't count Free Time while application is minimized stops the clock while a blocked app is minimised or hidden, so minutes go on the time you actually spend.

On iOS, returning to Happy Squid ends an app’s Free Time session. Your unused minutes stay available; press Use Free Time again when you return to the blocked app.

9. Tasks

Blocks are for the distractions you can name in advance. A Task is for everything else: you tell Happy Squid what you are working on, and it blocks whatever is unrelated for as long as you are on it, while letting through the sites your work actually depends on.

Say you start a Task and tell Happy Squid you are studying for an exam. It stops you scrolling social media, and lets you watch a lecture, look up a formula and find exercises on the topic. You do not have to anticipate every website that could pull you off course, or every exception you might need.

9.1 Starting a Task

New Task, then enter what you are working on. Choose 15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes, your remembered duration, or Custom. ∞ starts an open-ended Task, which runs until you finish it (section 9.4). The free version offers Tasks up to an hour, without ∞ or Custom. Press Start Task and it begins.

Only one Task runs at a time.

9.2 Describing what you are working on

Write it the way you would tell a colleague. “Finish the Q3 slides”, “Study organic chemistry chapter 4”, “Plan the trip to Lisbon”. Happy Squid judges every page you open against this description, so a specific one gives you a Task that guards you well.

Check if my task is productive, in Advanced Settings under Task Settings and on by default, has Happy Squid look at the description before the Task starts and check that it is genuinely work. If it is not convinced, it says so and you can make your case in the chat. A Task that sounds like an excuse gets asked about, and a real one is waved through.

If your idea of productive is your own, Specify what productive means, on the same card, lets you write it down, and that definition is used from then on.

9.3 What is blocked while a Task runs

A Task's authority goes wider than your blocks. While it runs, Happy Squid judges every website you open against what you said you were doing, not only the ones you had blocked. That is the difference between a Task and an exception: an exception opens a door in a wall you built, and a Task builds the wall around the work.

Two things stay open regardless:

  • Critical sites, which are always reachable: password managers, online banking, checkouts and sign-in pages, emergency helplines, and weather and travel warnings.
  • Anything you have listed under Whitelist during task in Advanced Settings: your own list of sites Happy Squid leaves alone while a Task is on.

If a page you genuinely need is about to be blocked, Happy Squid tells you in the chat first. Explain why you need it and, if your reason checks out, it stays open for the rest of the Task.

Block apps during task, in Advanced Settings, blocks applications while a Task runs. It is on by default on your phone and off by default on your Mac. Whitelist during task, also in Advanced Settings, lets you leave selected websites and apps open. Separate app blocks still apply.

9.4 Pausing, stopping and finishing

  • Pause Task suspends it. Your blocks go back to normal and the clock stops where it is.
  • Resume Task picks it up with the same time remaining.
  • Cancel, on the phone’s Tasks tab, or Stop Task, on your computer, ends it. Your blocks go back to normal.
  • Finish ends an open-ended Task, the kind you start on ∞, and is the only control that does. On your computer it is a check icon, in the place where other Tasks have the ✕ of Stop Task; on the phone it is the Finish button. Happy Squid asks first, and says how long you have been working on it.

You can edit an unlocked Task's description while it runs. Happy Squid checks the revised description if Check if my task is productive, in Advanced Settings, is on. Its duration stays the same.

A Task that reaches its duration ends on its own, and that is what counts as finishing it: Happy Squid celebrates. Pressing Finish on an open-ended Task counts as finishing it too. However a Task ends, the time you worked on it goes towards your Task Goal (section 9.7).

Once a Task has ended, Happy Squid offers a +15m button, for when the work turned out not to be quite done.

Happy Squid keeps your three most recent Tasks. Bookmark one to keep it beyond that limit; you can also delete entries. Starting one again reuses its duration and trusted websites. Each entry shows the time you have worked on it.

