Bring your own AI
AI Screen Time App: Connect Claude or ChatGPT to Your Real Phone Data
Respite is, to our knowledge, the first mobile screen time app with a built-in MCP server (November 2026). With Respite Plus you connect your own AI, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, and ask about your real usage, limits and progress. It reads by default; if you opt in it can also make your limits stricter, but never loosen one without your approval. Respite runs no AI of its own, and you can disconnect any time.
Respite Plus. Updated November 2026.
What can I ask my AI about my screen time?
These prompts work with the read tools. Your AI picks the tool; you just ask.
| Ask | Tool used |
|---|---|
| How did my screen time this week compare with last week, and which apps changed most? | get_insights |
| Which apps do I use most across my phone and browser, and how often do I open them? | get_usage |
| Did I stay within my limits this week? Which limit do I break most often, and on which days? | get_insights |
| When Respite paused me at a limit, how often did I walk away, and for which apps? | get_insights, list_events |
| Compare my Android and iPhone usage for the last two weeks. | get_usage |
| List my limits and schedules. Which ones look too loose compared with what I actually do? | list_limits, get_usage |
| Show the last 20 times I was interrupted at a limit and what I chose. | list_events |
| What is my streak, how many acorns do I have, and what are today's quests? | get_progress |
More in 30 prompts to ask Claude or ChatGPT about your screen time.
How does it work?
Respite hosts an MCP server. Your AI app is the client. You stay in control of who connects.
- 1
Add Respite to your AI
In Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, add a custom connector with the address https://respite-api.liveintently.app/mcp.
- 2
Sign in and allow
Your AI opens a Respite page. You sign in with Google or Apple, the same as in the app, and approve the permissions it asks for. One checkbox, "Also let it make my limits stricter", is unticked by default.
- 3
Ask in plain language
Your AI decides which of Respite's tools to call and answers from your own synced data.
- 4
Disconnect whenever you like
Remove the connector in your AI app and its access ends. Deleting your Respite account ends every connection.
The tools your AI can call today
| Tool | What it returns | Plan |
|---|---|---|
get_account | Your plan, devices and when this AI was connected. Works on the free plan. | Free |
get_usage | Minutes per app or per day over a range of up to 92 days, merged across your devices. | Plus |
get_insights | This period against the one before: top apps, busiest day, limits kept, walk-aways, your first-week baseline. | Plus |
list_limits | Your per-app daily limits and blocking schedules. | Plus |
list_events | Raw sessions, or the moments Respite interrupted you at a limit and what you chose. | Plus |
get_progress | Acorns, XP and level, streak, streak freezes, quests and your league tier (never other people). | Plus |
list_changes | A read-only list of the changes AIs made to your limits and schedules, and requests waiting for your approval. | Plus |
Opt-in tools that make limits stricter
Available only if you tick "Also let it make my limits stricter" on Respite's approval page (Respite Plus). Try: "Lower my Instagram limit to 20 minutes on weekdays", "Add a schedule that blocks TikTok and YouTube 10pm to 7am" or "Undo the last change you made".
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
set_limit | Add or lower a per-app daily limit. Applies at once. Raising a limit becomes a request you approve. |
add_schedule | Add a blocking schedule. Applies at once. |
remove_limit | Always becomes a request you approve; nothing is removed on its own. |
remove_schedule | Always becomes a request you approve; nothing is removed on its own. |
undo_change | Lets an AI undo a change it made itself. |
Reading is always part of a connection; making limits stricter is a separate choice, unticked by default. An AI cannot change pause messages or custom rules, write usage history, earn or spend acorns, or block apps outside your limits and schedules. Read how letting your AI change your limits works. New to the term? Read what an MCP server is, in plain English.
What is live and what is coming?
We describe a tool as available only when it is.
- LiveConnect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another remote MCP client with OAuth sign-in
- Live (Respite Plus)Read your usage, insights, limits, schedules, sessions, interventions and game progress
- Live (Respite Plus)Resources respite://today and respite://week with ready-made summaries
- LiveConnections are read-only unless you tick "Also let it make my limits stricter" on the approval page; connections made before this update stay read-only until you reconnect
- Live (Respite Plus)AI makes your limits stricter: lower a limit or add a schedule, applied at once and synced to your devices (opt-in)
- LiveLoosening (raising or removing a limit, removing a schedule) never applies on its own: it becomes a request, which expires after 7 days
- LiveA log of every AI change (which AI, what, before and after, the reason it gave), kept 90 days, with undo for the AI's own changes; at most 30 changes per connection per hour
- Coming in app updatesA Connected AI screen in the Respite app to approve requests and remove connections; until it arrives you change limits yourself in the app
- PlannedAn AI changing your pause messages or custom rules
Details are in letting your AI change your limits and bring your own AI to Respite. The What's new page says when each one ships.
Is it private?
