Brick vs Unpluq vs Spark: the physical app blockers compared

These three are the products people compare when they have decided a software-only blocker is not enough — the threads asking “Brick or Unpluq?” run to hundreds of replies. We make one of them. Every fact about the other two below comes from their own FAQs and product listings, and the full comparison pages carry the dated sources.

At a glance

The real difference: what the unlock costs

All three share an idea — put an object between you and your apps — and differ on one question: what does it cost to get your apps back early?

• <b>Brick</b> makes the lock and the unlock the same gesture: a tap on the same device. Where you keep the Brick decides everything.
• <b>Unpluq</b> deliberately keeps the unlock cheap. Its barrier can be passed with the tag or with digital alternatives — shaking the phone for five seconds, tapping seven buttons, scanning a QR code, or walking on Android. That is a design choice, not a weakness: it is built for friction, not lockout.
• <b>Spark</b> makes the two deliberately unequal. Locking is free and instant — a tap in the app, no key needed. Unlocking early means going to the key and holding your phone against it. The asymmetry is the product.

When to choose Brick

Brick is the most established product in this category and the most widely reviewed, with tens of thousands of App Store ratings. It is genuinely cross-platform, one device works with any number of phones, it needs no battery, and there is no subscription. If you want the proven option and are happy to pay $59 upfront — plus import costs in India — it is a good one.

When to choose Unpluq

Unpluq is the most behaviourally thoughtful of the three: a real free tier (two apps, one schedule), per-window schedules, contact whitelisting, and barriers that degrade gracefully when you forget the tag rather than trapping you. If a hard lock has backfired on you before and you want a gentle nudge with an object in it, Unpluq is built for that. The catch is structural: the tag is inert without the subscription, so the hardware stops working if you stop paying.

When to choose Spark

Spark is for someone whose problem is not starting a block but keeping it — who has switched every blocker off at the moment it mattered. Locking costs nothing; unlocking costs a walk to wherever you left the key. It comes in a Bluetooth version that works with any phone Spark supports, and a cheaper NFC version for phones with a reader. The app is free, there is no subscription, and it is priced and shipped in India.

The honest caveats: Spark has not shipped yet, while Brick and Unpluq are in stores today. Neither Spark key is copy-proof — the NFC key is a standard tag, and the Bluetooth key's signal can be recorded and replayed. And the key can always be fetched, which is the point rather than a flaw.