Math Before Screen Time: Chris on Building a Gate That Doesn't Freeze Kids
Solve To Play is a math-gated screen time tool that asks children to complete a short set of math tasks before unlocking apps. It launched on 9 October and was recently included in a Peekwire roundup of math-gated screen time tools. Chris, the creator, agreed to answer three questions about how the app handles kids who struggle with numbers, what existing parental control guides leave out, and the setup mistakes parents make.
Designing for kids who freeze
Asked when a parent has told him that locking apps until the math is done did not work, Chris was direct about the app's short history.
"Solve To Play has been out since 9 October, and no parent has told me that yet."
Instead, he explained that the design came from patterns parents describe online: kids who know their times tables but freeze under a timer, and kids who are scared of getting an answer wrong. The app has no timer. A wrong answer can be tried again, a hint appears after two wrong answers, and after three the answer is shown. For kids who find numbers hard, an "Extra help" setting brings the hint after the first wrong answer and groups dots in fives instead of counting one by one.
If a parent does report that the lock isn't working, Chris said he would first look at the round itself. "Three addition tasks up to 10 is a very different gate from twenty times-tables tasks, and the parent can set either."
What parental control guides leave out
Chris pointed to a gap in the guides that rank for searches like "how do I stop my kid playing games on iPhone." Those guides, he said, explain Apple's Screen Time features well — Downtime, App Limits, Ask For More Time — but all of them work in minutes.
"None of them can say 'open the game after the math is done', so the parent ends up as the gate and answers every request for more time."
He also noted that the guides rarely specify which device the child is using, which changes how hard the lock is to bypass. On a kid's own iPad, signed in with a child Apple Account in the parent's Family Sharing group, the child cannot delete Solve To Play without the parent. On a parent's iPhone that the kid borrows, the app is set up with the device passcode instead, and the child could delete it.
"Which setup you have decides how hard the lock is to get around."
The three setup mistakes
When parents first try a math gate on a child's iPad, Chris said three things tend to happen too quickly or in the wrong order.
First, the device. The approval has to happen on the kid's iPad, signed in with the kid's child Apple Account, with the parent approving through their own Apple Account. Without a child account, the weaker passcode setup is the only option.
Second, the size of the round. "Start with the grade preset, 5 tasks and 30 minutes of playtime, and change it after a few days rather than on day one."
Third, testing. "Open one of the locked apps yourself before you hand the iPad over, so the block screen isn't a surprise the first time your kid sees it."
Practical takeaways
For parents considering a math gate, Chris's answers suggest a few concrete steps: confirm whether the child has a child Apple Account before setting anything up, begin with the default round size and adjust after observing a few days, and test the locked app from the child's perspective before handing over the device. The app is available on the App Store, and more information is available at Solve To Play.
Chris's broader point is that the gate is only as strong as the account setup behind it, and that the math itself should not become another source of pressure for kids who already find numbers stressful.