9.5 Lock task

Lock task turns a running Task into a commitment. While it is locked you cannot pause it, stop it or re-describe it. You either see it through or wait it out.

The lock covers the rest of the Task's time, and it ends when the Task does.

9.6 Free Time and exceptions during a Task

Allow free time during task in Advanced Settings lets a Task allow Free Time browsing for its whole duration. It is off by default.

Allow exceptions during task, just below it, shows a blocked site's exceptions on its blocked page while a Task runs, next to Continue task. Pressing one opens the site as if no Task were running: Happy Squid holds you to that exception rather than to the Task, and the Task keeps running. It is off by default.

9.7 Task Goals

Enable task goals, in Advanced Settings, sets a target for how much Task work you do per day or per week. Give it a number of hours and minutes, pick the period, and Happy Squid tracks your progress against it.

Every Task counts towards it, and what counts is the time it actually ran: a Task you finish, one you stop and one you cancel all add the time you worked, and time spent paused adds nothing.

Reach the goal in a period and your streak goes up by one; miss a period and it goes back to zero. Raising the goal, or switching between daily and weekly, starts the streak again, because the streak belongs to the commitment you are keeping.

Daily Task Goals reset at midnight; weekly goals reset at midnight on Sunday.

On your phone, your goal is on the Tasks tab. Tap its title to open Task Goals in Advanced Settings.

10. Integrations

Happy Squid connects to Todoist, Obsidian and Raycast.

For Todoist and Obsidian Tasks, Lock task asks how long to lock for. The Task can continue after its lock ends.

On your phone’s Tasks tab, Complete finishes a Todoist or Obsidian item. Cancel stops the Task and leaves the item unfinished.

10.1 Todoist

An item on your Todoist list can become a Happy Squid Task, and the two then keep each other in step.

10.1.1 Starting a Task from an item

With the integration installed, Happy Squid appears in the ⋯ menu of any Todoist task. Choosing it starts a Happy Squid Task for that item, so the thing you are protecting your attention for is the thing already written on your list, and you do not describe it twice.

Happy Squid takes the whole position of the item, not just its title: the project it sits in, the section, the parent task and its notes. “Fix the callback” under “Ship the auth rewrite” in “Work” is a different piece of work from the same four words under “Rebuild the garden shed”, and that context is what lets Happy Squid judge a website against it properly.

The Task then behaves like any other: the same chat, the same Free Time, the same lock. It has no duration of its own and runs until it is finished.

What the integration adds is that the two stay in step, in both directions. Mark the Task complete in Happy Squid and the Todoist item is ticked off for you. Tick the item off in Todoist and the Happy Squid Task stops, because the work it was protecting is done.

The choice between completing a Task and stopping it is only there for a Task that came from an integration, because only that Task has an item to tick off or leave open. A Task you typed into Happy Squid runs to its duration or is stopped by you, and an open-ended one ends with Finish (section 9.4).

10.1.2 Installing it

Happy Squid is not in the Todoist app directory yet, so this link is how you add it. Open it while signed in to Todoist:

https://app.todoist.com/app/install/180455_c2b89a1dd4cfb237f3519f74

The integration works in Todoist on the web and desktop. Mobile support will follow when Todoist supports extensions there.

10.1.3 Connecting your Happy Squid account

The first time you choose Happy Squid on a Todoist task, it asks for the email address of your Happy Squid account and sends you a six-digit code to confirm it is you. Enter the code and the two accounts are linked.

You only do this once. After that, starting a Task from Todoist is a single choice from the menu.

10.2 Obsidian

Happy Squid starts, stops and completes Tasks from the checkboxes in your notes, and gives you the ability to insert cards that turn your Happy Squid activity into valuable insights. Markers you type put the time you worked on Tasks, the Free Time you spent, the times you were blocked and the morning you unlocked into any note, each about the day you name and as plain text you can wrap in anything. Two of them are styled cards: your Task Goal for that day, which opens onto every Task you worked on during it, and the Daily Summary, which gathers three of those figures with Happy Squid's own account of the day underneath. Your note keeps that account after Happy Squid has let it go.

