Standard vs Strict Aura: Which Focus Mode?

AuraLock has two boundary strengths. Both keep exactly the same apps outside your Aura. The only thing that changes is how hard the boundary is while the session runs: Standard is a boundary you can negotiate with, Strict is a commitment that holds until the clock runs out. This page documents the rules exactly as the app enforces them.

At a glance

• Pause — Standard: yes, by default (you can switch it off before you start). Strict: never.
• Extend — both: yes. When a session ends, the completion notification offers Extend 15 / 30 / 60, in Standard and in Strict alike.
• End early — Standard: only through Emergency Unlock (a math challenge plus a short wait). Strict: there is no early exit at all.
• Change what stays alive — Standard: yes, while the session runs. Strict: fixed once you start.
• Emergency Unlock — Standard: available. Strict: intentionally not rendered — the option does not exist.
• Ends at — both: the exact end time you set. Strict does not shorten or extend the boundary itself.

Standard Aura — a boundary you can negotiate with

Standard is the default and the right choice for most sessions. It protects your attention without treating every interruption as a failure. The boundary is real — other apps are still blocked — but you keep a way to steer.

What Standard gives you

• Pause and resume — the timer freezes and the boundary relaxes while paused, then restores exactly where you left it. You can also turn pause off for a session when you do not trust yourself with the button (see no-pause mode below).
• Extend the session — when the timer runs out, the completion notification offers Extend 15, 30, or 60 minutes, keeping this Aura’s apps and settings. Extending while paused works too, and the added time survives the pause.
• Change what stays alive — open the app picker mid-session and add the one thing you actually need.
• Emergency Unlock — the escape hatch, protected by a short challenge so you leave on purpose rather than on impulse.

How Emergency Unlock actually works

There is deliberately no plain “End Aura” button during a Standard session. The only way out early is Emergency Unlock, which asks you to pass a small attention check first:

1. Open the blocked app and tap Emergency Unlock on the boundary screen.
2. Solve the math challenge. The number of problems depends on your difficulty setting: Easy 2, Medium 3, Hard 4.
3. Wait out the cooldown. You can set it anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes; the default is 30 seconds.
4. The session ends and the boundary lifts.

No-pause mode (Standard)

Pause is on for every Standard Aura by default, but you can switch it off when you start the session. With no-pause mode on, the session behaves like Strict in one respect — the timer runs without interruption — while still keeping Emergency Unlock available. It is the middle ground: I want no breaks, but I still want a way out.

When to choose Standard

• Everyday work and study, where real breaks are part of the plan
• Sessions of an hour or more, where a genuine interruption may happen
• Reading, admin, and inbox time
• Your first weeks with AuraLock, while the habit is still forming

Strict Aura — a commitment that holds

Strict is a promise to yourself with the escape route removed. Once a Strict Aura starts, the boundary cannot be paused, cannot be ended early, and cannot be negotiated with. There is no Emergency Unlock in a Strict session — the option is not rendered at all, so there is nothing to talk yourself into.

What Strict means in practice

• No pause — the timer never freezes. There is no pause control anywhere in the app, the notification, or the overlay.
• No early exit — no emergency path, no “end session” action, no cooldown you can wait out.
• Locked app set — the apps that stay alive are the apps you chose when you started.
• Committed to your end time — the Aura runs to exactly the moment you set when you created it.

Safety is never part of the boundary

Strict protects your attention, not your phone as a device. Emergency calling, and the system functions a phone needs to remain a phone, stay available in every Aura. Strict limits distraction, never safety.

When to choose Strict

• Deep work on something with a hard deadline
• High-temptation moments, when you already know the pull will be strong
• Exam preparation and long writing blocks
• When you want a commitment you cannot talk yourself out of

How to choose in five seconds

Ask one question: “If something real came up right now, would I need to leave?”

• If yes — or if you are not sure — choose Standard.
• If no — nothing legitimate is likely to interrupt — choose Strict.

A useful habit: use Standard for the length of your normal day, and reserve Strict for the blocks that genuinely matter. Most people find two or three Strict sessions a week is plenty; more than that and the commitment starts working against you.

You are never locked into a mode

The boundary is chosen per Aura, not once for the whole app. You can run a Standard Aura in the morning and a Strict one in the afternoon. Schedules store their own boundary too, so a recurring weekday session and a weekend deep-work block can each use the mode that fits them.

Keep reading

• Start and end an Aura — pause, extend, completion, and the full emergency flow
• Create your first Aura — where the boundary is chosen
• Aura schedules — give a recurring session its own boundary
• Active Aura — what the boundary screen shows when an app is blocked