How the Amba tag works
Amba keeps the apps you pick blocked around the clock, and the everyday way to open them is to tap the Amba tag with your phone. You choose how long you need, and when that time is up, Amba closes them again.
October 2026 · 5 min read
Most screen time tools live inside the phone they are meant to limit. When the limit hits, the button that ends it is one tap away, at the exact moment you least want to stop.
Amba moves that switch out of your phone and onto a small tag on your keys. Here is what happens step by step, what the tag is, and what Amba can and cannot see.
Three steps, then you are set
- 1
Pick what pulls you in
In the Amba app you choose apps or whole categories: social media, dating, video games and more. Websites can be blocked too.
- 2
They stay shut by default
Amba keeps them blocked around the clock. There is no schedule to manage and no daily limit that runs out. Closed is the resting state.
- 3
Tap your tag when you want to use your apps
Hold your phone to the tag, choose how many minutes you need, and your apps open. When the time is up, Amba takes over again. Need more? Tap again and decide again.
That last step is the whole idea. Opening Instagram stops being a reflex and becomes a small decision: get up, find your keys, pick a time. Sometimes the urge is gone before you get there.
What the tag is
The Amba tag is a small physical tag for your keyring. It has no battery, so there is nothing to charge, and it lasts for years. One tag works with iPhone and Android, and no location is tracked.
The tag is not tied to one person or one account. You can keep one on your keys and one at work, or share a tag with your family. It costs 1 € plus shipping and ships in 1 to 3 working days.
Why a step in the real world works
Researchers call it friction: a small cost between the impulse and the action. It works even when it is tiny. In a six week field study of the app one sec, which makes people wait a moment before a chosen app opens, users opened those apps 57% less, and in 36% of attempts they closed the app again right away (Grüning, Riedel and Lorenz-Spreen, 2023). Economists found the same for limits you set in advance: they substantially reduce use (Allcott, Gentzkow and Song, 2022).
Friction on the screen can be skipped on the screen. A tag on your keys cannot. When your keys are in the hallway and you are on the sofa, the distance does the work that willpower would otherwise have to do.
What Amba sees and what it does not
On iPhone, Amba blocks apps through Apple's Screen Time API. The apps you pick reach Amba only as anonymous tokens, so Amba cannot tell which apps they are, and the blocking runs on your phone.
Amba gets neither your screen time, nor the apps you choose, nor your location.
When the tag is not with you
For real emergencies there is an emergency unlock in the help center. Each account gets three.
Away from your tag for days, on holiday for example? Write to support@openamba.app and the team unlocks your apps remotely. A lost tag is replaced for 1 € plus shipping.
What it costs
The tag costs 1 € plus shipping, once. When it arrives you tap it, the app opens, and you get 14 days of Amba free.
After that you pick a plan in the app: 2.99 € a month, 19.99 € a year or 59.99 € once for lifetime. Every friend you bring adds a free month.
Questions about the Amba tag
Your tag costs one euro
Plus shipping, that is it. Pick your apps, put the tag on your keys, and the next reach for your phone becomes a choice.
Sources & further reading
- Grüning, D. J., Riedel, F. & Lorenz-Spreen, P. (2023). Directing smartphone use through the self-nudge app one sec. PNAS, 120(8). One author created one sec.
- Allcott, H., Gentzkow, M. & Song, L. (2022). Digital Addiction. American Economic Review, 112(7).
- Apple Developer. FamilyActivitySelection: opaque values for the apps a user selects.