10.2.1 Tasks

Type {task} at the end of a checkbox line in a note and it draws as start task. Pressing it starts a Happy Squid Task for that line, so the thing you are protecting your attention for is already written in your notes and you do not describe it twice.

Happy Squid takes the whole position of the line, not just its words: the folder, the note, the headings above it, the list item it sits under, that item's own notes and the task's open subtasks. A task under “Ship the auth rewrite” in a work note is a different piece of work from the same words under a note about the garden, and that context is what lets Happy Squid judge a website against it properly.

Numbered task lists and custom checkbox states work too.

The Task has the same chat, the same Free Time and the same lock as any other, and it runs until you stop or finish it. Starting one from a note takes over from whatever Task is running, so you do not have to go and stop the old one first.

The control says what pressing it would do:

  • start task: nothing is running for this line.
  • starting… and stopping…: Happy Squid has been asked, and the answer is on its way. A second press sends nothing.
  • stop task: this line is the Task running now, and pressing it stops the Task, in your note and in Happy Squid. Stopping is not finishing, and the checkbox stays as it is. To finish the Task, tick the checkbox in your note, or press Complete in Happy Squid, which ticks the checkbox for you.
  • task deemed unproductive: Check if my task is productive (section 9.2), in Advanced Settings under Task Settings, looked at the line before starting and was not convinced it was work. The review opens in Happy Squid itself, in the extension or the app, and you can chat with Happy Squid about it there: say what the task actually is, and if your reason checks out it starts. The verdict is on the control in your note, and rewriting the line clears it, because the marker goes by the task's own words.
  • current task locked: the Task running is a locked one. Lock task (section 9.5) is a commitment to see that Task through, so a new Task pushing it aside would be a way straight out of the lock, and it is the one thing a start from a note does not displace. The control says so until that Task's lock ends. Rewriting the line changes nothing here, because your words are not what is being refused.
  • out of tasks this week: the free version's one Task a week is spent (section 15.2).

Starting and stopping is quickest with the Happy Squid desktop app installed: it is always running, so it picks the Task up the moment you press. Without it, a browser or a phone takes it instead, and it can take a few seconds longer.

Press Enter at the end of a marked line and the next one is marked too, so a run of tasks costs one marker rather than one per line. To take a marker off, put the cursor inside the control and it turns back into the text you typed. There is also a command, Start or stop task at cursor, which works on any marked line in Live Preview, reading view and source mode.

If Happy Squid starts a task under wording of its own, after you have talked it round in the review, that wording is added as a new task line directly under yours, wearing your bullet and your indent and showing stop task. Finishing the Task ticks both.

10.2.2 Installing it

Happy Squid is in Obsidian's community plugin directory. In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins, choose Browse, search for Happy Squid, then install it and turn it on. It works in Obsidian on your computer and on your phone.

10.2.3 Connecting your Happy Squid account

Open Settings → Happy Squid in Obsidian and enter the email address of your Happy Squid account. It sends you a six-digit code, and entering it links the two. You only do this once.

10.2.4 Choosing the day a marker is about

Happy Squid draws several things into a note, and every one of them is about one day. Which day is part of the marker itself, and there are four ways to say it. They work the same on every marker in 10.2.5, with {taskgoal} as the example here.

