Sanctum — Pause and Choose Again on YouTube

Sanctum — Plan your YouTube time, then choose again Do you need YouTube, but often stay longer than you intended? Sanctum is a digital wellbeing extension that helps you choose a time plan before YouTube use and make a fresh decision when that plan ends. Sanctum does not forcibly block YouTube or treat continued watching as failure. It adds practical, visible support for carrying out a plan you chose yourself. ■ How Plan Guard works · Brief entry delay — pause briefly before selected YouTube surfaces open; adjust the delay in settings. · Purpose first — choose what you came to YouTube to do, use “not sure yet,” or enter your own purpose. · Time plan — choose 30, 45, 60, or 90 minutes, or enter a custom duration from 1 to 180 minutes. · Current plan — keep your purpose, planned time, remaining time, and Change/End controls together near YouTube’s controls. · Recommendation clarity — when the current plan hides Home or related recommendations, Sanctum shows a visible explanation and a button to restore them immediately. If you restore them, that choice is respected for the rest of the current plan. · Shorts pause — during an active plan, entering Shorts pauses before the feed continues; if you continue, a separate Shorts time boundary can apply. · End-of-plan decision — leave YouTube, add five minutes, or create a new plan. · Sanctum treats continuing or extending as a new decision, not a failure. ■ Optional supporting features · Right Moment checkpoints — bring your original purpose back into view after a sustained recommendation, autoplay, or Shorts flow. A few quick Shorts swipes alone do not immediately trigger a checkpoint. · Cherry Break — when you choose it, step out of the automatic flow with a short timer and optional video or audio. · Thumbnail softening — optionally reduce the visual intensity of attention-grabbing thumbnails. · Local reflection — review recent choices and a simple seven-day reflection on this device. ■ Privacy Plan Guard plans and events stay in Chrome local storage by default. Plan Guard records do not include YouTube URLs, video titles, search terms, account identity, or content categories. To provide its features, Sanctum processes the current YouTube page type, recommendation/autoplay/Shorts transitions, playback state, button choices, and the intent you enter on your device. Sanctum sends improvement feedback or written feedback only after an explicit user choice. If you choose external media in Cherry Break, the browser may request media from Pixabay or its CDN. Sanctum does not sell user data or use it for personalized advertising, credit, lending, insurance, employment, or eligibility decisions. ■ What Sanctum is not · Not an ad blocker. · It does not diagnose or treat addiction, depression, anxiety, sleep problems, or any medical condition. · It does not claim that everyone needs it. · It does not claim to be better than blocking tools for every user. · It does not score, shame, or punish you. ■ FAQ Q. Will Sanctum block YouTube? A. No. The default flow is to pause briefly, choose a plan, and choose again when time ends. Q. What if recommendations are hidden and I want them back? A. Use the “Show recommendations” button in the Home or related-recommendations notice. They are restored immediately, and Sanctum respects that choice for the current plan. Q. What if I want to keep watching? A. Add five minutes or make a new plan. Continuing is not treated as failure. Q. Can I delete my records? A. You can turn off local intervention recording or delete stored records from the popup. Removing the extension causes Chrome to remove its local storage. Q. Is Cherry Break required? A. No. This optional supporting feature opens only when you choose it. ■ Languages Sanctum supports English, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, German, French, and Portuguese. Sanctum does not make the choice for you. It makes the choice you made earlier easier to carry out in the moment. [What’s new] v1.4.8.35 Sanctum now explains its interventions more clearly and interrupts less aggressively. · Added clear notices and restore buttons when Home or related recommendations are hidden. · If you choose to show recommendations again, Sanctum respects that choice for the rest of the current plan. · Reduced overly sensitive Shorts checkpoints so a few quick swipes alone do not trigger an intervention. Sanctum waits for a longer viewing flow before asking you to choose again. · Improved guidance and stability across recommendation and Shorts flows.