Best App Blockers 2026: Free and Paid, iPhone or Android

The best app blockers are ScreenZen, free on iPhone and Android, and AppBlock, whose Strict Mode runs up to 24 hours free on Android. Opal suits an iPhone session you cannot end early, and Freedom suits one block across a phone and a laptop.

A blocker suits you if a few apps pull you in by habit. Most blockers keep an emergency exit, and most strict modes cost money.

On the pause ladder, a blocker sits one step above Screen Time limits, beside the best minimalist launchers. The next step up is a simpler phone, such as one of the best dumbphones.

Our picks for iPhone and Android

Both picks start with the controls your phone already has. They add a blocker only for the gap those controls leave.

Best app blocker for iPhone

Start with Screen Time, then add ScreenZen for a free pause before each open. It also offers strict blocks and a lock on its own settings, so it covers most needs without a subscription.

Pay for Opal Pro only if you need a session you cannot end early. Its sessions with no unblocks allow one Emergency Pass a week, and a Screen Time passcode on iOS 26.4 or later stops you revoking its access.

If a tap on a separate object helps, Foqos is free and starts a block from an NFC tag or a QR code. Brick sells a $59 device for the same job.

Best app blocker for Android

Start with Digital Wellbeing and its App limits PIN, then add AppBlock. Its Strict Mode runs up to 24 hours on the free plan, and it can stop you uninstalling AppBlock or opening Android’s Settings.

Choose ScreenZen instead if you want a pause rather than a lock, since it is free on Android too. We would skip Opal here, because Opal documents uninstall protection only for iPhone.

Most Android blockers here run through the accessibility service, so turning that permission off is the usual exit. AppBlock’s Settings block exists to close that exit during Strict Mode.

Free app blockers and what the free plans leave out

Two options cost nothing at all: the controls built into your phone and ScreenZen. Every other app here has a free plan with a cap, and the cap is what you would pay to lift.

• ScreenZen: no paid plan. The only purchases are optional tips of $5 to $40.
• Foqos: free on iPhone, with optional tips and no subscription. You supply the NFC tag or QR code that starts and ends a session.
• one sec: the free plan covers one app. Pro adds unlimited apps for $20 a year, $7 a month or $100 once.
• AppBlock: on iPhone, two schedules and Strict Mode up to 12 hours. On Android, three schedules of five apps each and Strict Mode up to 24 hours.
• Opal: one rule plus unlimited sessions you start yourself. Sessions with no unblocks and more rules need Pro.
• Freedom: sessions you start now, up to two hours, on every device. Schedules and Locked Mode need Premium.
• Unpluq: two apps, one schedule and two barriers. The Tag and the other barriers need Premium.

Free plans let you try the pause, and the lock is usually what you pay for. We would start free and pay only for the one limit you keep hitting: a longer lock, more apps, or a schedule.

Screen Time and Digital Wellbeing: the free first step

Both phones already block apps for free. On iPhone, Screen Time sets daily limits and a schedule for when apps open. In iOS 26 they are App Limits and Downtime, and in iOS 27 they become Time Allowances and Screen Time Schedule.

On Android, Digital Wellbeing has app timers, which close an app and dim its icon until midnight, and Focus mode, which pauses the apps you pick. Some steps vary by phone. For blocks behind a PIN someone else holds, see how to turn an Android into a dumbphone.

The weak spot is the exit. By default, you can ignore iOS 26 limits. Downtime blocks apps outright only if you set a Screen Time passcode and turn on Block at Downtime.

On Android, deleting a timer gets the app back before midnight. An App limits PIN lets you set limits on a device that only you can change.

Start here before you pay for anything. How to check screen time on iPhone and Android has the steps, and how to block apps on iPhone compares every built-in block, from hidden apps to Guided Access.

one sec: a pause before the app opens

one sec puts a breathing pause or a short task in front of the apps you pick, then lets you decide whether to open them. On iPhone it runs through a Shortcuts automation, and on Android through the accessibility service. Browser extensions cover Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge, and a Mac app covers desktop apps.

The free plan covers one app. Pro covers unlimited apps and costs $20 a year, $7 a month or $100 once on the US App Store, and there is a one-week free trial.

The maker cites peer-reviewed studies of the app, including a 2023 paper in PNAS co-written by its founder.

Its default is a pause, so you can tap through, although one sec also offers blocks that stop an app opening during a session or a schedule. Pick it if opening apps without thinking is the habit.