  • {taskgoal} is the day you wrote it. It stays live until that midnight and is fixed from then on, so a note about last Tuesday goes on saying what last Tuesday came to. Shortly after you type one, Happy Squid writes the date into it for you, and {taskgoal} becomes {taskgoal:2026-08-30}. It waits until you have stopped typing, leaves alone any marker your cursor is inside, and only ever writes to a note you have edited today. It is a single edit, so one undo takes it back.
  • {taskgoal:today} is always today, whenever and wherever the note is read.
  • {taskgoal:2026-08-29} is that day, forever. Write the month in the middle, with something between the numbers: 29.08.2026, 2026-08-29, 29/8/26 and 29_08_2026 all read, year first if you start with a four-digit year and day first otherwise. A month written out can go on either side, so Aug 29, 2026 and 29 Aug 2026 both work. 08/29/2026 and 20260829 are not read, and a date Happy Squid cannot read stays on the page exactly as you typed it, so you can see it did not take.
  • {taskgoal:template} is for a marker in a template. It draws today where it stands, so you can see what you are writing, and every note you then create from that template gets a plain {taskgoal}, dated a moment later to the day that note was made.

Happy Squid keeps the last eight days that have ended, and they are filed away in your vault as it sees them, so a note about any day in the past week works even if Obsidian was closed all week, and your own notes keep them from there. A day Happy Squid knows nothing about has nothing to draw, and the marker stays as the text you typed.

10.2.5 What you can put in a note

Each of these takes all four forms from 10.2.4: the bare marker, :today, a date, and :template.

  • {taskgoal}, your Task Goal for that day, drawn as a card in your own theme, with the flame that shows your streak. {taskgoal:today}, {taskgoal:2026-08-29}, {taskgoal:template}. Press the card open and it lists the Tasks that day was made of: when each one started, how long you worked on it, how many times Happy Squid blocked you while it ran, and what you called it, with a Task you cancelled marked as cancelled. A day with nothing on it has nothing to open, and a day with no Task Goal draws the card anyway, saying that Task Goals are switched off.
  • {tasktime}, the total amount of time you worked on Tasks that day, as 1h 13m. {tasktime:today}, {tasktime:2026-08-29}, {tasktime:template}. It needs no Task Goal. A Task counts once it has ended, so time from one that is still running is added when it stops, and today reads 0m until the first Task of the day has ended.
  • {timesblocked}, how many times Happy Squid blocked you that day, as 0, 1, 7. {timesblocked:today}, {timesblocked:2026-08-29}, {timesblocked:template}. It counts the times Happy Squid actually blocked you, taking a page away and putting the blocked page in front of you, and not the times you arrived on the blocked page: a blocked site sends you there again on every visit and every reload, so counting arrivals would be counting keystrokes rather than blocks. One page taken away is one block, however long you sit on the blocked page afterwards, and a block Happy Squid warns you about in the chat first counts when it warns you, whether or not you leave before it takes effect.
  • {freetime}, the Free Time you spent that day, as 25m or 1h 19m. {freetime:today}, {freetime:2026-08-29}, {freetime:template}. It is the calendar day, so time you spend after midnight counts towards the new day even though your Free Time budget itself refills at 4 in the morning. The total updates while you use Free Time, as well as when you stop.
  • {morningbutton}, the time you pressed Start Unlock on the Morning Lock that day, as 6:42 AM. {morningbutton:today}, {morningbutton:2026-08-29}, {morningbutton:template}. A morning you did not press it reads no button unlock.
  • {daysummary}, the day at a glance, drawn as a card in your own theme, with Happy Squid's own account of it underneath. {daysummary:today}, {daysummary:2026-08-29}, {daysummary:template}. See 10.2.6.

The four figures carry no styling of their own, so they take whatever you wrap them in: a heading, a table cell, a callout, bold text.

10.2.6 The Daily Summary card

{daysummary} draws the day's three figures as one line, 3h 17m tasks · 47m free time · 8 blocks, and opens onto what Happy Squid wrote about that day. Happy Squid writes it at 4 in the morning, when the day is folded away, so a note you are writing today shows its figures straight away and gains its paragraph overnight.

Happy Squid keeps a written summary for seven days, and your note keeps it for good. Once it has been drawn into a note it stays there, so a daily note from last year still reads the way it did when you wrote it.

Settings → Happy Squid has a Daily Summary switch for each of the four things the card shows: Time spent on tasks, Free Time spent, Times blocked and Written summary. They change what the card draws, and everything goes on being recorded either way.

