Onychophagia
Catch nail biting before your fingers reach your mouth
Nail biting rides on idle moments: emails, videos, long reads, waiting rooms. Hands Down watches your webcam on your own device and sounds an alarm as a hand approaches your mouth, turning an unconscious habit into a conscious choice.
Try it nowHow it works
- Open it in your browser. Nothing to install. Create a free account, start your camera, and you are monitoring in minutes.
- Choose what to watch. The nail-biting zone covers your mouth, and sensitivity sliders set how close a hand must get, and for how long, before the alarm sounds.
- Get a clear alarm, right away. The moment a hand crosses into the zone, the screen and a sound tell you. When it gets one wrong, a single tap files it as a false alarm and keeps your trends honest.
Your video never leaves your device
Detection runs entirely in your browser with bundled on-device models. No video is recorded, saved, or sent anywhere. Only a small log of when a nudge happened and how long it lasted is stored, so your trends can exist. Open your browser's developer tools and watch the network tab while you monitor: there are no outbound requests.
The core is free. The extras cost $17.99, once.
| Free | One-time unlock | |
|---|---|---|
| Live detection and alarms | Yes | Yes |
| All four watch zones | Yes | Yes |
| Driving mode | Yes | Yes |
| Today's count and trend charts | Yes | Yes |
| False-alarm reclassify | Yes | Yes |
| Cross-device sync and backup | Yes | |
| Journey progress timeline | Yes | |
| Day notes | Yes | |
| CSV and JSON exports | Yes |
The unlock is $17.99, once. No subscription, no ads.
Sources
- Bate, K. S., Malouff, J. M., Thorsteinsson, E. T., & Bhullar, N. (2011). The efficacy of habit reversal therapy for tics, habit disorders, and stuttering: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(5), 865-871. PubMed
- Azrin, N. H., & Nunn, R. G. (1973). Habit-reversal: A method of eliminating nervous habits and tics. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 11(4), 619-628. PubMed
- American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
Questions
Does my video get uploaded anywhere?
No. The camera is read frame by frame in memory and thrown away. The detection models are bundled with the page and run locally. Nothing visual ever leaves your device, and your account only backs up nudge counts, settings, and notes you write.
Can it run while I read or work?
Yes. Keep the tab open beside your work or on a second monitor. The alarm is loud and the screen flashes, so you notice even when your eyes are elsewhere.
Will talking or drinking set it off?
Sensitivity and hold-time sliders let you tune how close a hand must get and how long it must stay before the alarm fires. When it does misfire, one tap files it as a false alarm, and those taps keep your trend charts honest.
Is this therapy?
No. Hands Down is an awareness tool. Many people use it alongside habit reversal training or work with a therapist, where noticing the behavior early is the first step.
What does it cost?
The core tool is free: detection, alarms, all four watch zones, and trend charts. A one-time $17.99 unlock adds cross-device sync, the Journey timeline, day notes, and exports. There is no subscription.