Moly
For iPhone
Take back control. Choose when to reopen.
Moly replaces endless scrolling with reading: a moment of reading between the reflex and the app.
Coming soon to the App Store. iOS 16 or later.
The reflex
We open our phones before we've even thought. In a queue, on the train, in every gap of the day.
Moly doesn't judge the reflex. It brings awareness back into it: five minutes of reading, then we reopen the app because we chose to.
How it works
A pause before every reflex.
- Pick your appsThe ones we reach for on autopilot, then turn on blocking (Apple's Screen Time, for yourself only).
- Open one of themA screen offers an article to read before going on.
- An article appearsDrawn at random from the topics you chose. Nothing to browse.
- Read for five minutesThe timer stays visible. It only runs inside Moly.
- Choose what’s next5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes unlocked, then everything locks again on its own.
Blocking
Everyone decides their own apps and pauses.
The chosen apps are paused through Screen Time, Apple's own feature, and only for you. Nothing is deleted or forbidden: access simply goes through a moment of reading.
While blocking is on, the selection can't be changed on a whim: read, unlock, then adjust.
Reading
Reading puts the mind back in a state to think.
A built-in reader shows the article as plain text, with no ads and no distractions. One article at a time, drawn at random from the topics you chose.
Articles are refreshed every day. Paid newspapers open with your own subscriptions.
The library
Keep what deserves to be remembered.
Favourites, read-later, articles read and notes: the idea to keep is always in one place.
Why “Moly”
The herb to regain humanity.
In the Odyssey, the sorceress Circe poisons the drink of Odysseus's companions: they lose their humanity. Hermes gives Odysseus the moly, a herb with a black root and a flower white as milk, the antidote to that poison.
Odysseus protects himself with it, and thanks to him his companions regain their full humanity.
Trust
Nothing leaves the phone.
No account needed
“Continue without an account”: topics, languages, history and notes stay on the device. An account only brings them to another phone.
No ads
No ads and no tracking tools in the app. Blocking relies on Screen Time, which stays with Apple.
A direct line
A question, an idea, a problem? A real person answers: molyread@icloud.com.
Choose rather than react.
Moly is coming soon to the App Store. A quick message is enough to be told when it launches, or to share feedback on the test version.