A pause before the scroll.
White Whale blocks the sites that eat your day. To get in, you type a few lines of a classic book, or learn a word, and earn some time. It takes about a minute.
Free to use. No account. No ads.
White Whale, not a wall.
Willpower is a bad plan when the site is one click away. White Whale adds just enough friction to make you choose on purpose.
Choose your sites
Add the ones that pull you in, or let White Whale suggest them from the sites you visit most. The suggestions are worked out on your own computer and never leave it.
Meet White Whale
Open a blocked site and White Whale steps in. Type a short passage from a classic, answer a few vocabulary words, or say what you’re here for.
Earn your time
Finish, and the site opens for 15 minutes. When the time is up, White Whale blocks it again. Change your mind? You can always turn back.
Why it sticks when other blockers don’t.
Most blockers are either too easy to switch off or so strict you disable them. White Whale sits in between.
It costs a minute, not a fight
The pause is short enough that you’ll keep it on, and long enough that a mindless reach for a distracting site stops being automatic.
You read something worth reading
Every pause is a few lines of Moby-Dick, or a new word. You end the day having taken in a little of a great book instead of a little more of a feed.
Honest visits stay quick
Need a site for one specific thing? Say what it is and get a short pass. Next time, White Whale asks whether you got it done.
Your limit, your rules
Set how many minutes you’re happy to unlock in a day. A progress bar shows where you stand, and White Whale holds firm when you reach it.
Private by design
No account. Your blocked sites and your history stay on your device. Anonymous usage counts never include the name of any site.
Light on your browser
It only blocks the sites you pick. It doesn’t read or change the pages you visit.
Say what you’re here for.
Not every visit is a slip. When you really need a site, tell White Whale what for. You get a short pass. When it runs out, next time you’re there it asks whether you got it done, and adjusts how much it trusts you.
Or sharpen your vocabulary.
Prefer questions to typing? Vocab Builder asks you a few words at a time, brings back the ones you missed, and unlocks the site when you get enough right.
Free does the job. Premium makes it stick.
Everything you need to block a site and get through is free, for good. Premium is for when you want to finish the book, keep going across browsers, and hold yourself to it.
Free
- Block any sites you choose
- Type your way through, or answer vocabulary
- Moby-Dick through the end of Chapter 2
- The first set of Vocab Builder words
- “I’m here for something specific” passes
- A daily time limit you set
- Site suggestions from your own history
Premium
- Everything in Free, plus:
- All of Moby-Dick and the full Vocab Builder, with your place kept across up to 5 browsers
- Pledge: lock in your rules for 7, 30 or 90 days. Rules can get stricter, never looser
- Circle: a small private group of friends who see how each other’s focus is going
- Something to work for: a goal you write, brought back to you each time White Whale stops you
A promise your future self can’t break.
Setting good rules is easy on a calm Sunday. Keeping them on a stressful Thursday is the hard part. A Pledge locks your blocked sites and your daily limit for a set stretch. You can still add sites and tighten the limit, but you can’t quietly loosen them. There’s one emergency exit for the day it really matters.
What a Pledge locks
You won’t be able to remove any of your blocked sites or raise your daily limit until the Pledge ends.
Adding sites and lowering the limit still work.
Do it alongside people you trust.
Start a Circle and send friends a short code. No accounts, no logins. You each see how the others are doing: visits this week, streaks, how far each of you has read. Never which sites anyone blocks, and never what anyone types.
It’s the difference between a private habit and one you’re quietly accountable for.
Try the free version first. Upgrade from inside the extension when you’re ready. There’s no trial period because the free version is the trial.
Questions
Can I still get to a site if I really need it?
Yes. You can earn time by typing or answering, ask for a short pass for one specific thing, or simply go back. White Whale is meant to make you pause, not to lock you out.
What do I actually have to do?
Type a short passage from a classic book (about 40 words), answer a few vocabulary questions, or say what you’re there for. Finishing earns 15 minutes on the site. A short pass earns 5.
Does White Whale see the pages I visit?
No. It reads none of the pages you visit and changes none of them. It only steps in on the sites you chose to block. Site suggestions use your browsing history on your own computer, and it is never uploaded.
Do I need an account?
No. Free and Premium both work without a login. Premium uses a private key stored in your browser.
What can my Circle see about me?
Your nickname and some numbers: how many times you used White Whale this week, how many sites you block (a count, never the names), how often you turned back, minutes unlocked, a streak, and where you are in a book if you choose to share that. Never site names, and never what you typed. You can leave any time.
How does Premium billing work?
It’s $3.99 for a year, paid through Stripe. You can manage or cancel from White Whale’s settings. Your card details go to Stripe and never reach us.
Which browsers does it work on?
Chrome, and other Chromium browsers that install from the Chrome Web Store.
What if I stop paying?
You keep the free version, with the blocking. Premium features such as Pledge, Circle and the full library switch off.
Give yourself a moment.
A minute of reading between you and the scroll. Free to start.
Add to Chrome