Shielding stopped working
Almost every case is Screen Time permission rather than a bug in Champ. Work down this list in order — the first two fix most of it.
My shielded apps open normally. Nothing interrupts them.
Check Champ’s Screen Time permission first — this is the cause most of the time. Champ shields apps through Apple’s Screen Time framework, and that permission can be withdrawn outside the app, at which point shielding stops silently: Champ is not warned, and the apps simply open as normal. Open iOS Settings, find Champ in the app list, and turn Screen Time back on there; also check that Screen Time itself is still switched on under Settings, Screen Time. One thing worth knowing: iOS only ever shows the Screen Time permission prompt once, so if it was declined, Champ’s own "Allow Screen Time" button can no longer bring it back and the trip through Settings is the only route.
I turned Screen Time off and back on. Do I need to do anything?
Yes — re-pick your apps in Champ. Apple does not hand Champ app names or bundle IDs; it hands over opaque tokens that are only valid for as long as the permission that created them. Turning Screen Time off invalidates them, so even though your selection looks unchanged, the tokens behind it no longer point at anything. Going back into Champ’s app picker and re-selecting the apps issues fresh tokens and shielding resumes.
Some of my apps are shielded and others are not.
Re-open the app picker and confirm the selection is what you think it is. Two things commonly cause a partial shield: the picker was dismissed without confirming, so the change was never committed, or an app was deleted and re-installed and now has a token Champ has not been handed. Apple’s picker is the only way to introduce an app Champ has never seen — iOS does not let Champ list the apps on your iPhone — so re-picking is what fixes it. Apps you have guarded before can be switched back on from Champ’s guarded-apps list without going through the picker again.
I guard a lot of apps and now none of them are shielded.
Try guarding fewer. Apple caps how many apps a single shield can hold at 50, and going over does not produce an error — the whole set is dropped, so guarding 51 apps shields none of them rather than shielding the first 50. This is a limit in iOS that applies to every app using Screen Time, not a Champ tier. Guarding whole categories instead of individual apps is usually the better move anyway, since a category keeps covering apps you install later.
I get a grey "Restricted" screen that Champ cannot unlock.
That is an iOS shield left behind by an earlier install, and Champ genuinely cannot clear it — the record belongs to the previous installation and the current one is not allowed to read or remove it. The fix is to clear it at the system level: open Settings, go to Screen Time, then Apps with Screen Time Access, and remove Champ. Turn off App & Website Activity, restart the iPhone, turn it back on, then reopen Champ and use Reset guarding under Guard, Advanced.
Does Champ work if I never grant Screen Time access?
Everything except shielding still works. Declining Screen Time disables app pausing only — the meditations, breathing exercises, affirmations, sound mixer, vision board, book lessons and the garden all run without it. You will be using Champ as a self-care app without the part that puts a practice in front of you at the moment you reach for a feed.
Notifications are not arriving
Champ’s reminders are local notifications scheduled on your iPhone, so there are only a few places they can be lost.
I am not getting any reminders from Champ.
Check the iOS permission first, then the toggles inside Champ. In iOS Settings, find Champ under Notifications and confirm Allow Notifications is on. This matters more than it sounds: iOS only offers the notification prompt once, so if it was declined, no button inside Champ can re-ask and Settings is the only way back. Then open Champ’s own notification settings and switch on the reminders you want — most of them are off until you turn them on, so a fresh install deliberately sends almost nothing.
Notifications work sometimes but not at the time I set.
Check Focus, Scheduled Summary and Time Sensitive, all in iOS Settings. A Focus mode — including Sleep and Do Not Disturb — holds Champ’s notifications silently unless Champ is allowed through it. Notification Summary batches notifications for a later delivery slot instead of showing them at the scheduled minute. And the banner that hands you a reset when a guarded app opens is sent as Time Sensitive specifically so it can cut through a Focus, so if Time Sensitive is switched off for Champ that one arrives late or not at all.
Subscriptions, restoring and cancelling
Champ Pro is an App Store subscription. That means Apple, not Champ, holds the billing relationship — which changes who can do what.
I paid, but Champ Pro is not unlocked.
Use Restore Purchases in Champ — it is in your profile settings, and searching "restore" inside the app jumps straight to it. Make sure the iPhone is signed in to the same Apple Account that made the purchase: restoring asks the App Store to re-confirm what that account owns, which is how a subscription follows you to a new iPhone or through a re-install. When a restore comes back empty it is almost always a different Apple Account — a family member’s device, or a second account used for the store — rather than a lost purchase.
How do I cancel my subscription?
You cancel through Apple, and Champ cannot do it for you. This is not a policy choice: App Store subscriptions are a contract between you and Apple, and Apple gives developers no way to cancel one on a customer’s behalf. Open iOS Settings, tap your name at the top, then Subscriptions, then Champ, then Cancel Subscription. You can also do it from a browser at apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions. Cancelling stops the renewal; you keep Champ Pro until the period you already paid for runs out.
Can I get a refund?
Refunds are requested from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com, and Apple decides them. Champ never receives your payment details and cannot issue, approve or appeal a refund — the money goes to Apple and Apple pays out afterwards. If something about Champ is the reason you are asking, email us as well; we cannot move the refund along, but we would rather know what broke.
