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Protect the pause
A small pause
can give you your evening back.
YouTube can be genuinely useful. The problem is how quickly recommendations, Shorts, and autoplay can carry you past the reason you opened it. Sanctum adds an optional checkpoint at those moments, so you can decide what happens next instead of being blocked.
No account · No external behavioral analytics · Personal data stays on your device
A quick check-in
This one screen
is all Sanctum adds.
No warnings, locks, or scores. Sanctum simply brings back what you meant to do and gives you three clear options.
Sanctum•••
intentI opened YouTube to learn or get some work done
Do you still want to keep watching?
There’s no wrong choice here.
01
Choice
Keep watching, go back, or pause. Sanctum does not treat one of those as the “right” answer.
02
No pressure
No shame, scoring, or scolding. The pause creates room to choose; it does not take control.
03
Privacy
Sanctum handles only what it needs to support your choice, not to build a profile of you.
Privacy & control
Your activity stays
on your device.
Core intention and session records stay on your device by default. They leave only when you choose to send something, such as feedback or an export.
Stored on your device
Personal details such as intentions and reflections stay on the device you use.
No external behavioral analytics
No advertising trackers or third-party behavioral analytics are built into Sanctum.
Always adjustable
Skip a check-in, change how often it appears, or turn it off entirely.
Clear boundaries
Four ways to pause.
Two are available today.
Available means available. Planned means planned. Sanctum does not dress unfinished features up as working controls.
Pause Now
Start a Cherry Break whenever you want, without locking your device.
Session Contract
Start with a purpose and, if useful, a time limit. Finish with a choice and a short reflection.
Quiet Window
Set aside calmer hours in your day. It will ship only when scheduling is reliable enough.
Daily Boundary
Set your own daily boundary. Until it works as a real limit, Sanctum will not present it as one.
Intent → Drift → Choice → Reflection
When you drift from what you came for,
make the next choice yours.
Sanctum works in four simple steps: name what you came to do, notice when you’ve drifted, choose what happens next, and take a brief look back.
01Intent
Name what you came to do
Write down, in a few words, why you opened YouTube.
02Drift
Notice when you’ve wandered
Check whether recommendations, Shorts, or autoplay have pulled you away from that reason.
03Choice
Choose what happens next
Keep watching, return to what you came for, or pause for a moment.
04Reflection
Look back briefly
Notice the choice you made without scoring or judging yourself.
SanctumStable Extension
Do you still want to keep watching?
I opened YouTube to learn or get some work done
See what I came to doKeep watching
There’s no wrong choice here.Chrome extension
Choose what Sanctum should watch for.
Keep the parts of YouTube you actually use.
Tune home recommendations, related recommendations, autoplay, and repeated Shorts swipes separately. Search, subscriptions, direct links, and videos you choose still work as usual.
- ✓Never forces a block
- ✓Tune recommendations, Shorts, and autoplay separately
- ✓Change how often check-ins appear—or turn them off
- ✓Start directly in Chrome
One set of principles across browser, desktop, and mobile
One set of principles.
Three different products.
Chrome, Desktop, and Mobile all center on intention, choice, and reflection, but they are not identical products and do not automatically sync today. Each keeps data locally, with backup and transfer left in your hands.
Chrome Extension
AvailableAdds optional check-ins around home recommendations, related videos, autoplay, and Shorts.
Desktop
In developmentLocal intention sessions, reflection, and user-controlled backup are being built. Its feature set differs from Chrome.
Mobile
In developmentLocal sessions, check-in reminders, and user-controlled backup are being built. It does not intervene inside YouTube.
What Sanctum is built to protect
A good tool
does not decide for you.
“I can keep watching, go back to what I came for, or pause for a moment.”Sanctum · Protect the pause.
When you can choose again,
the way you use YouTube can change.
Use YouTube less by rules, and more on your own terms.