Brick alternatives, with and without a device
Quiet Wall ·
Brick puts the lock in a device you tap. The alternatives do it in software, add a pause instead, or cost nothing. What each does, with App Store prices.
One of the apps below is ours, and it is marked. Every price and platform comes from the app's own App Store page, with the date it was checked.
What Brick does
Brick · iPhone, Android · App free; the Brick device costs $59
A free app and a small device sold separately. Tapping the phone on the device blocks chosen apps, and only tapping it again unblocks them. Has schedules and a few emergency unblocks.
The idea is that the lock is a thing you can leave somewhere. Tap the phone on the Brick to block your chosen apps; to get them back you have to walk to wherever the Brick is.
getbrick.com · details as of 22 October 2026
Why people look for an alternative
- the device costs money on top of a free app, and it has to be bought and shipped before anything happens
- some people want something stricter, and some want something softer: a pause rather than a lock
Strict, without a device
Freedom · iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Android, Chrome · Free; Premium from $8.99 a month or $39.99 a year; $199 once
Blocks chosen apps and websites, or the whole internet, during sessions started by hand or on a schedule and synced across devices. Locked Mode stops a running session from being quit.
Locked Mode does what the Brick does in software: once a session runs, it cannot be quit. It also covers the laptop.
freedom.to · details as of 22 October 2026
AppBlock · iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome · Free; Premium from $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year; $89.99 once
Blocks chosen apps and websites at once or on schedules set by time, location or Wi-Fi, and can limit how long apps are used. A strict mode stops the blocks being switched off.
A strict mode that stops blocks being switched off, and schedules by time, place or Wi-Fi, so the phone can lock itself when you arrive at the office.
appblock.app · details as of 22 October 2026
Opal · iPhone, Mac, Android · Free; subscriptions from $4.99 a week to $99.99 a year
Blocks chosen apps and websites on a schedule, in timed sessions or after daily limits, using Apple's Screen Time API. Shows usage stats, a score and a leaderboard with friends.
Sessions, schedules and daily limits, with friends and a score. Less strict than a Brick, more structured.
opalapp.com · details as of 22 October 2026
Softer: a pause instead of a lock
one sec · iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Chrome · Free; one sec pro $6.99 a month, $19.99 a year or $99.99 once
Shows a short pause, such as a breathing animation, before a chosen app or website opens, then lets you decide whether to go on. Can end an app session after a set time.
No lock at all. A short pause before the app opens, then a question: do you still want it. For apps you want to keep but open without deciding to.
one-sec.app · details as of 22 October 2026
ScreenZen · iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows · Free; optional tips from $5 to $40
Adds a wait before a chosen app opens, which can grow with each open. Sets daily goals per app, and can block apps for set times, after a number of opens or past a Screen Time limit.
A wait before an app opens that grows each time, and a stricter block when that is not enough. Free, apart from optional tips.
screenzen.co · details as of 22 October 2026
Free, and already on the phone
Screen Time · iPhone, iPad, Mac · Free; built into iOS, iPadOS and macOS
Apple's own, in Settings. Reports time spent in apps and websites, pickups and notifications; gives app categories a daily time allowance and sets schedules for when apps are available.
Time allowances and schedules, in Settings. Worth trying before buying a device: if the schedules alone are enough, nothing else is needed.
support.apple.com · details as of 22 October 2026
Something different (ours)
Quiet Wall · iPhone · Free; Extras $4 a month, $25 a year or $50 once
A timer for doing nothing: a reminder arrives, the phone goes across the room, and a sound ends the session. Each session is logged as a brick on a wall. Extras can block other apps during a session.
Not a lock for the whole day. Quiet Wall is ten minutes at a time with the phone across the room and a blank wall in front of you, until a sound brings you back. With Extras, the rest of the phone stays shut for the length of it.
apps.apple.com · details as of 22 October 2026
Which one, then
- if the point of Brick was that you cannot cheat: Freedom's Locked Mode or AppBlock's strict mode
- if the point was a physical ritual: keep the Brick, and add nothing
- if a lock was always more than you needed: one sec or ScreenZen
- if you have not tried Screen Time's schedules yet: start there
Read on
- App blockers for iPhone, from gentle to strict — Every iPhone app blocker is built on the same Apple framework. What differs is how a block starts and how hard it is to end. Eight of them, grouped.
- Opal alternatives: free, stricter and softer — What Opal does, and the alternatives people move to: free ones, stricter blockers, gentler pause apps and one that is none of these. App Store prices.