If you missed Wallop of the Week on the Gadget Show, April 27, talking about the Hold app here are a few more details about fascinating idea:

Hold app – what is it?

An app that encourages you to not use your smart phone. If you can manage not to interact with your phone for an unbroken 20 minutes, you are rewarded with points. The points can then be swapped for prizes!

The idea is to encourage you to stop endlessly picking up your phone and checking notifications. Once 20 minutes is up, you can press the app again and a new cycle starts. It works seven days a week 7am to 11pm.

What sort of prizes?

Well, at the moment its moderately limited. Hold have signed up a number of partners, notably Costa Coffee and Vue cinema. So, 10 hours spent away from your phone equates to 300 points which would get you two free coffees at Costa; 2 hours (60 points) gets you free popcorn at a Vue cinema; 3 hours (90 points) a free Planet Organic juice etc.

Amazon and New Look are also partners.

Can anyone download  Hold and get this free stuff?

No. So far  it’s just for students. You have to have a student email account to redeem your points. It’s proving popular. Over 700,000 hours have been saved through Hold since launching across 130 universities in the UK in early March.

The founders, however, say they are interested in launching a family version, to help frustrated parents keep their kids off screens.

Who set up Hold and how on earth do they make money?