Help

Last updated: 8 September 2026

Deutsche Fassung

No account, no support login: PushGate runs on your device and we see nothing of your usage. So this page covers what we can answer without looking at your device, and what the operating system does when something stops working.

Overview

Reps are not being counted

The counter requires a complete rep: all the way down to depth, all the way up to lockout. Half movements are deliberately not counted. The ring around the number fills with the rep in progress, and if it stalls, the rep was too shallow.

Four reasons the counter rejects a rep, and what they mean:

  • Too shallow. The distance between depth and lockout was too small. Go lower, extend fully.
  • Not flat. Your body was not horizontal enough (hips up or sagging).
  • Hands not planted. Your hands must be on the floor and in frame.
  • Too far away. You are too small in frame. Move the phone closer so head, shoulders and hands fit.

The basics on top: put the phone beside you, not in front of your head; avoid light directly behind you (backlight turns you into a silhouette); and keep one person in frame. If the line under the ring says nobody is in frame, the camera cannot see you at all. That is placement, not form.

I stopped mid-set: is the progress gone?

No. If you manage 3 out of 10 and stop, those 3 are not lost: the next gate asks for 7. Everything since your last completed set counts towards the next one, and a completed set resets the carry-over. A gate always asks for at least one rep. It never opens on its own.

An app is not being blocked

In order:

  • Is the app selected at all? Settings (gear) → blocked apps.
  • Does blocking say “active”? The settings tab states it plainly, including the cases “no apps selected” and “permission missing”.
  • Is an unlock window running? Then the apps are open on purpose, and the start tab shows how much time is left.
  • On Android: is the accessibility service still running? See below: it is the switch, and the system can turn it off without asking you.

What PushGate does not block: system surfaces, settings and emergency functions. Split screen and picture-in-picture are deliberately left open on Android. A lock that makes the phone unusable is not what we want.

I need a blocked app right now

That is what “open now” in the gate is for: pick a duration (15 to 45 minutes), confirm, take one breath, then the apps are free. The path is three steps rather than one on purpose; the friction is the point. A daily allowance (three per day by default, adjustable in settings) limits how often, and an exhausted allowance only lasts until the next calendar day.

“Never mind” cancels at every step without spending the allowance. The button always stays visible and tappable. A greyed-out emergency exit is not one. Tapping an app tile in the settings tab starts the same unlock.

Android: turning blocking on

On Android, blocking depends on an accessibility service: it is the only way PushGate learns that another app is coming to the foreground. Without it the app cannot block anything.

To enable it, tap “open accessibility” in PushGate, or go to system Settings → Accessibility → Installed services (called “downloaded services” on some devices) → PushGate → on. The state is then shown in the settings tab.

What the service reads is evaluated on the device only: which package is in the foreground, to decide whether a gate is due. No package name leaves the device, not even in an analytics event (Privacy Policy, section 3.6).

Android: blocking suddenly stopped

That almost always has one of three causes, and all three sit in the operating system, not in the app:

  • “Force stop”. Android switches the accessibility service off as a side effect and does not say so. The app cannot switch it back on; no ordinary app may. Re-enable it as described above.
  • After a reboot. Your selection survives a restart, the service binding does not always. So after a reboot, check the settings tab once for “active”. A running unlock window deliberately does not survive a reboot.
  • Battery optimisation. If the system marks PushGate as “restricted” it may terminate the app, same effect as a force stop. Check system Settings → Apps → PushGate → Battery and deselect “restricted”.

The accessibility service staying switchable is intentional. A gate you cannot switch off is a device you no longer control. The price is exactly this case, which is why the settings tab spells the state out instead of hiding it.

Android: battery usage

The service does not compute continuously; the system notifies it when a window changes. The camera runs only while the counter is open, and there is no location access, no background network traffic and no polling. What costs battery is the counter itself: the minutes you spend training.

iOS: allowing Screen Time

On iPhone and iPad, PushGate blocks through Apple's Screen Time. The system asks for that permission once; without it the app cannot block anything and the settings tab says “permission missing”.

To grant it later: in PushGate, Settings (gear) → “Screen Time” → “request permission”. If you declined before, the route is system Settings → Screen Time → Apps & Websites → PushGate. On a device managed through Family Sharing this needs approval from the managing account.

PushGate does not learn which apps you block: iOS only hands the app an opaque token, never a name. That is why every app tile says “unblock” instead of the app's name.

iOS: the Screen Time screen stays empty

During onboarding one screen shows your real screen time. Right after the first time you grant permission, that area sometimes stays empty or just spins: Apple renders those figures in a separate process, and immediately after the grant it is not ready yet. The app therefore waits a few seconds and then builds the surface once.

If it still stays empty: close PushGate and open it again. On the next launch the figures are there. You can always continue anyway; the screen is context, not a requirement. In the simulator, and on a device without Screen Time history, it says there is no data yet.

iOS: free minutes drop in 15-minute steps

That is not a display bug. Apple does not report usage of an unblocked app continuously, only as a threshold event (“at least X minutes reached”), and the system accepts no threshold finer than 15 minutes. So the ring in the start tab falls in steps, and the line says “up to”, because the reported usage is a lower bound.

What matters more: the budget only runs while you are using the blocked apps, not by the clock. A phone lying around for an hour costs no unlock time. On Android the number is exact, because the app measures it itself.

Pro is not recognised

Subscription status comes from the store, not from an account with us. If the paywall appears despite a paid subscription:

  • Are you signed in with the Apple ID or Google account you bought with? A different account is a different subscription.
  • Tap “restore purchases” on the paywall. That asks the store again, even when the app would otherwise wait.
  • Without a network connection the status cannot be checked. In that case the app shows the paywall and keeps blocking in place; both are deliberate, so that neither a purchase nor the lock hangs on a network error.
  • On Android the app notices a change to the subscription (expiry, cancellation, refund) only when you bring PushGate to the foreground again. Play does not report it on its own.

Cancelling or getting a refund

Both are covered on their own page: Cancellation & Refunds, with separate routes for the App Store and Google Play.

Settings (gear) → Privacy → turn “product analytics” off. Withdrawal takes effect immediately: no further events are sent from that moment, and the installation ID is deleted from your device. For events already transmitted, the same page offers “request access or deletion”. The email fills in the ID itself, because a request without it cannot be matched to any record.

Without consent the app works fully; no feature depends on it.

Does the camera run in the background?

Only while counting, and the images never leave the device. There is no upload, no recording and no recipient for camera footage or motion data. That promise holds without exception and without any consent caveat; see the Privacy Policy, section 3.5.

Nothing helped?

contact@pushgate.app. Useful details: device and OS version, app version, what you expected and what happened. Screenshots are welcome, but none you would rather not share: we have no view of your device, and we do not want one.