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Shizuka: Quiet Home Screen — Help

The only thing on your Home Screen is one widget. It lists the names of the apps you use as plain text, and it can add one 10-second deep breath before you open social media and other apps. See it on the App Store

Place the widget

When you tap "Start" on the app's first screen, you reach the screen for placing the widget.

① Touch and hold an empty area of the Home Screen, then tap the button at the top left and choose "Add Widget".

② From the list, choose "Shizuka", and place one "Extra Large" widget on iOS 27, or one "Large" widget on iOS 26. If you want it smaller on your Home Screen, you can also choose "Medium". The Medium widget shows the top three of your apps and a one-line date (no time line).

③ Once it is placed, go back to Shizuka. The app moves on to the next screen on its own.

You can choose up to six apps to list, under "Home Screen" in the Shizuka app.

Add an app to breathe before opening

A 10-second deep breath comes before the app opens. On iOS 27, you only need to import a shortcut prepared for each app.

① In the Shizuka app, tap "Breathe", then tap "+ Add app". In the list, tap "Add" next to the app you want to add a breath for. The first time, a guide appears; tap "Add with Shortcuts".

② The Shortcuts app opens and shows a shortcut named "Breathe before opening (your app)". Tap "Set Up Shortcut" below.

③ Under "Turn on the switch below to take a breath before (your app) opens.", turn on the "Automation" switch, then tap "Add Shortcut". On iOS 27, "Add Shortcut" sometimes does not respond (this is a bug reported to Apple). If that happens, tap "Skip Setup" below it, and the shortcut is imported.

④ Go back with "Shizuka" at the top left. The row of the app you added says "Hasn't appeared yet". When you open that app and the breath screen appears, it changes to "Active".

You can see what the screen looks like beforehand with "Try it" on the breath screen. Tries do not count toward your totals.

On iOS 26, a screen of steps opens instead of the breath screen, and you create the Automation in the Shortcuts app yourself. If an import does not work on iOS 27, and an app still says "Hasn't appeared yet" a day after you added it, you can create it yourself with "Set up step by step", which appears on the breath screen.

Hide other pages

Touch and hold the Home Screen and tap the dots at the bottom. Uncheck every page except the widget page. Your apps are not deleted, and you can open them from the App Library. Following the same steps puts the pages back right away.

Use a plain wallpaper

In the Shizuka app, open "Use a plain wallpaper" under "Declutter", then tap "Save to Photos". Then choose the saved image as your Home Screen wallpaper in the iPhone's Settings under "Wallpaper". On the Home Screen, tap "Customize" and turn off the sun icon, and the edge between the wallpaper and the widget disappears.

Turn off the breath for an app

You can turn off the breath for one app at a time in the Shizuka app. You can also stop all of them at once.

① In the Shizuka app, tap "Breathe".

② Turn off the switch to the right of the app you want to stop. For an app you turned off, the breath screen does not appear when you open it. Turn it back on, and it appears again.

③ To stop all of them for a while, turn off "Use Breathe". Turn it back on, and it appears for the same apps as before.

In the free version, the breath screen appears only for the top one of the apps that are turned on.

To stop completely, delete that app's Automation in the "Automation" tab of the Shortcuts app.

To use it again later, you can add the app again by following "Add an app to breathe before opening".

Batch notifications

In the Shizuka app, open "Batch notifications" under "Declutter", then tap "Open iPhone Settings". Go back with "Notifications" at the top left of the screen that opens, and at the top you will find "Scheduled Summary". Choose it to receive your notifications in a few bundles a day, such as three times a day. You can use it without turning everything off. If the Notifications screen does not open, choose "Scheduled Summary" under "Notifications" in the iPhone's Settings.

Focus

Start from "Focus" in the Shizuka app. Focus is free, with no limit on how often you use it. For 25 minutes, 50 minutes, 90 minutes, or a length you choose, you can keep the apps you chose from opening. During focus, the widget does not list apps and shows only the time remaining. You can also start from "Focus" on the widget.