10.3 Raycast

Install Happy Squid from the Raycast Store on Mac. The Current Task and Manage Tasks commands open your Tasks. Start, edit, pause, resume, stop or lock a Task, or repeat a recent or bookmarked one. You can also complete Todoist and Obsidian Tasks and discuss a productivity check in Raycast.

11. Locks

A lock is a commitment with a deadline. It is what makes a block something you decided once rather than something you decide again every time it gets in the way.

11.1 What a lock does

While a lock runs, you can make your setup stricter and not looser. You can add websites to a locked block, add a new block, delete an exception, shorten your Free Time or extend the lock itself. You cannot delete the block, switch it off, add an exception, or end the lock early.

Adding a website to a locked block means the block is locked, not the website. A website that is itself locked is the other case, and it cannot be added to any further block until its own lock ends, whether that block is locked or not (section 3.3).

A lock covers your settings, not your browsing. Everything you set up still works exactly as before: your exceptions still open sites, Free Time is still spendable, the chat still answers. A lock is not a stricter block, it is a block you have committed to.

11.2 Locking one block

Every block has a padlock on its row, and it works the same way whether the block holds websites or apps. Press it, choose how long, and confirm. On your computer and Android, Lock Website on a blocked website’s page offers the same control. On iOS, use the padlock on the block’s row or in its editor.

If you choose a lock while creating a block, it starts when you save the block. Cancelling discards both the block and the lock you chose.

A lock follows the websites in it. If a site is in more than one of your blocks, locking one of those blocks locks the site everywhere it appears, for the same length of time. Otherwise the block next door would stay free to give that same site a fresh set of exceptions and a Free Time budget of its own, which is a way through a lock that is still running. The lock dialog names the other blocks this will reach.

11.3 Global Lock

Global Lock is the same commitment over everything at once. It locks every block you have, your Free Time and your settings, for the length you choose. It is the one to reach for when the thing you want to commit to is your whole setup rather than one block in it.

Global Lock also prevents pausing, stopping or editing a running Task. Todoist and Obsidian Tasks are exempt from this restriction.

The Everything block is the deliberate exception: while it is switched on, its own settings stay editable even under a Global Lock, so there is always a way to lift a whole-web wall.

11.4 Extend lock

Extend lock pushes a running lock further out. Locks only ever move later, so extending one is always available and shortening one never is. The same control starts a fresh lock when none is running.

If Global Lock is holding a block or setting, you can still give it a lock of its own. Extending that lock does not extend Global Lock. A lock explanation tells you which commitment is holding it.

11.5 The settings you can lock on their own

Sometimes what you want to commit to is not a block but the way Happy Squid behaves. These settings can be locked on their own, each with its own deadline, without locking your blocks:

  • Lock Free Time, in Free Time Settings. Your Free Time can then only be reduced, its window only lengthened, and no block may gain a Free Time budget it did not already have. Free Time a block already has stays editable.
  • Desktop Settings, from the padlock on that card. Close browsers running without the extension cannot be disarmed, and Don't count Free Time while application is minimized cannot be switched on.
  • Lock custom instructions, on the Custom Instructions screen. Your instructions stay as written for the length of the lock.
  • Morning Lock, from the padlock beside its heading. Its times and its exemptions stay as you set them for the length of the lock, so the morning cannot be edited away the night before. See section 4.6.

A Global Lock covers these settings as well, so their own locks are for committing to one at a time. Task Settings have no lock of their own: every lock holds them, including a Task lock (section 14.2).

On your phone, an active lock also keeps Uninstall protection on if you have enabled it in Advanced Settings (sections 2.3.4 and 2.4.6).

11.6 What you can still do while a lock runs

Everything about using Happy Squid carries on: exceptions, Free Time, the chat, Tasks. You can also add new blocks, add any website that is not itself locked to an existing block, and make any lock longer. A website’s Black and white and Redirect to settings, in the block editor, stay editable during a lock.

