PauseFence – Free Website Blocker for Focus

Block distracting websites with focus modes, intentional pauses, controlled breaks, recurring schedules, and optional exam tools.

PauseFence is a free website blocker for Chrome that helps you stop impulsive browsing and return to what matters. Use it to block distracting websites, reduce social media interruptions, protect study sessions, and stay focused during work. Instead of forcing everyone into one rigid system, PauseFence gives you three protection modes. You decide which websites to guard, how much resistance you need, when the rules should run, and whether a controlled break should be available. Whether you are studying for an exam, working from home, completing an important project, or simply trying to spend less time scrolling, PauseFence helps create a deliberate moment between an impulse and an unwanted visit. WHY INSTALL PAUSEFENCE? Distractions often begin automatically: you open a new tab, type the name of a familiar site, and lose several minutes before noticing what happened. PauseFence interrupts that pattern. When you attempt to open a guarded site, the extension applies the protection rules you selected. Depending on your mode, it can block the visit completely or require an intentional waiting period before granting limited access. The interruption page also brings your priorities back into view. It can show your personal tasks, study reminder, exam countdown, or daily CAT progress so you can make a more conscious decision about what to do next. PauseFence is useful for: • Deep work and productivity sessions • Studying without social media interruptions • Reducing habitual or impulsive browsing • Staying focused while working from home • Protecting specific hours with an automatic schedule • Keeping personal tasks visible when distractions appear • Preparing for an exam with a countdown and reminder • Taking limited breaks without leaving distracting sites open indefinitely THREE FLEXIBLE PROTECTION MODES Choose the level of website blocking that fits your situation. STRICT MODE Strict Mode creates the strongest boundary. Attempts to open an enabled site are redirected to a local PauseFence interruption page, with no bypass available inside the extension. This mode is suited to deep work, important study sessions, exam preparation, writing, coding, or any period when you do not want to negotiate with a distraction. You can also save up to three personal images and choose one as an optional full-screen Strict Mode background. A meaningful image, goal, or visual reminder can make the interruption more personal and help reinforce why you chose to focus. FRICTION MODE Friction Mode is designed for people who want a deliberate pause instead of a permanent block. When you open a guarded website, PauseFence starts a configurable waiting period. If you still choose to continue after the pause, you can begin a controlled, timed break. You can configure: • How long the intentional pause lasts • How many minutes each break lasts • How many new breaks are allowed per day • How long the post-break reset period lasts • Two optional one-time extension durations When a break ends, website protection returns immediately. A short reset period gives you time to reconsider before two configurable extension choices become available. Only one extension can be used for the original break. When that extension ends, the site is guarded again and another extension is not offered. This prevents a short break from becoming a repeated chain of unlimited access. An active break or extension can also be ended early from the PauseFence popup whenever you are ready to return to your task. FREE MODE Free Mode leaves your selected websites accessible during ordinary browsing. It is useful when you only want protection during scheduled focus periods. If a recurring Strict schedule becomes active, the schedule temporarily overrides Free Mode. When the scheduled period ends, PauseFence automatically restores your normal setting. GUARD THE SITES THAT DISTRACT YOU PauseFence includes convenient controls for popular sites such as Reddit, X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. You can guard all of YouTube or select the Shorts-only option when short-form videos are the main distraction. You are not limited to the built-in choices. Add a custom domain when you want to control access to another news, entertainment, shopping, discussion, streaming, or social website. No websites are enabled automatically. Before Chrome displays a website-access permission prompt, PauseFence provides a plain-language explanation of why that permission is needed. Permission is requested only after you explicitly choose to enable a site. This gives you control over which websites the extension can guard. AUTOMATE RECURRING FOCUS SESSIONS You should not have to remember to activate a distraction blocker every day. PauseFence lets you create recurring focus periods for selected days of the week. Choose a start time and end time, and the extension will automatically apply Strict Mode during that window. Recurring schedules can support routines such as: • Morning study sessions • Office or work-from-home hours • Evening revision periods • Writing or project blocks • Weekend learning sessions • Overnight focus periods Overnight schedules are supported, so a focus period can begin in the evening and finish the following morning. While a scheduled period is active, Strict Mode overrides your regular protection mode. After the period ends, your previously selected mode resumes automatically. PERSONAL TASKS ON THE INTERRUPTION PAGE A blocker is more useful when it reminds you what to do instead. PauseFence includes a personal task list that can be managed from both the popup and the Settings page. Add