The best app blockers for iPhone, honestly compared

We make a competing product, so read this as a vendor's list and check it. Every fact below comes from the vendor's own site or App Store listing, read in September 2026 — prices change, and the comparison pages linked from each section carry the dated sources.

The one thing every iPhone blocker shares

Apple does not let an app block other apps directly. Every blocker on an iPhone — Opal, Freedom, Foqos, Brick, ours — asks for Apple's Screen Time permission and blocks through it. That has two consequences that matter more than any feature list.

• <b>They share one ceiling.</b> Anyone who can open Settings can revoke an app's Screen Time permission and end its blocking. The only thing that closes that door is Apple's own Screen Time passcode, held by someone other than you.
• <b>They block whole apps.</b> On iPhone, no blocker can see inside another app, so none can block YouTube Shorts and leave the rest of YouTube playing. That is a platform limit, not a product choice — and any iPhone blocker claiming otherwise is describing something Apple does not allow.

The options at a glance

Apple Screen Time: start here

Downtime blocks apps and notifications for set periods; App Limits cap daily use per app or category; Always Allowed keeps chosen apps and contacts open. On iOS 27, Apple renamed Downtime to Screen Time Schedule and App Limits to Time Allowances; they work the same way. It costs nothing and is already installed. Its weakness is well documented by Apple itself: by default a limit can be ignored once reached, and a passcode you set yourself can be reset with your Apple Account. Give the passcode to someone you trust and it becomes one of the strongest options on this page.

Opal: the most polished

Opal goes deeper into Apple's Screen Time framework than almost anyone: timed Sessions, daily Time Limits, per-app Open Limits, each with a difficulty setting, and good analytics. Its strictest mode, Deep Focus, is Pro-only and sold as one you cannot cancel from inside the app. It needs iOS 18 or later and is the most expensive option here. Opal's own advice for a genuinely hard block is telling: have a trusted person set the Apple passcode.

Freedom: if your laptop is the problem too

Freedom's strength is reach: one session propagates to every signed-in device — Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, browsers. Locked Mode survives quitting the app and cannot be ended mid-session, but it is bounded by a once-every-seven-days escape and has to be armed on each device. On iPhone it relies on the same revocable Screen Time permission as everything else.

Foqos: physical friction, for free

Foqos is free and open source, iPhone-only, and lets you end a block by scanning an NFC tag or a printed QR code you have hidden somewhere inconvenient — the same idea as a physical key, with objects you already own. The catch with QR is that a code is an image: photograph it and you can scan it from the sofa. NFC tags avoid that, though any standard tag can be copied.

Brick: a purpose-built device

Brick is a small NFC device: you tap your phone to it to start a session and tap it again to end one. It costs $59 once, with no subscription, and needs iOS 17 or later. It ships five Emergency Unbricks, with more available on request. It is the product closest in spirit to ours, and a good one.

one sec: a pause instead of a wall

one sec does not block. It puts a deliberate pause — a breath — between tapping an app and it opening. That sounds trivial and is psychologically sound: most feed-opening is reflex, and a few seconds is often enough for the intention to reassert itself. It is the right tool if you open Instagram fifty times a day without meaning to, and the wrong one if you sit down on purpose for an hour.

Where Spark sits

Spark runs through the same Screen Time permission as everything above, and on iPhone it blocks whole apps too — it cannot block Shorts alone there, which it can on Android. What differs is the unlock: locking is one tap or a schedule, and ending a session early means walking to a physical key and holding your phone against it. The app is free, the key is bought once, and it needs iOS 17 or later.

Being fair about where that leaves you: Spark is not in the App Store yet, it asks you to buy hardware, and the key can always be fetched — that is the point, not a flaw. If you want something free, today, Screen Time with someone else's passcode or Foqos with a hidden NFC tag is the better answer.

How to choose in one minute

1. Never tried anything? Screen Time, tonight, free.
2. Keep tapping “Ignore”? Give the Screen Time passcode to someone else.
3. Want a beautiful app with real analytics? Opal.
4. Need the laptop blocked too? Freedom.
5. Want physical friction without spending? Foqos with an NFC tag.
6. Want a purpose-built object and no subscription? Brick, or Spark once it ships.