- Your AI provider handles the data. What a tool returns goes into your chat, so the assistant's provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Cursor or another) processes it under its own policy and your account settings there.
- Respite runs no AI on your data and does not train models on it. Respite only answers the calls your connected AI makes.
- You choose the permissions on the consent screen, and tools that need a permission you did not grant return an error instead of data.
- You can disconnect in your AI app's connector settings. Deleting your Respite account ends every connection.
- Only synced data. The AI sees what your devices sync to your account, not what stays on a device.
Read the full explanation in is it safe to give an AI your screen time data?Policies: iPhone, Android, Chrome.
How do I set it up?
The address is the same everywhere: https://respite-api.liveintently.app/mcp
Claude
Claude.ai and Claude Desktop: Settings, Connectors, Add custom connector. Claude Code: one command.
Claude setup →ChatGPT
Add Respite as a custom MCP connector in ChatGPT's connector settings, where your plan allows it.
ChatGPT setup →Cursor and others
Any assistant that supports remote MCP servers with OAuth. Includes permissions and troubleshooting.
All clients →Respite vs in-app AI coaches
Two different ideas of "AI screen time". Facts checked November 2026; see the sources in our coach comparison.
| Respite (bring your own AI) | In-app AI coach apps | LockIn MCP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How the AI is provided | Your own Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor account, over MCP | A coach built into the app, run by the app maker | Your own assistant, over MCP |
| Platforms | Android, iPhone, Chrome | Mostly iPhone only (FOMO, Zensi, Argue, No Scroll AI) | macOS full; Windows and Linux via hosts file; Chrome add-on |
| What the AI sees | Your synced Respite usage and limits, only when you ask | What you tell the coach, plus the app's usage data | Which sites are blocked; task-aware blocking sends a page excerpt |
| What it does today | Reads and explains your data; with opt-in, makes limits stricter | Talks you out of opening a blocked app | Blocks sites and starts focus sessions |
| Typical price | Respite Plus: $4.99 a month; you pay your AI separately | Around $9 to $10 a month for the apps that list a price | $2.99 a month, $29.99 a year |
Coach apps are not worse: if you want an AI to talk you out of an app at the moment you tap it, that is exactly what they do and Respite does not (yet). LockIn MCP is a desktop website blocker; see Respite vs LockIn MCP. For the full picture of apps with AI features, read best AI app blockers and screen time apps in 2026.
Try it with your own data
Respite is free to start on Android, iPhone and Chrome. Plus adds sync and bring your own AI.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI screen time app?
It depends on where you want the AI to live. Apps such as FOMO and Zensi build a coach into the app, mostly on iPhone. Respite takes the other route: it runs no AI, and you connect your own Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor to your real usage through MCP, on Android, iPhone and Chrome. See our comparison for the trade-offs.
Can ChatGPT or Claude see my screen time?
Only if you connect them. Out of the box, neither can read your phone. With Respite Plus you add Respite as a custom connector, sign in and allow access, after which the assistant can fetch your synced usage, insights and limits when you ask. It sees nothing before you connect and nothing after you disconnect.
What is a screen time MCP server?
MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that lets an AI assistant call tools in another app. A screen time MCP server exposes your usage and limits as tools. Respite hosts one at https://respite-api.liveintently.app/mcp, with OAuth sign-in, so your own AI can answer questions about your data.
Is Respite really the first screen time app with an MCP server?
To our knowledge, Respite is the first mobile screen time app with a built-in MCP server, as of November 2026. We do not claim to be the only screen time product with MCP: LockIn MCP is a desktop website blocker driven by your AI, and community-made MCP servers read Mac Screen Time or RescueTime data.
Does Respite run an AI on my data?
No. Respite runs no AI model on your data and does not train models on it. When you connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, the answers to your questions are sent to that assistant, and its provider handles them under its own policy. Respite only returns what you ask for, for the permissions you allowed.
Can my AI change my limits?
Only to make them stricter, and only if you opt in. On Respite's approval page you can tick "Also let it make my limits stricter" (unticked by default); then your AI can lower a limit or add a schedule, and that applies at once. Raising or removing a limit, or removing a schedule, never applies on its own: it becomes a request you approve in the Respite app, which is arriving in app updates, and requests expire after 7 days. Every change is logged for 90 days, and an AI can undo its own changes. Connections made before this update stay read-only until you reconnect.
Do I need Respite Plus to connect an AI?
Yes, to read your data. The account tool works on a free account so the connection can tell you what is missing, but usage, insights, limits, events and progress need Respite Plus. At the time of writing Plus is $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year with a one-week free trial, or $59.99 lifetime; the stores set prices by country.
How do I disconnect an AI from Respite?
Remove or disconnect the Respite connector in your AI app's connector settings, which ends its access. Deleting your Respite account also ends every connection. A Connected AI screen inside the Respite app is arriving in app updates.