the work, study, or personal actions you want to return to when a distracting impulse appears. Your tasks are displayed on interruption pages, where you can: • Add new tasks • Mark tasks as complete • Delete tasks • Reorder tasks • See what remains unfinished The list works in both Normal Mode and Study Mode. This makes PauseFence useful not only as a site blocker, but also as a simple visual reminder of your current priorities. NORMAL MODE FOR EVERYDAY FOCUS Normal Mode is intended for work, productivity, personal projects, and everyday distraction control. Use your task list to record what you want to accomplish. When PauseFence interrupts a guarded visit, it brings those tasks back into view and gives you a clear alternative to continued browsing. This can help when you are writing, coding, reading, exercising, handling administrative work, or completing anything that requires sustained attention. STUDY MODE AND EXAM COUNTDOWN Study Mode adds optional tools for students and exam candidates. Enter your exam name, exam date, and a personal study reminder. PauseFence then shows the exam countdown and reminder on interruption pages. The live countdown displays the remaining days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Instead of seeing only a blocked screen, you see the goal that your focus session is protecting. Study Mode can be used for CAT, GATE, UPSC CSE, CFA, JEE, university exams, professional certifications, or another exam you choose. Your personal task list remains available in Study Mode, so you can combine general study tasks with the countdown. OPTIONAL CAT DAILY PROGRESS TRACKER Students preparing for CAT can enable an additional daily progress panel. Set daily targets for: • VARC reading-comprehension passages • VARC verbal-ability questions • DILR sets • Quantitative Aptitude topics Record completed work from Settings or update it directly from the interruption page. PauseFence calculates your daily completion percentage and shows the next unfinished target. The tracker is optional and can be disabled independently. You can keep the CAT countdown and study reminder active without displaying daily progress. LOCAL FOCUS INSIGHTS PauseFence provides simple statistics that help you understand your distraction patterns without requiring an account. The Insights section shows: • Attempts interrupted today • Total interrupted attempts • Your most frequently attempted guarded site • Breaks started today • Current break or extension timers These statistics are aggregate counts stored locally. PauseFence does not create a persistent list of every page you visit. QUICK STATUS FROM THE POPUP Open the extension popup to see the information you need without leaving the current tab. The popup lets you: • Check your current mode • See which websites are guarded • View today’s interruption count • Monitor active breaks and extensions • End access early • Review and update personal tasks • Open the full Settings page This makes it easy to understand the current protection state and return to focused work. PRIVATE BY DESIGN PauseFence works without a developer-operated server or user account. The extension does not include: • Advertising • Analytics • Tracking • Cross-device synchronization • A developer-operated cloud service • A sign-up or login requirement • Paid features or in-app purchases Your selected sites, protection settings, schedules, personal tasks, optional exam information, CAT progress, and aggregate statistics remain in Chrome’s local extension storage. Protected URLs are processed on your device only when needed to apply your rules and return you to an allowed page. They are not transmitted to the developer or saved as a persistent browsing-history list. Short-lived pause, break, and extension timers use Chrome session storage. PRIVACY CHOICE BEFORE PROTECTION STARTS Website protection remains off when PauseFence is first installed. Before blocking begins, the extension presents an in-product disclosure explaining what information is processed and where it is stored. Protection starts only after you review that disclosure and choose “Agree and enable PauseFence.” You can later withdraw that choice from Settings. Doing so removes the active website-protection rules while keeping your saved configuration available. DESIGNED FOR INTENTIONAL CONTROL PauseFence is not designed to secretly monitor browsing or make promises that a browser extension cannot enforce. You choose: • Which websites are guarded • Which protection mode is active • How long a pause should last • How long breaks should last • Whether daily break limits apply • When recurring focus periods run • Whether study tools are displayed • Whether a Strict Mode image is used The goal is to introduce enough structure to help you notice the impulse, remember your priority, and choose what happens next. IMPORTANT LIMITATIONS Incognito windows are protected only if you manually enable “Allow in incognito” on Chrome’s extension details page. PauseFence operates within the current Chrome profile. Switching browser profiles can bypass its rules. Like other browser extensions, PauseFence can be bypassed by disabling or removing it. It does not claim to provide uninstall prevention, password-protected enforcement, operating-system-wide blocking, or cross-device restrictions. START BUILDING A BETTER BROWSING HABIT Install PauseFence if you want a flexible distraction blocker that combines firm website blocking, intentional pauses, controlled breaks, automatic focus schedules, visible tasks, and optional exam support. Choose the sites that pull your attention away. Select the level of protection that fits your day. Let PauseFence interrupt the automatic visit and help you return to work, study, or the task you actually intended to complete.