What a lock will not let you do is step around it. A lock is a commitment across every device you use, so for as long as one is running:

  • Happy Squid cannot be uninstalled from your Mac. The desktop app protects itself while any lock is active, so removing it is not a way out of one.
  • You cannot log out.
  • You cannot delete your account, which is the same escape by a longer route.
  • You cannot switch to a browser Happy Squid is not in, while Close browsers running without the extension is on, because that browser is closed for you.

When the lock ends, you can uninstall, log out, delete your account or switch off browser closing.

11.7 How far a commitment can go

Happy Squid is built to be as strict as you decide to make it, and everything below can be switched on together. At its firmest it is a commitment your own future self cannot talk down.

What a lock itself holds:

  • A lock can only ever be made longer. It cannot be shortened, lifted early, or turned off.
  • Global Lock puts every block, your Free Time and your settings under one deadline at once.
  • Lock during the schedule locks a block or your Free Time through its scheduled hours on the days you pick, without you setting it again, and Morning Lock holds the whole web overnight and into the morning.
  • Logging out and deleting your account both wait for the lock, so neither is a way out.

What it holds on your Mac:

  • Happy Squid cannot be uninstalled while a lock is running.
  • Any browser running without Happy Squid connected to it is closed, so a second browser, or one with the extension removed, is not a way round your blocks.
  • Applications are blocked as well as websites.

What it holds on your phone:

  • Android offers Uninstall protection in Advanced Settings → Android (section 2.3.4).
  • Applications are blocked, and Include all apps covers every app on the device, including ones installed later.

And what it holds everywhere:

  • Your blocks and locks are on every device you use, so moving to another one is not an escape.
  • The Everything block walls the whole web, leaving only what you exempt.
  • Angry Squid takes your written exceptions off the blocked page, so the only way through is to convince Happy Squid, and it is a harder conversation.

11.8 How a lock ends

A lock ends when its time is up, and it then disappears on its own, and there is nothing to unlock. A schedule's lock ends when its window closes, and Morning Lock ends in the morning, as described in section 4.6.

12. Schedules

Blocks, Free Time and locks can follow schedules. A window can run past midnight: 22:00 to 06:00 covers the night.

12.1 Schedule block

Switch on Scheduled blocks in Advanced Settings and each block editor gains Schedule block. Choose a time range and Enable to switch the block on during those hours, or Disable to switch it off during them. Then pick the days it runs on with the day buttons below; the hours are the same on each of them.

A schedule only hands back what it took. If a window switched a block on, it switches it back off at the end; if you switch a block off yourself mid-window, the schedule leaves your decision alone.

12.2 Schedule free time

Schedule free time sets the hours your Free Time may be spent in. See section 8.2.

12.3 Lock during the schedule

Tick Lock during the schedule, the last row under a block's schedule and under Schedule free time, and that schedule holds a lock of its own. While the clock is inside its window on one of its days, it locks the block or your Free Time settings until the window ends, exactly as if you had set that lock by hand.

The lock follows the window whether the schedule enables or disables during it. While the window runs, the schedule is part of the commitment and cannot be moved, which is what stops it being lifted from the inside. Outside the window nothing is held.

12.4 Morning Lock

Morning Lock is the nightly wall over the whole web and every application. It needs no opt-in and is set up in Advanced Settings. Section 4.6 covers it in full.

13. Angry Squid

Angry Squid is Happy Squid in a harder mood, for the days when your ordinary blocks are not holding. Switch it on and it stays on until you switch it off.

What changes:

  • Your written exceptions come off the blocked page. The buttons are not there to press, so the reasons you set up in calmer moments cannot be used on autopilot.
  • The chat is the way through, and it is a harder conversation. Happy Squid still listens, and a genuinely good reason still works. It just takes a better one.
  • Free Time still works, unless you have switched on Disable during Angry Squid in Free Time Settings, which makes Angry Squid considerably harder: with the exceptions gone and Free Time gone, the chat is the only way through.