On Android, one sec can also block YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels and leave the rest of each app working. How to turn off YouTube Shorts sets that next to YouTube’s own limit.

ScreenZen: free delays, strict blocks and a bedroom device

ScreenZen is the free pick. It delays each open with a wait that can grow with every use, asks “Is this important?”, and caps daily opens per app. ScreenZen is donation-supported, with no subscription.

It runs on iPhone (iOS 16.4 or later), Android, Mac and Windows. On Android, ScreenZen uses the accessibility permission to block websites.

It offers strict blocks by time range, number of opens or screen time, and a lock on ScreenZen’s own settings. Lock mode can also prevent uninstalling. There is also a Minimal mode for Instagram, YouTube and TikTok without Reels, Shorts or endless feeds.

ScreenZen also sells halo, a $49 device for the bedroom with no subscription. It blocks the apps you pick while your phone is within its Bluetooth range of up to 50 feet. It ships only in the US and needs an account.

Try ScreenZen first, and turn on the settings lock if you tend to loosen limits.

AppBlock: Strict Mode with a free tier

AppBlock blocks apps and websites on iPhone and Android, on schedules set by time, location or Wi-Fi network. Browser extensions for Chrome, Edge and Brave carry blocks to a computer.

The free plan differs by phone: Android gets more schedules and a longer Strict Mode than iPhone. Premium costs $5 a month or $30 a year on the US App Store, and AppBlock also sells a lifetime plan.

Strict Mode is the reason to pick it. On Android, there are six ways to end it: PIN, charger, timer, cooldown, following your schedules, or approval from a trusted person. Free accounts on Android cannot use the schedule option, and on iPhone they also lose approval.

During Strict Mode on Android, AppBlock can stop you uninstalling it and block device Settings. If you get stuck, its support team can send a one-time unlock code.

Android needs usage access, display over other apps, the accessibility service and an exemption from battery optimization. On iPhone, AppBlock uses Apple’s Screen Time API and needs iOS 17, and it cannot block Settings the way it does on Android.

From version 7.5.0, AppBlock on Android can also block only YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels inside those apps.

Opal: a session that is hard to end early

Opal organizes blocking into rules: schedules, time limits and open limits. It runs on iPhone (iOS 18 or later), Android and Mac. The free plan gives you one rule plus unlimited sessions you start yourself.

Pro costs $100 a year or $20 a month, or $399 once on Opal’s site. It adds unlimited rules and Hard Mode, which Opal describes as “No way out.”

In a Pro session with no unblocks allowed, you cannot unblock apps or leave early. The exit is one Emergency Pass a week, which unblocks every app for one hour.

On iPhone, a Screen Time passcode on iOS 26.4 or later stops you revoking Opal’s Screen Time access. Earlier versions let Face ID or the device passcode get around it.

On Android, Opal uses the accessibility service on Android 14 and later. Opal documents uninstall protection only for iPhone, and an older help page rules it out on Android for now.

Freedom: one session across phone and computer

Freedom starts a block on every device you connect: iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Chromebook. The free plan blocks apps, websites or the whole internet in sessions you start now, up to two hours.

Premium adds recurring and scheduled sessions, longer sessions and Locked Mode, which prevents quitting a session. It costs $40 a year or $9 a month on the US App Store, and Freedom Forever costs $199 once.

Locked Mode keeps one exit. Freedom lets you end a locked session once every seven days, and its support team will not end sessions for you.

On iPhone, Freedom blocks apps through Apple’s Screen Time controls and websites through a local VPN profile. A Screen Time passcode on iOS 26.4 or later stops you revoking that permission in Settings. Android needs the accessibility service, plus Device Admin to stop uninstalling from the home screen.

Pick Freedom if a laptop is part of the habit.

Brick: a device you tap to lock apps

Brick is a $59 device with no battery, and it needs no subscription. You choose the apps to block in its app, then tap your phone on the Brick. They stay blocked until you tap again, so leaving it in another room is the lock.

One Brick works with many phones, on iOS 18 or later and Android 12 or later. It cannot block the Phone app, and on Android it needs the accessibility service.

Strict Mode stops you deleting the app or changing settings to end a block. The exits are five Emergency Unbricks. Once all five are used, Brick resets them after a short survey in the app.

Cheaper options exist. Foqos is a free, open-source iPhone app that starts a block when you tap an NFC tag or scan a QR code.

