Paws — Support

SwiftSwiftUIWidgetKitKeychainiOS 17

Initial Setup

Install Paws and open it — onboarding walks you through each step.
Grayscale: Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Color Filters → turn on Color Filters → select Grayscale.
Remove the Search Button: Long press the home screen → Customize → turn off Search. (Or: Settings → Home Screen & App Library → Show on Home Screen → Off.)
Empty the Dock: Drag every dock app upward onto the home screen. Once empty, the gray dock tray disappears.
Wallpaper: In Paws: Settings → SAVE WALLPAPER. Then in iOS: Settings → Wallpaper → + → Photos → select it → Set for Both Screens.
Focus Mode: Settings → Focus → + → Custom → name it → skip People/Apps → tap Customize Screens → deselect all pages except the Paws widget page → Done. To keep it always on: Add Schedule → Turn On Automatically → set a range covering your whole day.

How to add: Long press the home screen → tap + → search "Paws" → choose Large or Extra Large → tap Add Widget. Place it so it fills the page.
Important — Large icon size: After placing the widget, long press the home screen → Customize → set size to Large. Leave color as Automatic (do NOT select Dark — it overrides the widget background and breaks the color match).
One widget = one group: Each widget shows one group's apps. To show two sets, add the widget twice. Long press widget → Edit Widget → choose which group it shows.
Switch a widget's group: Long press the widget → Edit Widget → tap the Group field → select a different group.

Adding apps: Tap [ + ADD APP ] at the bottom of the main screen. You can browse presets, use Shortcut mode, add a web page, or enter a custom URL scheme.
[LOCK] vs [free]: Tap the label next to any app to toggle. [free] opens immediately. [LOCK] starts a countdown then asks for your PIN.
Edit an app: Tap the app name to rename it, change launch method, toggle restriction, move to another group, or delete it.
Reorder & delete: Drag the handle on the right to reorder. Swipe left → Delete to remove.

What is a group? An ordered list of up to 6 apps shown on one widget. You can have as many groups as you want — one per widget on your home screen.
Create a group: Tap [ + ] in the group tab strip at the top of the main screen.
Navigate groups: Tap a chip in the tab strip to switch. Tap the active (white) chip to open the group editor.
Edit a group: Tap the active chip → rename, change font size/style, reorder apps, or delete the group.

Use this for apps that can't be opened reliably with a URL scheme from a widget (Camera, FaceTime, Phone, etc.).

Auto-create (known apps): Tap [ + OPEN VIA SHORTCUT ] → type the app name → tap [ AUTO-CREATE SHORTCUT ] → tap "Add Shortcut" in the share sheet → tap [ ADD TO WIDGET LIST ].
Manual setup: Tap [ + OPEN VIA SHORTCUT ] → enter name → tap [ OPEN SHORTCUTS APP ] → in Shortcuts: tap + → search "Open App" → pick the app → rename shortcut to match the name you entered → Done → back in Paws tap [ ADD TO WIDGET LIST ].
Shortcut Name vs Name on Widget: Name on Widget is what shows in the widget. Shortcut Name must exactly match the shortcut's name in the Shortcuts app.

Tap [ + WEB PAGE ] → enter a name and URL → tap Add. Opens Safari directly to that URL.
Web pages can be marked [LOCK] just like apps — useful for news sites, social feeds, etc.
Enter the full URL starting with https://. If you skip the prefix, https:// is added automatically.

Many iOS apps register a custom URL like "spotify://" that opens them directly.
Tap [ + CUSTOM URL SCHEME ] → enter the app name and URL scheme → tap [ ADD ].
To find a scheme: search online for "[app name] iOS URL scheme". Examples: Spotify → spotify://, Telegram → tg://, Notion → notion://, Slack → slack://open.

How it works: Tap a [LOCK] app in the widget → countdown starts → enter PIN → correct PIN opens the app → wrong PIN restarts the countdown.
Change delay: Settings → RESTRICTION DELAY slider (5 seconds to 5 minutes).
Change PIN: Settings → CHANGE PIN → enter current PIN → enter new PIN twice.

Widget shows "open paws to add apps": Open Paws, add at least one app, then long-press the widget and select your group.
Widget not updating after changes: iOS throttles widget refreshes. Wait a few seconds or lock and unlock the screen.
An app doesn't open from the widget: Some apps require Shortcut mode. Tap the app name in Paws to edit it and switch to "shortcut" mode.
Forgot PIN: There is no PIN recovery — this is intentional. Delete and reinstall Paws to reset. Your app list will be lost.
PIN lockout: After 5 wrong attempts you're locked out for 30 seconds. Subsequent failures extend the lockout up to 10 minutes.
Reset everything: Settings (⚙ in the app) → Re-run Onboarding. Or delete and reinstall to wipe all data.