A category is a better unit than a single app when the real problem is the kind of attention being spent. Entertainment, Games, and Social Media are not identical, but they share one risk: they can absorb open-ended time when the user enters without a plan.
Apple's Time Allowances preview recognizes that parents often need to set boundaries around these categories rather than chase every new app. The practical value is clarity. A family can talk about games as a category, not only about one game that happens to be popular this month.
TimeTrader adds a second kind of clarity: what offline category should be protected first? Movement, outdoor time, focus, care, life reset tasks, and real social time are all small deposits into a day that can otherwise be consumed by the easiest app available.
This is where the contract model becomes useful. A 25-minute focus block can earn a modest card. A 30-minute family block can earn a different one. A walk can create enough balance for a short entertainment session without pretending entertainment is bad.
The category limit controls the spending lane. The real-life contract controls the earning lane. Put together, the user sees both sides of the exchange: which screen category is being used, and which offline behavior supported it.
That is a more honest story than pure restriction. It gives parents, students, and adults a way to say: screen time can exist, but it should not be the first thing the day receives.