You choose the apps to keep closed during focus yourself, from the iPhone's Screen Time list. While you are focusing, tap "Focus" in the Shizuka app to see a countdown, and end it at any time with "End focus". You can also end it with "End" on the widget.

How to start

• Pick one to three apps that you tend to open by reflex while you work. Apps you need quickly, such as messages or the camera, are easier to live with if you leave them out.
• There is no one right length. 25 minutes is a commonly used one. Start short and find the length that fits your own work.
• It doesn't have to be every day. You can start it whenever you want to focus.

Daily set times, and a daily limit on use

If you want apps blocked at the same time every day, or a daily limit on your use, use "Screen Time" in the iPhone's Settings. You can set them with "Downtime" and "App Limits". Shizuka only handles focus that you start each time you want to focus.

What research has found

All of these are studies from abroad, and this app will not necessarily give the same results.

• In a study of 32 office workers who worked for 5 days as usual and for 5 days with distracting websites blocked, more people said they "could focus for longer" in the week the sites were blocked. [5]
• A 2025 analysis that pooled studies of cutting back on social media, or going without it for a while, found that the positive effects on mood were small, if there were any. [6]
• In studies comparing the length of work sessions and how people take breaks, results differ from study to study on whether fixed breaks every 25 minutes or breaks you choose yourself are better. The best length for focus is not yet known. [7]

[5] Mark, Iqbal, Czerwinski (2017). UbiComp '17 Adjunct
[6] Burnell et al. (2025). SSM - Mental Health
[7] Biwer et al. (2023). British Journal of Educational Psychology

Themes

Under "Themes" in "Home Screen" in the Shizuka app, you can choose from eight: Indigo, Margin, Mono, Moss, Dusty Rose, Sand, Wisteria, and Teal. The colors and type of the widget and the app change. The night colors change to follow your iPhone's Dark Mode. The seven besides Indigo are in the full version.

Hide the date and time bar

If you turn off "Date and time bar" under "Home Screen" in the Shizuka app, the widget shows only the app names, "Focus", and "Settings". While you are focusing, a bar for the time remaining appears.

Why take a breath

When you reach for an app without thinking, one 10-second deep breath comes first. After that, you choose for yourself between "Not now" and "Open". It does not stop you from opening the app.

What it is for

Pausing once before you open lets you choose, right then, whether you really want to open it. If you do, it opens as it is.

What research has found

All of these are studies from abroad, and this app will not necessarily give the same results. Here are some studies of designs that put a short pause before opening.

• A study of people who use an app that shows a few seconds of pause and a "Quit" choice before opening found that "Quit" was chosen in about one in three of their attempts to open (33 to 36%). It is a survey with no comparison group. [1][2]
• In an experiment that compared screens of the same kind split into "the waiting" and "being able to choose to quit", being able to choose to quit was more strongly linked to the effect than the waiting was. [1]
• In a four-week experiment in Denmark with 13- to 17-year-olds split into three designs, the design that made them wait 6 seconds each time they opened an app cut their time on social media by about 36%. Their satisfaction with social media and their sense of connection did not change. [3]
• A 2025 review from the University of Cambridge said that a design that puts a short pause before opening has the most solid evidence of those it examined. It also noted that it is not yet known whether the effect lasts longer than 3 months. [4]

[1] and [2] are studies of an app called one sec, and the app's creator also took part in the research.

Using it well

• Start with one app that you tend to open by reflex. Apps you want to open quickly, such as the camera or maps, are easier to live with if you leave them out.
• Give it some time. In a long study of users, the number of attempts to open fell over about the first three weeks of use and then stayed flat. [2]
• It is also known that people tend to return to their old habits once the pause is removed. [2] On days you want a break, you can turn off "Use Breathe" and turn it back on later.

[1] Grüning, Riedel, Lorenz-Spreen (2023). PNAS
[2] Haliburton et al. (2024). CHI '24
[3] Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (2025). Disrupting Social Media Habits
[4] Yap, Fokas, Ferguson, Orben (2025). Smartphone and Social Media Interventions. University of Cambridge