What does the free version actually include?
Guarding apps is free, and there is no cap on how many you can pick — the only ceiling is Apple’s system-wide limit of 50 apps per shield, which applies to everyone. The 30-second reset in all four of its forms and the self-care practices behind it are free too. Champ Pro gates the power features rather than the app count: daily time limits and full blocking as alternatives to the pause, the advanced per-app rules, on-demand focus sessions, custom routines, and screen-time history beyond the last week. What is free and what is Pro can shift between releases, so the paywall in the app is the current answer rather than this page.
Your data and your account
The short version: your Screen Time data never leaves your iPhone, and that is a property of Apple’s framework rather than a promise we are asking you to take on trust.
Can Champ see which apps I use?
No, and it is not able to. Apple’s Screen Time framework hands Champ opaque tokens instead of app names or bundle IDs, so the list of apps you shield is not readable by Champ even on your own device, and it is never uploaded. Your per-app usage and pickups are rendered by Apple inside a sandboxed report extension that has no network access, which means Champ cannot read those numbers either. There is no screen-time dashboard on Champ’s servers because there is no screen-time data on Champ’s servers.
So what does Champ’s analytics actually receive?
Aggregate events, never tied to an app name: whether Screen Time access was granted or declined, how many apps or categories you guard as a count only, that a guarded app was opened and that a reset was started or completed, threshold events such as a daily budget you set being reached, and your chosen wake and bedtime minutes if you set them. The full breakdown is in the privacy policy.
How do I delete my account and my data?
From inside Champ: open your profile, go to Edit Account, and use Delete Account. Searching "delete account" in the app goes straight to it. You can also remove individual things — bookmarked content, vision board images, progress history — without deleting the account. If you want a full erasure rather than just the account closed, email hello@champ.plus and say so: that request is handled by a person, and we will confirm when it is done. The retention periods we work to are set out in the privacy policy.
Do I need an account to use Champ?
No. Champ works with an anonymous guest account, and signing in with Google is optional. Signing in is what lets your garden and progress follow you to another device; without it, everything stays on the iPhone you installed it on.
The full detail is in the privacy policy — Screen Time is section 4.9 — and the terms.
Devices, languages and what Champ is not
What Champ runs on, how much of it is translated, and the one thing people most often expect it to do and it does not.
Is there an Android version?
No, and not soon. Champ shields apps using Apple’s Screen Time framework, which has no Android equivalent — an Android version would be a different app built on different foundations rather than a port of this one. Champ is iPhone and iPad only; there is no Mac, Apple Watch or web version either.
Why is part of the app still in English?
Because Champ is partly translated rather than fully localised, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. Most of the interface is available in several languages, but some parts are still English regardless of your device language: the screens the shield itself draws when you open a guarded app, the home-screen widgets, the audio in guided meditations, and some text that arrives from our servers. If a specific screen you rely on is untranslated, tell us which one — that is genuinely useful for deciding what gets done next.
What iOS version do I need, and why will Champ not install?
Champ is an iPhone and iPad app — there is no Mac, Apple Watch or web version. The App Store listing shows the exact minimum iOS version for the current release, and it is the one to trust: the requirement moves up over time as older iOS versions are dropped, so a number written on a web page goes stale. If the App Store offers you an older build, or will not install Champ at all, that is almost always what is happening, and updating iOS resolves it.
Are Guardians a parental-control or family feature?
No. Two similarly-named things get confused here, so: "Guard" is the tab where you choose which apps to shield, and "Guardians" are collectible companions — part of the game layer, summoned with coins earned through daily activity, each with its own look and personality. The overlap is only that your active Guardian is the voice of Champ’s screen-time nudges. Champ has no parent-managed or family setup, no second-device pairing and no way to supervise someone else’s phone: it shields your own apps on your own iPhone, and it asks Apple for permission over your own device rather than over a child’s.
Talking to a human
There is one, and it is the person who wrote the app.
How do I contact support?
Email hello@champ.plus. Champ is made by one developer in Singapore, so the person who reads your email is the person who can fix the thing — but it also means replies come in one timezone and not around the clock, and we would rather say that than invent a response time. Including your iPhone model, your iOS version and what you had just tapped makes a fix far more likely on the first reply.
I found a bug. What is useful to send?
What you expected, what happened instead, and the steps that got you there — plus your iPhone model and iOS version. If it involves shielding, say whether Screen Time is on and whether the apps had been re-picked recently, because that narrows it down immediately. Screenshots help; Champ has no crash-report screen that can send a log for you.
What Champ is, in one paragraph
Champ shields the apps you choose on your own iPhone and offers a 30-second reset — a breath cycle, an affirmation, a short meditation or your vision board — at the moment you open one. Completing a reset grows a garden. It is an iPhone and iPad app, and the App Store listing carries the minimum iOS version for the current release. It is built by one developer, not a clinic, and nothing in it is medical advice.
Still stuck?
Email hello@champ.plus with your iPhone model, your iOS version and what you had just tapped. It reaches the developer directly.
Champ is a one-person studio in Singapore, so replies land in one timezone rather than around the clock.