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An upcoming mobile app called Touch Grass has been going viral on social media in recent times. The app, as the name suggests, allows users to block "the most distracting apps" on their phone, only giving them access to said apps if they go outside and take a picture of them touching some grass and submit it on the app.
Rhys Kentish, a London-based mobile app developer, first announced the app on the Hacker News forum on February 24, 2025. He added that he wanted to create an app that helped him break his mindless doom-scrolling after waking up, writing:
"I wanted to change the habit of reaching for my phone in the morning and doomscrolling away an hour so i built an app to help me. now i have to literally touch grass before accessing my most distracting apps."
The app is reportedly built in SwiftUI, using Apple's screentime API and Google's Cloud Vision API to allow the app to verify whether the user has touched grass.
The app is seemingly named after the viral online slang "touch grass," which became popularized on social media platforms in the mid-2010s. As per the Urban Dictionary, "touch grass" is:
“Used when someone is doing something weird, stupid, or pointless. it means they need to come back to reality, they need to get some fresh air and get back in touch with how the real world works.”
Touch Grass is scheduled for release on March 14
Touch Grass has yet to be officially released on app stores, with the official release date set for March 14. App developer Rhys Kentish explained his surprise at the sudden interest in the app in a recent LinkedIn post, writing that his Hacker News post hit 1500 visitors in just 30 minutes.
He also explained that the app's recent virality has led to several people reaching out to him to talk about funding, writing:
"I’m getting loads of emails and messages and I’m starting to feel overwhelmed. Really cool people are reaching out, people are sending me their CVs, talking about funding and some really big names are connecting with me. Very overwhelmed."
He also expressed concern about the bandwidth due to the app's unexpected popularity, writing that he had to upgrade to a 1TB bandwidth on Netlify.
He added that he might migrate to bunny.net to manage the bandwidth. In a recent interview with Fast Company, Kentish further explained why he decided to develop the app, saying:
“I was sick and tired of my reflex in the morning being to reach for my phone and scroll for upwards of an hour. It didn’t feel good, and I wasn’t getting anything out of it.”
According to Upworthy News, the app will be available in premium or free versions. The premium version offers additional perks that allow users to choose unlimited apps to block, monitor their screen time usage, and gather more insights into their app usage.
It also allows users to purchase skips to deny the touch grass request multiple times compared to the free version, which allows only one skip per month. Kentish also claimed that 50% of the skip profits will be donated to wildlife conservation projects in the U.K.
Touch Grass is now available for pre-order on the App Store.