Two things survive it, on purpose:

  • A running Task's Continue task button. A commitment you have already made stays keepable.
  • Any exception Happy Squid handed you itself during a conversation. It gave you that one knowing the mood it was in.

Switch on Angry Squid in Advanced Settings. While a Global Lock is running you can switch it on but not off, because turning it on makes your setup stricter.

14. Advanced Settings

Advanced Settings is where the extras live. Everything in it is optional, and Happy Squid works without touching any of it.

On your computer, Save applies your Advanced Settings changes and Cancel discards them. The back arrow returns from a settings page without discarding what you entered. Appearance takes effect as you choose it and stays set when you cancel. On your phone, settings save as you change them.

14.1 Custom Instructions

Custom Instructions is where you tell Happy Squid, in your own words, how you want your blocks handled. It applies everywhere, on top of the exceptions on your individual blocks. On your computer it is in Advanced Settings, under Angry Squid, and on your phone it is in Settings.

Use it for the standing preferences that would be tedious to repeat on every block: how strict to be, what kind of reason you find acceptable, which sorts of pages are always fine for you. Lock custom instructions commits to what you have written for a set time.

14.2 Task Settings

  • Check if my task is productive: on by default. Happy Squid checks a new Task's description before the Task starts. While a lock runs, it cannot be switched off.
  • Specify what productive means: your own definition, used in that check. While a lock runs, it cannot be rewritten.
  • Whitelist during task: websites and, on your Mac and phone, apps that stay open during a Task. While a lock runs, you can remove entries but not add them.
  • Block apps during task: blocks applications during Tasks. On by default on your phone and off by default on your Mac (section 9.3). While a lock runs, it cannot be switched off once on.
  • Allow free time during task: off by default. See section 9.6. While a lock runs, it cannot be switched on.
  • Allow exceptions during task: off by default. See section 9.6. While a lock runs, it cannot be switched on.

14.3 Desktop Settings

  • Close browsers running without the extension: closes any browser running without Happy Squid working in it, after a short grace period to let it connect. Installing another browser, or disabling or removing the extension in one, is then not a way round your blocks. Happy Squid signs your browsers into your account for you, so they all end up on the same one.
  • Don't count Free Time while application is minimized: stops the Free Time clock while a blocked app is minimised or hidden.

14.4 The optional features

These features are in Advanced Settings and are described elsewhere in this guide.

  • Scheduled blocks: adds Schedule block to every block editor (section 12.1).
  • Per block free time: gives a block its own Free Time budget (section 8.6).
  • Enable task goals: sets a daily or weekly target for Task work (section 9.7).
  • Block embedded content: replaces content embedded from a blocked site inside another page, such as a YouTube player on a blog, with a small placeholder. Any lock you have running holds this on.
  • Block subdomains: includes a website's subdomains in its block (section 3.1).

14.5 Notifications

Settings → Notifications controls your phone's countdowns. All three switches are on by default:

  • Task monitoring: a running Task's countdown. Tap it to open Tasks.
  • Unlock monitoring: an app's temporary access.
  • Free Time countdown: your remaining Free Time.

One countdown is shown at a time. Morning Lock also shows its countdown and Start Unlock button when available.

14.6 Appearance

System appearance, in Advanced Settings, is on by default and follows whatever your device is set to. Switch it off and you can pick Light mode or Dark mode yourself.

Appearance is set per device, so a phone in a dark room and a laptop under an office light can each be read the way that suits them.

15. Your account and subscription

15.1 Signing in

Sign in with Google, Apple, or your email address and a six-digit code we send you. Use the same account on every device and your blocks and settings are there when you arrive.

You need an account to use Happy Squid. Signing in is what makes your blocks, exceptions, Tasks, Free Time and locks work, and it is what carries them to your other devices.

