Press kit
Everything you need to write about SETL, including the things we will not claim. Interviews, early access and original data on request.
Boilerplate
One line: A screen blocker app specialising in automated distraction relief, night and day. Built for ADHD brains, deep focus and anyone with a busy life.
Short: SETL is an iPhone app blocker built for bedtime. You set your bedtime once, and your chosen apps close themselves every night.
Long: SETL (pronounced settle) is a UK built app blocker for iPhone, designed around the hour most people lose to their phones. Unlike screen time apps built for the workday, SETL starts at bedtime: users choose the apps that keep them up and the time those apps should close, and the block then runs automatically every night. SETL Sessions brings the same blocking into the day for focused work, and SETL Plans schedules nights off in advance. It is built on Apple's Screen Time framework, so usage data never leaves the device. SETL is on a mission to give the world a billion hours back.
Story angles
Four we can speak to properly, with evidence.
The copywriter who quit the attention business
Jacob Redshaw wrote copy for a living, paid to stop thumbs and hold attention, for brands including JD Sports and Manchester United. He has ADHD, and the same techniques beat him every night. SETL is the tool he built against his own trade.
Why Screen Time limits fail adults
Apple built Screen Time for families: a parent sets the passcode, the child lives with the limit. When you set limits for yourself you are both parent and child, and at midnight you are the one asking for more time.
What the evidence really says about screens and sleep
Half of US adults take a screen to bed daily. A 2025 study of 45,202 students linked each extra hour on a screen in bed to about 24 minutes less sleep. Meanwhile the claim that screens damage your retina is not supported.
The app blocker market has a night shift
Screen time apps were built for the workday. A wave of new apps, SETL among them, is being built for the hour people actually lose: bedtime.
Fact sheet
What it is
How it works
Three features
Price
Stage
Founded
Mission
Pronounced
Beta results
Reported by SETL beta testers. We will share the underlying method with any journalist who asks.
Less screen time a day. About 3 hours by day and 1 hour at night.
Handed back every week.
Every month. That is more than 5 full days.
Across a lifetime of daily use.
Average daily reduction in screen time reported by SETL beta testers in 2026, against usual screen time of 5 to 7 hours a day. Week and month figures multiply that average out. The lifetime figure assumes daily use from age 15 to 87. Individual results vary.
How we handle evidence
Every statistic on this site links to its original source, and we will happily point you to it.
We do not publish invented reviews, user numbers or health outcomes. We do not pay for coverage, buy links or trade reviews. If we ever gift access for a review, we ask that it is disclosed.
Where a popular claim is wrong, we say so: the widely quoted "23 minutes to refocus" figure comes from a 2006 interview rather than a study, and ophthalmologists say screens do not damage your retina.
Logos, app screenshots and founder photography are available on request. About SETL.
Press FAQs
Who can I speak to at SETL?
Jacob Redshaw, founder. Email jacob.redshaw13@gmail.com. He is available for interviews, written comment and podcast recordings, based in the UK.
What is SETL in one line?
SETL is an iPhone app blocker built for bedtime: you set your bedtime once, and your chosen distracting apps close themselves every night.
Is SETL available yet?
SETL is in beta ahead of its App Store launch, with a public waitlist at setlsleep.com. Press can request early access.
Can I use your statistics?
Yes, with a link. Every figure on this site names its source, and we will not supply a number we cannot evidence.
Can I get images or the logo?
Yes. App screenshots and logo files are available on request, and the marks below can be used in coverage.
Does SETL pay for coverage or reviews?
No. We do not buy reviews, trade links or pay for editorial. If we ever gift access for a review, we ask that it is disclosed.
Your phone can go to sleep first.
Join the SETL waitlist. Get up to 7 nights free when we launch.