Tags: tap a sticker, things happen

A tag is an NFC sticker or a QR code with one job. Put it where the habit happens, and a tap does the rest.

Tags live in Settings > Tags Pro. The 7 day trial includes them.

NFC tag or QR code

NFC tag

A sticker, card or key ring. Tap your phone to it, even with Appcognito closed.

Needs a phone with NFC, switched on.

QR code

Appcognito makes the code. Print it, or keep it on another screen.

Scan it with Appcognito's own scanner. Any phone with a camera works.

Both do the same jobs, the same way. Only how the phone reads them differs.

Three jobs

Each tag has exactly one job. Want two jobs? Pair two tags.

Job	What a tap does	Works with
Switch	Turns everything it holds on or off, together. If any of it is off, all of it turns on. If all of it is on, all of it turns off.	Rules and block lists
Unlock key	Opens a blocked app. On the block screen, the key replaces the game or breath, then you pick 5, 15 or 30 minutes.	Every block, or the rules and block lists you choose
Check in	Logs one check-in. The app stays closed and a short toast confirms it.	One habit you tick off yourself

Some ideas from the app: a switch at your desk that starts Study mode, an unlock key kept in another room so unlocking takes a walk, and a check-in tag on your water bottle.

Pair a tag

Open Settings > TagsTap Pair a new tag.
Pick its jobSwitch, Unlock key or Check in.
Pick NFC or QRNFC: hold the sticker to the back of your phone. QR: a fresh code is ready at once. On a phone without NFC, this step is skipped.
Pick what it controlsThe rules and block lists it switches or unlocks, or the habit it checks in.
Name it"Desk", "Hallway", "Water". A QR tag then offers Share or print.

You can also start from the thing itself: a rule's editor has a switch tag and an unlock key, a habit has a check-in tag, and Block settings > Unblock Gate offers Tap a tag.

Using a tag

Switch. Tap it anywhere. Appcognito opens and runs the switch through the same checks as the app, then shows what changed. Behind your app lock, the switch waits until you unlock it.
Unlock key. Open a blocked app and tap Still need it? The block screen asks for your tag. A key opens an app only if it is set to Every block, or covers every rule and block list holding that app.
Check in. Tap it and the habit gets one check-in, app closed. A habit with a check-in tag checks in only with that tag, so the button in the app says Tap Water. Undo still works.

Lost your tag? The block screen has a way back: a 15 minute wait, then one unlock. It is not offered in Strict mode.

Scanning a QR tag

Appcognito reads QR tags with its own scanner. Four ways to open it:

Scan at the top of the Tags page.
Long-press the Appcognito icon and pick Scan a tag.
A Scan a tag shortcut on your home screen. The app offers it after you make a QR tag.
The Quick Settings tile, from your notification shade.

Only codes Appcognito made work. Any other QR code is refused. A printed code never changes: to give it a new job, edit the tag in the app. New code makes a fresh one and retires the old print at once.

Never a loophole

A tag only does what the app would let you do. Nothing more.

Strict mode and parental locks: tags do nothing. No unlocks, no switching off. Check-in tags still work.
Challenges: a rule a running challenge holds stays on, tag or not.
One tag per job: a rule or block list takes one switch tag and one unlock key. There is one Every block key, and a habit has one check-in tag.
No Pro, or NFC off: your tags are kept but paused. Habits check in by hand, and the block screen plays its usual game.
New phone: tags are not in account backups. Pair them again.

Which stickers work

Any blank NFC sticker, card or key ring you own. Appcognito knows each tag by a one-way fingerprint of its chip, so copying a tag's link onto another sticker does not work.

Use blank tags, not your cards. Appcognito checks every tag before writing. It only rewrites its own tags, asks before changing anything another app wrote, and never writes to bank, ID or travel cards.

A read-only tag still pairs. It then works inside the app and on the block screen, but not from anywhere else.

Wipe or remove a tag

Remove a tag from its own page, behind the gear. The app offers to wipe the sticker too.
Wipe a tag is behind the gear on the Tags page, for NFC tags. It always asks first, and wiping one of your tags removes it from the app.

Nothing about your tags leaves your phone. See the Privacy Policy for exactly what is stored, and Permissions for NFC and the camera.