Blocking distracting apps for deep work
Deep work fails at a specific and predictable moment: the paragraph that will not come out right, the bug that does not reproduce, the spreadsheet column that does not reconcile. That is the moment your hand reaches for the phone, and it is not really about the phone — it is about wanting to be somewhere other than the difficult bit.
Which means a focus session has to survive the difficult bit. Anything you can undo in the four seconds it takes to feel bored will get undone exactly then.
What to block, and where the key goes
Four decisions. The last one is the mechanism rather than a flourish: unlocking asks your phone to reach the key over Bluetooth and get a fresh answer back, so the placement that works is one your phone cannot hear from where you are sitting.
Block the feeds and the inboxes, not just the obvious ones
Social apps are the ones people list first, and they are rarely the whole problem. Email and team chat cause more interruptions in a working day than any feed, and they feel legitimate, which makes them harder to resist. If your job genuinely requires you to be reachable, keep one channel open and block the rest rather than keeping all of them open at reduced volume.
Keep the tools the work needs
A mode you cannot work inside is a mode you will abandon. Reference material, a calculator, the password manager, music. Blocking these makes the session pure and useless.
Pick a length you can finish
Ninety minutes to two hours is the range most people can hold. Setting four hours and breaking it at forty minutes teaches you that your own blocks do not mean anything, which is a worse outcome than not blocking at all.
Put the key out of range, not just out of reach
Not the far side of the desk. Unlocking asks your phone to find the key over Bluetooth and get a fresh answer back from it, so the placement you want is one your phone cannot hear from where you sit: a drawer in another room, a bag by the front door, a shelf in the hallway. A wall and a room's distance do that; the other end of the same desk does not. The distance is doing the work, and the correct distance is one that turns an impulse into a decision — far enough to be a nuisance, close enough that a genuine emergency is never a crisis.
The failure mode: locking too late
Almost everyone starts the session, works for ten minutes, checks something, works for five, checks something else, and only reaches for the blocker after they have already lost half an hour. By then the session feels compromised and the block feels punitive. Lock when you sit down, before you have done anything. This is exactly why locking is free and instant — one tap, no key needed, no Bluetooth needed, no decision about duration. The app costs nothing and the key is the one thing you buy, once; nothing about starting a session is metered. Any friction on the locking side and you will skip it on precisely the days you needed it.
What if something genuinely urgent comes in?
Keep calls and one messaging channel available — a blocked phone that cannot receive an emergency is a liability, not discipline. Beyond that, the honest position is that almost nothing arriving in a two-hour window is urgent, and the small number of things that are will still be there after a walk to fetch the key. The cost is real and always payable, which is the point.
Questions about deep work
How long should a deep work block be?
Long enough to get past the uncomfortable start, short enough that you finish it. Ninety minutes to two hours suits most people. The number that matters is not the ideal length but the longest one you reliably complete.
Should I block email during deep work?
Usually yes, and it is the block people resist most. Email feels like work, which is what makes it such an effective escape from work. If your role genuinely requires responsiveness, keep one channel and block the others.
Does this work in an open-plan office?
The blocking does; the key placement needs thought. A locker, a coat pocket hung by the door, or a colleague's desk on the other side of the floor all work. What does not work is your own bag under your own chair — that is well within Bluetooth range, and range is the whole mechanism.
Four more, each set up differently
Blocking your phone while studying
Study sessions fail differently: the phone is also your notes, your timer and your group chat. A setup that survives a long revision block.
SleepGetting your phone out of the bedroom
The evening block is the one most people need and the one they abandon first. Why it fails, and the setup that survives the hour before bed.
Family timeBeing present with your family, not just in the room
The block that is hardest to justify and easiest to feel. Three apps, two hours, and the reason a phone face-down on the table still costs you something.
TrainingBlocking your phone at the gym and on runs
Forty-five minutes with music and a timer and nothing else. The one use case where the phone is genuinely needed — and still ruins the session.
If what you want is the method rather than the situation, the guides go deeper, and how it works covers the part that makes all of this hold — the key has to be within Bluetooth range of the phone before it will unlock.
Last updated 8 Aug 2026
A mode you configure once and stop thinking about.
Locking takes one tap, costs nothing and works with Bluetooth off. Unlocking needs the key — which is wherever you decided to leave it, back when you were thinking clearly. The app is free; the key is the one-time buy.