New app · Free
Phone down.
Life up.
UTurn counts the time you leave your smartphone alone and turns it into points to spend in the shops of your town: cafés, cinemas, bookshops, sport. The more you live offline, the more you get back. You and your neighbourhood.
- Counts on its own, in the background
- Never peeks at your apps
- Free, forever
The problem
Smartphones are brilliant.
But who's holding who?
We use them for everything, and that's fine. The trouble starts when we grab them without even noticing: one notification, one scroll, and an hour's gone.
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Always a thumb away
We unlock our phones loads of times a day, often for no real reason. An automatic habit that nibbles away at our time, bit by bit.
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Built to keep you hooked
Endless feeds, autoplay, notifications: many apps are designed on purpose to keep you there as long as possible.
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Sleep, study, friendships
When use gets excessive, especially in the evening, it can crowd out rest, focus and time with other people.
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Everyone's talking about it
Schools and families are looking for new rules. Even UNESCO, in its 2023 GEM Report, recommends using smartphones in schools only when they genuinely help learning.
We don't want to ban anything.
We want to make switching off worth it.
How it works
Four steps. Zero hassle.
Nothing to remember to switch on: UTurn does the boring bit, you enjoy your day.
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Install it, forget it
UTurn runs in the background and counts the time your phone stays untouched all by itself. No timers to start.
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Put your phone down
Every 20 minutes of phone-down time earns you 10 points. At night the count runs at a reduced rate, so it's fair for everyone.
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Daily check
Every day a real-use check makes sure it all adds up. After the check, your points become spendable.
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Spend them in town
Pick a discount, show the QR code in the shop and they scan it. Done, enjoy your treat.
What's your offline time worth?
Rough example: 10 points every 20 minutes during the day. At night the count is reduced.
And there's more
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Your screen time
See how long you spend ON your phone, with gentle nudges when you're overdoing it. No lectures.
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Quick reads
Short articles about smartphone overuse: two minutes, zero boredom, a few real eye-openers.
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Bring your friends
Invite your crew: switching off together is easier (and way more fun).
Our mission
It's not just an app.
It's a cultural U-turn.
We want to bring back what our phones slowly steal from us: eye contact, chats, town squares, time for ourselves. And we want to start with the people who educate and the people who bring places to life.
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Schools
More present classes, livelier breaks. Switching off becomes a team game, not a rule handed down from above.
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Families
A simple deal: fewer screens at the table, more time together. And a few rewards for everyone.
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Towns
A community project that's good for people and brings footfall back to the town centre and local shops.
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Associations
Sport, culture, volunteering: everything you live in real life is our playing field.
Bring UTurn to your school or your town
We're happy to come to you. Let's build a programme that fits your community.
- Head teachers & teachers
- Councillors & town offices
- Associations & local groups
- Parents & committees
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Talks & workshops
In the classroom, the assembly hall or the council chamber: we talk smartphones, attention and digital wellbeing in a way young people actually connect with.
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Class challenges
Who can switch off the most? A friendly challenge between classes or schools to see who spends the most time offline.
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Community events
Offline days, events in the square and initiatives together with local associations and shopkeepers.
or write to ciao@uturn.day
Local economy
Your points stay in town.
Every UTurn discount is used in a real shop, a few steps from home. The time you take back from your screen becomes a coffee at the café round the corner, a film at the cinema, a book picked with the bookseller.
Why it's good for towns
- More people walking through the town centre
- More customers for neighbourhood shops, not online giants
- A community that meets face to face
Own a shop?
Join for free.
UTurn brings you new customers and more footfall. You decide the offers, we get them to people who've just put their phone down.
- -15%Percentage off
- -€5Euros off
- 2 for 1Two for the price of one
- FreeFree item
- Free sign-up, from the app or the web page
- You publish the offers you want
- Every offer is approved by the UTurn team
- The customer shows the QR, you scan it: that's it
- New customers and more people dropping by
Rewards
What can your offline time buy?
A few examples. The real offers are published by the partner shops in your area.
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Cafés & breakfast
Money off cappuccino and pastry
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Cinema
2-for-1 tickets, bring whoever you like
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Restaurants & pizzerias
A discount on the bill
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Sport & gyms
A free entry
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Bookshops
Euros off your next book
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Gelato & pastry shops
An extra scoop, on the house
Illustrative examples: categories and offers depend on the shops that join.
Fair & private
Fair for everyone.
Respectful to you.
What UTurn counts
- How long your phone stays down
- How long you use it in total
What it never looks at
- Which apps you open
- The names of the apps you use
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Numbers only, never names
UTurn only records times. It doesn't know, and doesn't want to know, which apps you use.
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Nights at a reduced rate
Sleep is sacred, but it's not the same as an afternoon offline: at night, points come in more slowly.
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No cheating
A daily real-use check: points only become spendable after it.
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Verified offers
Every shop promotion is reviewed by the UTurn team before it goes live.
FAQ
Questions & answers
Is UTurn free?
Yes. For users UTurn is and will stay free: no subscriptions, no in-app purchases. Joining is free for shops too.
How does UTurn know I've put my phone down?
The app runs in the background and counts the time your phone goes unused. You don't need to start anything: put it down and live.
How many points do I earn?
10 points every 20 minutes of phone-down time. During the night the count is reduced, so people who sleep a lot don't get an edge over everyone else.
Can UTurn see which apps I use?
No. UTurn only counts time (how long you stay away from the screen and how long you use it in total), never app names.
What's the daily check?
It's a check on your real phone use that happens every day, to make sure nobody's gaming the system. After the check, your points become spendable.
How do I use my points?
Choose an offer from a partner shop, the app generates a QR code, and you show it in the shop for them to scan. Easy.
Where does it work?
We're starting with a few towns and growing shop by shop. Want UTurn where you live? Drop us a line: the more requests from a town, the sooner we get there.
Is there an iPhone version?
For now UTurn is coming to Android. An iPhone version is planned.
I own a shop: how do I join?
Joining is free. Sign up from the app or the shops web page, publish your offers and, once the UTurn team approves them, customers see them in the app.
I'm a teacher or I work for a town council. Can we team up?
Yes, that's exactly what we want. We run talks, challenges between classes and community events. Write to us and let's talk.
Ready to make
a U-turn?
UTurn is launching first on Android, for free. iPhone will follow later.
Own a shop? You can already sign up. Go to the shops page