Intentional App Switching [iOS/Android/Desktop]

Sometimes it’s necessary to leave social media and quickly switch between apps: to check contact info, a note, or a location in Maps.

The goal of one sec is not to disrupt any productive workflows, that’s we integrated this feature allowing you to re-open apps within certain time limits.

Intentional App Switching on iOS works via a secondary Shortcut, that gets executed when closing an app – one sec will measure time between closing and re-opening the app, allowing you to re-open the app within a certain time limit.

With iOS 27, we can finally share ready-made Shortcut Automations with our users, so you don't need to get into the technical and a bit complicated set up process anymore!

1. Open one sec, navigate to the Customize tab and tap on Intentional App Switching

2. Toggle on Enable Intentional App Switching and use the slider to select the amount of time you want to allow yourself. Below in the section Setup, all apps that you set up an intervention for are shown.

3. Tap on an app you want to set up and tap Import Automation.

4. Tap Add Automation to Shortcuts.

5. Tap Set Up Shortcut.

6. Toggle on Automation and tap Add Shortcut. Done!

⚠️ To make sure the feature is working, please check in the Shortcuts app if the Automation When [App] is closed is enabled!

The set up process for iOS 26 is a little bit more complicated – but don't worry! That's why we created this detailed and easy to understand tutorial.

1. On your Android device, open one sec and navigate to Customize tab.

2. Tap on Intentional App Switching and toggle on Enable intentional app switching.

3. Use the slider to select the amount of time you want to allow yourself to leave an app.

1. Click on the one sec icon in your browsers toolbar / extension bar and Open Dashboard.

2. Then, navigate to Customize in the Dashboard's Top Navigation Bar – and scroll down to Intervention Options.

3. At Intentional website switching you can select the time interval by choosing between several options ("Allow to leave for 1 min") from a dropdown menu

Need help setting up one sec? Get in touch.