Why We Changed the Name
This app started out called just “Tortoise.” We renamed it to “Tortoise Time.” Here’s why — not a marketing call, but something we finally got clear on.
At first, we were thinking about “the adventure”
When we first built this app, the part we were proudest of was the island story: a little sea turtle heads out, brings back treasures, and unlocks a new chapter year after year. So the adventure was front and center.
Back then, the thing on our minds was: how do we get a child to want to stop? The exploring, the collecting, the story — those were all means to an end, ways to make “time’s up” feel less like a fight.
That instinct wasn’t wrong. But the more we lived with it, the more we noticed we were staring at “how to get the child to stop” — and forgetting to ask the obvious next question: and then what?
What we eventually got clear on
After they stop, a child should look up and see the people around them.
What we really want to give back to a family isn’t a smarter form of control. No matter how well control is done, it’s still “I’m managing you.” What we want to give back is the time that should have been yours all along — meals where nobody’s heads are down in a screen, weekends that aren’t spent arguing over “just five more minutes,” moments where a child sets the tablet down on their own to go do something else.
The “adventure” lives inside the app. It’s the sugar we give the child. The “time” lives outside the app. It’s the result we actually care about.
We decided the name should point at the result we actually want, not at the means we use to get there.
What “Tortoise Time” means
Tortoise is still that same little turtle — slow, gentle, moving at its own pace. It hasn’t changed, and we wouldn’t have the heart to change it.
Time is the word we added: slowed-down time, gentle time, time spent with the people you love.
A tortoise walks slowly, but it’s never anxious and never rushed. We hope a child who grows up with Tortoise Time learns not “my screen time is being policed,” but “time can go slowly, and going slowly is perfectly fine.”
The English name follows the same logic: from a single word, Tortoise, to Tortoise Time — putting “time” plainly into the name. Because from start to finish, the thing this app is really helping you tend is a child’s, and a family’s, time.
The rename doesn’t disturb anything you’re already using
If you installed the older version, don’t worry:
- The island story, Mori, Captain Mora — none of it is gone, none of it has changed
- Your limits, your PIN, the apps you monitor — all carry over after the update
- Your data still lives entirely on your phone. We never collected it, and a rename won’t change that
The only thing that changed is the name, and the sentence behind it that we finally got clear on.
One sentence for parents
We didn’t build a better “screen time lock.” We’re trying to help you reclaim, little by little, the time the screen has been taking. That’s why it’s called Tortoise Time.
Curious about where we started → Why We Built Tortoise Time Want to understand how the child side and parent side are kept apart → Kids Just Play, Parents Decide