FAQ
The questions people
actually ask.
Straight answers, including the ones that don't flatter us. Setup problems and troubleshooting live on the Support page; this is everything you'd want to know before trusting us with something this personal.
The basics
What is Sworn, in one paragraph?
Sworn blocks pornography, gambling, social media, and the other categories you've decided to stay away from, across your whole phone, and optionally tells one person you trust when you try anyway. They get a short email with a count and a category, never the site. It's accountability without surveillance. No screenshots, no browsing history, no one reading over your shoulder.
How is that different from a normal blocker?
A blocker you can silently switch off is a speed bump. Most people quietly disable theirs within weeks. Sworn's difference is that turning it off is visible: pause it, remove a category, or go quiet for a day, and your partner hears. The point isn't making quitting impossible, because no app can, and anyone who claims otherwise is overclaiming. The point is that you're never alone at the moment it matters.
How does the blocking actually work?
At the DNS layer — the address book every app on your phone uses. You point your phone's encrypted-DNS setting at Sworn (the app walks you through it, about three minutes), and blocked categories simply stop resolving, in every app and every browser. No VPN, so banking apps, maps, and a work VPN keep working; nothing routes your traffic through us.
Do I have to have a partner?
No. Sworn filters fine with nobody watching, and partners are off by default. Add one when and if you're ready, up to three. In our experience the partner is what turns a good intention into something that holds, but it's your call, always.
Privacy & the partner
What exactly does my partner see?
Three kinds of email, and nothing else. A slip: “3 blocked attempts in the last 24 hours — the sites were in the Pornography category” (a count and a category, at most about two emails a day no matter what). A loosened boundary: if you remove a category or pause the filter, they're told which. And then silence. If Sworn stops filtering abruptly or goes quiet for a full day, they hear that too. That one's the safety net that makes the whole thing honest. If you're the partner, this guide walks through each email and what to say.
Can my partner ever see the actual sites?
No. What reaches your partner is a count and a category, and the emails contain nothing else to reveal. On our side, the sites you visit are answered and immediately forgotten, never logged or stored. The one exception is a domain you put on your own allow list, which is recorded for 7 days when you use it, exactly like a blocked attempt. Blocked attempts are different, and we'd rather be exact. Those are kept for 7 days (the domain, the category, and a count) so you can see what's been blocked in the app and allow a site that shouldn't be, and then they're deleted automatically. Your partner never sees that view, though you can show it to them. Plenty of people open the app together and walk through the week; the difference is that it happens in person, on your terms, not in their inbox. The full inventory of what our server stores is in the Privacy Policy, written to be read.
Can someone sign me up as their watcher without asking?
No. A partner becomes a partner by clicking a confirmation link in an invite email. They get that email and, if they haven't clicked after two days, one reminder — then nothing. No click within 7 days, the invite dies. Every email we ever send has one-click unsubscribe. Unsubscribing deletes their address and ends every email to them about you, reminder included; the only way they'd hear from us again is if you sent them a fresh invite.
What if I just uninstall it?
You can — it's your phone, and we won't pretend otherwise. Your partner will notice the way they'd notice anything honest: Sworn goes quiet, and they get an email saying so, with a seven-day activity chart. If that phone is the only device you use Sworn on, the email goes out after a day of silence. If a second phone or a computer is also running Sworn, those keep reporting, so your partner is told that one device stopped checking in rather than that you went quiet. Deleting the app doesn't delete the promise; it just tells the person you chose that the promise needs a conversation.
Pricing
What's free and what's paid?
Known-malware blocking and ad/tracker blocking are free forever, with no account gymnastics. Everything this product is actually for costs $7/month after a 7-day free trial, and that's the pornography, gambling, social media, shopping, gaming, and VPN/proxy filters, your personal block list, and accountability partners. One subscription covers up to seven of your devices. You subscribe in the app through Apple or Google, and cancel the same way — two taps, no retention flow, no phone call.
Why $7 a month when Screen Time is free?
If a parent-locked Screen Time passcode solves your situation, use it — genuinely. Sworn earns its price when the person locking the door is the person holding the key: the built-in tools stay silent when you disable them, and their filtering misses a lot. $7/month (~$84/year) buys system-wide filtering plus a person in the loop. The screenshot-based alternatives run $130–$220/year; the comparison is here, and it's honest about when they're the better fit.
Family, professionals & limits
Can I set it up on my kid's phone?
Yes. Install Sworn on their phone, pick the categories, and name yourself (or a co-parent) as the partner. You hear about blocked attempts. More importantly, you hear if filtering stops. Your kid never signs into anything on Sworn's side; they just have a filtered phone. For a young child, pairing it with a parent-held Screen Time or Family Link passcode is the sturdier setup, and we say so.
I'm a therapist / pastor / group leader — can I recommend this?
That's what these two pages are for: Sworn for therapists & counselors and Sworn for churches & recovery ministries. Each is written to be printed or forwarded whole, including exactly what a partner receives and the limits. The short answer is yes, and the privacy model is why you can do it with a clear conscience.
What are the honest limits?
Phones first: iOS and Android, plus Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook (the computers pair with the phone app). Browsers that run their own encrypted DNS (Brave and Firefox ship with it on) bypass any system DNS filter, including ours. Turning that off takes thirty seconds per browser and Support shows where. Sworn is a filter plus accountability. It isn't therapy or a cure, and it's no substitute for the people in your corner. And it can be removed — the honesty is that removal shows.
Something else?
Email sworn-support@snowleopard.dev — we read everything personally. Setup and troubleshooting live on Support, and the Fact sheet puts the facts on one page.
Keep the promise.
You're not doing it alone.
Free to start. Three minutes. One person you trust.
On a computer too? Set up the phone first, then add Windows, Mac, Linux or Chromebook to the same account.