When your DLM Premium subscription ends — whether you cancelled, your card failed, or Apple revoked it — the shield comes down. All Blocker features pause until you resubscribe.

What "paused" means

  • Your blocked apps unlock immediately.
  • You can't submit new unblock requests.
  • You can't change your block window, days, or apps.
  • The app shows a takeover screen titled "Your shield's down. Let's bring it back" with a Resubscribe button.
  • Your account, pairing, and history are all kept. Nothing is deleted.

What's still there

  • Your buddy pair stays intact. Your buddy still sees you in their app.
  • Your block settings (window, days, app list) are remembered. They snap back the moment you resubscribe.
  • Your streak data is preserved.

Why we do it this way

The honest answer: if the shield stayed up for free indefinitely, there'd be no real reason to pay. Lapse-equals-pause keeps the commercial side honest while making it clear that DLM is a service, not a one-time purchase.

The Key Holder side is unaffected — Key Holders never pay and never lapse.

Billing grace period (the safety net)

If your subscription "expires" because your card failed — not because you cancelled — Apple gives you a billing grace period. For yearly subscriptions this is up to 16 days; for monthly it's up to 6 days. During the grace period:

  • Apple keeps retrying your card.
  • Your shield stays up. The app works normally.
  • DLM shows a small "Premium · Renewing" badge in Settings so you know what's happening.

If Apple successfully charges within the grace window, no interruption. If they don't, your subscription rolls to expired and the takeover screen appears.

Coming back

Resubscribing is one tap from the takeover screen. Apple charges, your entitlement returns, the shield re-applies based on your saved settings, and you're back where you were.

If you'd trialled before, you don't get another trial — Apple's rules. You're billed from the moment you tap Subscribe.

What if I'm permanently quitting DLM?

Tap "Sign out" on the takeover screen if you want to switch accounts, or go to Delete your account to wipe everything from our servers.