HoldUp

About

HoldUp adds a small moment of friction before you open distracting sites. It doesn’t block anything – it just asks “Are you sure?” so you don’t fall into autopilot browsing.

Instead of going straight into Twitter, YouTube, Reddit or news loops, HoldUp shows a full-page overlay on sites you choose. You can always continue, but only after a deliberate action.

Key features:

• Quick site control  
  – Add or remove the current site in one click from the popup  
  – Manage your full list of sites from the Settings page  
  – Smart matching: blocking "twitter.com" also covers subdomains like "mobile.twitter.com"

• Two challenge types  
  – Type the domain: e.g. type "twitter.com" to continue  
  – Countdown: wait a few seconds before you’re allowed to proceed  
  – Configurable timer: choose 5 / 10 / 15 / 30 seconds for the countdown mode

• Snooze / bypass (optional)  
  – After passing the challenge, you can choose “Don’t ask again for X minutes”  
  – Snooze duration is configurable from 0–60 minutes (0 = always ask)  
  – Bypass is tracked per-site, so snoozing Twitter doesn’t affect other sites

• Strict Mode  
  – Disables snooze / bypass entirely  
  – Maximum friction: you’ll get challenged every time you open a blocked site

• Quick exit  
  – Press Esc on the overlay to immediately close the current tab  
  – A clear hint on the screen reminds you this option exists

• Simple stats  
  – See how many times HoldUp has interrupted you today  
  – Lifetime total interruptions  
  – “Today” automatically resets at midnight

• Works on modern web apps  
  – Supports Single Page Applications (Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, etc.)  
  – Detects URL changes even without full page reloads

• Dark mode  
  – Respects your system dark mode preference  
  – Overlay, popup and settings all adapt automatically

Privacy-friendly by design:

• 100% local – data is only stored in chrome.storage  
• No tracking, no analytics, no ads  
• No external servers or accounts – the extension runs entirely in your browser

HoldUp is not a strict blocker and it doesn’t try to shame you. It just creates a small, intentional pause between the impulse to open a site and actually loading it. You stay in control – but no longer on autopilot.