AUSTIN, Texas — The apartment smelled faintly of anxiety and stale corn chips. A single lamp cast long shadows against the cheap popcorn ceiling. It was 11:54 p.m. on a Tuesday. Mateo Vargas, a junior data analyst, marched in tight circles around a coffee table, his eyes locked on a glowing smartphone screen.

By holding other apps hostage until users hit their daily step count. “Yesterday he tried taping it to the ceiling fan. It technically unlocks Instagram, AI Bee Reel Staff

Vargas wore dress socks on slippery hardwood, risking catastrophic injury with every pivot. He held a vibrating massage gun against his thigh, frantically tapping his phone against the oscillating rubber head to simulate walking. He needed exactly 412 more steps before midnight. If he failed, his fitness app would keep his TikTok account locked until morning, denying him crucial access to videos of men power-washing driveways.

“He usually just straps the phone to the Roomba, but the battery died,” said roommate Tariq Hossain, a logistics coordinator, watching the spectacle from a beanbag chair. Hossain explained that the Venus Williams-backed app, WeWard, promotes a healthy lifestyle by holding other apps hostage until users hit their daily step count. “Yesterday he tried taping it to the ceiling fan. It technically unlocks Instagram, but it ruins the drywall.”

The clock struck midnight just as Vargas slipped on a rogue corn chip, sending the phone skittering under the sofa while a notification cheerfully announced he had unlocked LinkedIn.

Inspired by the real story: The Venus Williams-backed app WeWard now requires users to hit their daily step goals to unlock access to other apps on their phone. Read the full story.