How is my progress calculated?

If you've looked at the Progress page and wondered where the numbers come from, this article walks through the calculation in plain language and answers the questions that come up most often.

The short version

Detox compares two things:

1. The screen time before Detox you reported during onboarding (or via the popup if you joined before the Progress page existed). This is your baseline.
2. The actual time you spend on your Monitored Apps while using Detox.

Each day, the difference between those two becomes your "saved" time for that day. Detox adds those daily savings up since you joined to get your cumulative hours reclaimed, and it extrapolates your current behavior forward across your remaining lifespan to get the years projected to be saved headline number on the dot grid.

If you saved nothing on a given day (you used your monitored apps more than your baseline), that day just counts as zero saved, not as negative. The number can only go up.

How can I modify my screen time before Detox?

Tap the pen / edit icon in the header of the Progress page. A sheet opens where you can adjust both baseline values, your age and your screen time before Detox, with the same wheel pickers you used during setup. Tap save, and the dot grid, hero stat, and cards all recalculate.

See the Progress page article for more on where this lives.

Why does my projected savings change over time?

The headline X years projected to be saved is a forward-looking number. Detox takes your current usage rate, projects it across your remaining lifespan (an 83-year model), compares that to what would have happened at your baseline, and shows you the difference.

That means the number moves with your habits:

• If you use your monitored apps less, your projected savings go up.
• If you use them more, your projected savings go down.

This is intentional. It's meant to be a real-time signal of where you're headed, not a one-time stat that locks in. If you have a heavier week, you'll see the projection dip; if you have a lighter one, you'll see it recover.

What if my baseline is wrong?

You can fix it directly. Tap the pen icon on the Progress page, adjust the wheel pickers (age + screen time before Detox), and save. Every number on the page recalculates from the new values.

Some common cases where editing is the right move:

• You guessed during onboarding and want to update with a more accurate number.
• Your situation changed (new job, different routine) and your "before Detox" number doesn't match your trajectory anymore.
• You think the projection looks wildly off and adjusting the baseline brings it into a sensible range.

If you've adjusted the baseline and the numbers still don't add up to your sense of reality, reach out via the in-app chat (Settings → Problems with blocks? → Something else).

What if I miss a day of usage?

If you go a whole day without using your Monitored Apps at all (phone off, on a hike, asleep), Detox counts that as full savings for that day. If your baseline is 6 hours and you used 0 hours, you saved 6 hours.

This is by design. The point of Detox is to help you spend less time on monitored apps. A zero-usage day is the best possible outcome, so it gets credited.

The flip side: a day where you exceed your baseline (e.g., used 8 hours with a 6-hour baseline) just counts as zero saved, not as a negative. You can't lose ground; you can only stay flat or gain.

What's the difference between hours reclaimed and years saved?

They're different views of the same idea, calculated differently.

• Hours reclaimed (the Lifetime Reclaimed card) is the actual total you've saved since you joined Detox, day by day, added up. It only counts days where Detox was tracking your usage. It grows as you use the app.
• Years saved (the hero number on the dot grid) is a projection based on your current behavior. It estimates how many years of your remaining lifespan you'd save by keeping up your current usage rate, compared to your baseline rate.

So hours reclaimed looks backward at what really happened. years saved looks forward at what could happen if you keep going. They'll often move in the same direction, but they're answering different questions.

Related

• What can I do on the Progress page?
• Why does my screen time look wrong on the home page?
• How do I block specific apps and websites?

Updated on: 22/05/2026