Bloom sells a $39 metal NFC keycard for iPhone and Android with no subscription, and a $59 Pod that comes with a card. By default, deleting its app unblocks everything. Our Brick vs Unpluq vs Bloom comparison sets their two-year costs and emergency exits side by side.

Unpluq: a tag that opens apps for a while

Unpluq blocks apps on your schedule and makes you pass a barrier to open them for a set time. Barriers include shaking the phone, tapping a random pattern, scanning a QR code or tapping the Unpluq Tag, an NFC keyfob.

The free app blocks two apps on one schedule with two barriers. Premium adds unlimited schedules and every barrier, including the Tag, for $60 a year or $7 a month on the US App Store. Unpluq’s own shop sells Premium with a Tag for $81 a year, and its $29 price for three months is a limited summer offer.

The app works on iPhone from iOS 16, through Apple’s Screen Time permission, and on Android. The Tag needs a phone with NFC.

The exits are generous. Emergency mode gives five minutes of access once a day unless you turn it off, and you can report a lost Tag five times per account.

How the main options compare with Opal and Freedom

If you already know Opal or Freedom, the question is what you gain or give up by switching.

Opal alternatives

Opal’s strength is a session you cannot end early on iPhone, and its cost is $100 a year. ScreenZen costs nothing and offers strict blocks, plus a settings lock that opens at a time you choose.

AppBlock costs $30 a year, and on Android its Strict Mode can stop uninstalling, which Opal documents only for iPhone. Brick and Bloom trade the subscription for a one-time device, and Foqos does a similar job free on iPhone.

If you mostly wanted the pause, not the lock, one sec is the closer match. We would switch from Opal to AppBlock on Android, and keep Opal on iPhone only if you use its sessions with no unblocks.

Freedom alternatives

Freedom’s pitch is one session that applies to a phone and a computer at once. If you want the computer covered without Freedom, ScreenZen is free on Mac and Windows, and one sec has a Mac app and browser extensions.

AppBlock adds extensions for Chrome, Edge and Brave, and Opal has a Mac app. Cold Turkey Blocker installs on Windows and macOS, and LeechBlock NG is an extension for Firefox and Chromium browsers, so neither blocks phone apps.

We would keep Freedom if one plan across a laptop and a phone matters to you. Otherwise, a free phone blocker plus a browser extension costs less.

When an app blocker is not enough

A blocker you can switch off fails at the moment you want it most. On iPhone, Opal and Freedom point to a Screen Time passcode that someone else sets. On Android, AppBlock can block Settings during Strict Mode.

Android’s Advanced Protection mode may stop a blocker too. It restricts accessibility services to verified accessibility tools, and most Android blockers here rely on that service, so check with the maker before turning it on.

Make the exit cost effort: have someone else hold the passcode, and keep any tap device out of reach. If the pull is at night, the best alarm clocks take the alarm off the phone, so the phone can charge in another room.

If you still switch the blocker off, the stronger step is a phone with no open app store.

Common questions

Can I turn an app blocker off?

Usually, yes. By default, you can tap through a pause or a limit, while AppBlock’s Strict Mode, Opal’s sessions with no unblocks and Freedom’s Locked Mode lock your changes during a session. Even those keep an exit, such as a weekly pass in Opal and Freedom.

Do physical app blockers work?

They add effort, which is the design. Brick and Unpluq both keep emergency exits, and deleting the Bloom app unblocks everything by default, so the effort is a speed bump rather than a wall.

Is Opal free?

Partly. The free plan covers one rule and unlimited sessions you start yourself, on iPhone, Android and Mac. Hard Mode and unlimited rules need Opal Pro, at $100 a year or $20 a month.

Which app blocker is best for a teenager?

Start with controls a parent holds. Apple lets a parent set a child’s Screen Time passcode, and Google’s Family Link asks for a parent’s sign-in or access code to change limits. For phones made for kids, see the best safe phones for kids.

Where to start with a blocker

Start with what the phone already does, then try ScreenZen for a free pause. AppBlock suits Android and a strict lock on a budget, Opal an iPhone session that is hard to end, and Freedom a laptop and a phone on one plan. Brick, Bloom and halo put the key in another room.

Pick the lightest blocker that holds for a month. If you keep switching it off, the next step is a phone with fewer apps on it, and the Dumbphone Finder shows what you can keep.