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Open Shmira from the system tray (the icon near the clock — you may need to click the arrow to show hidden icons) and double-click it. The code is at the top of the Status window, with a Copy button.

If Shmira isn't installed yet, ask your accountability contact — the code was texted and emailed to them when the device was registered.

Downloads unlock once your accountability contact sets the admin password, not when you finish the form. They were sent a link to do it; it expires after an hour, so if they've been sitting on it a while they may need a fresh one.

Leave the page open — it checks every few seconds and moves on by itself the moment the password is set.

On a blocked video or site, use the box on the block screen to say why it should be allowed. That re-runs the check with your explanation, and can pass it to your accountability contact to decide.

Blocked images stay blurred with a small marker. Click the marker to send just that one image for a second look, rather than re-scanning the whole page.

Use the "ask for more time" option on the block screen. Your contact gets a text or email and replies YES or NO — if they say yes, the extra minutes apply straight away.

Limits reset daily in the device's timezone. Allowed-hours windows aren't a limit you can use up; outside those hours the site simply won't open.

That's deliberate — a fresh browser with no Shmira in it would be an easy way around the filter, so it stays blocked until Shmira is set up inside it.

Right-click the Shmira tray icon and choose Set Up a New Browser…. Once your contact approves, you get a short window to install the extension in it. If you run out of time, ask for more from the same prompt.

Blurred with a spinner means it's still being checked. Blurred with no spinner means it was checked and blocked.

If everything is stuck, the device probably can't reach the internet — image checks fail closed on purpose, so nothing is revealed when the check can't run. Note that image scanning only happens at Level 3; at Levels 1 and 2 images aren't scanned at all.

You can't do this alone, by design. Removing Shmira — or just closing the tray app — needs the admin password, which only your accountability contact has.

Ask them to text UNINSTALL and then UNINSTALL CONFIRM. The device removes itself the next time it checks in, usually within a minute or two. They can do this from anywhere; they don't need to touch the computer.

Choose "Don't have a code? Register a contact from here instead" in the setup window and enter your accountability contact's details there. It does the same thing the website does, and hands you a Setup Code at the end.

You'll have been sent a link by text, email, or both. Open it and choose a password. That link is valid for one hour.

The password is stored only as a hash on our server, and never exists on the protected device in any form — that's what stops it being extracted or cracked locally.

Go to getshmira.com/reset and enter the device's Setup Code. A fresh set-password link is sent to the accountability contact on file — by text and email — and they choose a new password. It works on every device you oversee.

The link only goes to the contact already on file, never to whoever fills in the form, so this is safe even if someone else knows the Setup Code.

If the contact's phone and email are both gone and the link can't reach anyone, email us — we can help from our end.

Two ways, and they do the same thing:

By text — send LIMIT youtube.com 60. No app, no login. The full command list is below.

On the web — go to getshmira.com/screen-time and enter the device's Setup Code and your password. You'll see current usage, daily caps and allowed hours, and can change any of them.

The oldest one. Text commands are matched to you by your phone number, which doesn't say which device you meant, so they apply to the first device registered under your account. Every reply names the device it applied to, and tells you when you have more than one.

To manage a specific device, use the web dashboard instead — it's keyed on that device's Setup Code, so there's no ambiguity.

Reply YES or NO to the text, or use the buttons in the email. Requests expire, so a very old one may need to be re-sent.

Approving a "more time" request grants exactly the number of minutes that was asked for.

Both are done from the dashboard with your password.

Streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Max, Prime Video) are blocked from Level 2 up. You can switch them on for a device — and switching them back off is instant and needs no approval from anyone, because stricter is always allowed immediately.

Text UNINSTALL. That only warns you what it does. Text UNINSTALL CONFIRM to actually do it — two steps so nobody wipes a device's protection with one mistyped word.

The device tears itself down the next time it checks in. You never need physical access, which matters if the computer is unusable or simply isn't handed over.

A protected device that goes quiet for several days triggers that notice — it's how you find out about a device being wiped, taken offline, or left off, rather than that being silent.

If the device was legitimately switched off (travel, Yom Tov, a spare computer), you can ignore it. The alert clears itself as soon as the device checks in again.

Reply STOP to any Shmira text and they stop. START resumes.

If you'd rather have email only, send CONTACT EMAIL — you'll keep getting approval requests, just not by text.