Signing out does not lift anything you have already set up. Your blocks keep standing, and nothing can be changed or unblocked until you sign back in, so signing out is never a way past them.

15.2 Free Happy Squid and Happy Squid Pro

Happy Squid is free to use, and the free version is a real one: unlimited blocks, category blocking, locks, Free Time and the chat all work. You get the ready-made intelligent exceptions for one website and one Task a week, with Tasks up to an hour.

Happy Squid Pro lifts the limits: unlimited Tasks of any length, and intelligent exceptions for every website, including the ones you write yourself. Prices are on our pricing page.

15.3 The free trial

Happy Squid Pro comes with a 7-day free trial. Choose the plan you would like to try and the trial starts automatically, which gives you time to use the paid features properly before committing to anything.

15.4 Account

Account is in Advanced Settings, or Settings on your phone. It contains Manage subscription, Log out and Delete account.

To activate Pro with an access code, open Account → Manage subscription and choose Redeem beside Redeem a code.

For a subscription bought on our website, use our cancellation page, also available through Account → Manage subscription on your computer. The Withdrawal Form is under More info. You receive confirmation by email.

For a subscription bought through the App Store or Google Play, open Account → Manage subscription and select Subscription to manage it through your Apple or Google Play account.

You keep your subscription and its features until the end of the billing period you have already paid for.

15.5 What happens when a subscription ends

When a subscription ends, your blocks and locks keep working, along with a Task a week. Intelligent exceptions keep working for one website: the one whose ready-made exceptions you ticked first. Nothing is deleted: your own exceptions and those for other websites are still there, and work again if you subscribe again.

16. Common questions

16.1 Questions people ask

What makes Happy Squid different from other blockers? Traditional blockers block a website with no exceptions, so when you need to watch a lecture or find a recipe they will not let you. Happy Squid understands the difference between distractions and the content you need. Share your exceptions when you set up a block and it holds you to them; for anything you did not see coming, chat with it.

Can I use my account on several devices? Yes. Sign in with your Happy Squid account on each one and your blocks and settings are there.

Do I need the desktop app? No. The extension works perfectly on its own. The desktop app adds blocking applications, and closing browsers that open without the extension.

Can I block a website only during working hours? Yes. Switch on Scheduled blocks in Advanced Settings and use Schedule block in that block’s editor.

Can I block just one part of a website? Yes. Add the path when you create the block: youtube.com/shorts blocks Shorts and leaves the rest of YouTube open.

Can I block apps as well as websites? Yes, on your Mac and on your phone. On Android, blocking a website also ticks the matching apps for you.

Can I undo a lock? A lock runs until its time is up. You can always make it longer, add blocks, or make your setup stricter while it runs.

What happens to my blocks if I stop paying? They are switched off, locked ones included, and you keep one. Nothing is deleted. See section 15.5.

16.2 If something is not working

A site is not being blocked. Check the block's switch is on, and check the address. Check whether Block subdomains applies (section 3.1). If the block has a schedule, check whether you are inside its window. If Free Time is running, that is what is holding the site open, and it will block again when the minutes are gone.

The blocked page keeps coming back. That is Happy Squid deciding the pages you are on do not fit the reason you picked. Pick the exception that matches what you are actually doing, or explain it in the chat.

Happy Squid keeps blocking a page I need. Say so in the chat when it warns you. If your reason checks out the page stays. For something you need often, write it into that block as its own exception, or add it to Whitelist during task in Advanced Settings if it only comes up during Tasks.

My Free Time is gone. It is one budget across all your devices, so minutes spent on your phone are minutes gone on your laptop. It refills daily at 4 in the morning, or weekly on Sunday at the same time.

I cannot change a setting. A lock is running. Look for the padlock. It may be on that block, or it may be a Global Lock, a schedule's own lock (section 12.3), or one of the settings locks in section 11.5. You can still make things stricter while it runs.

Something else. Advanced Settings has a Report a bug option that sends us what happened, and you can always write to us at [email protected].