Jomo Alternatives: Harder Blocks and Lighter Touches
Jomo is a well-designed app blocker for iPhone: friction before you open distracting apps, scheduled focus sessions, calm minimal UI. If you’re reading this, it either didn’t stick or didn’t go far enough. Both are legitimate problems with different solutions.
The split is roughly: people who want more enforcement than Jomo provides, and people who want less app entirely.
What Jomo actually offers (so the comparison is fair)
Jomo uses Screen Time APIs, which means a determined person can disable it from Settings. Sessions have cooldowns. There’s a mindful pause before apps open. No hardware, no third-party DNS, no blocking that survives a Screen Time toggle.
That’s the ceiling. Everything below is measured against it.
Pricing shifts; check the App Store before buying. That goes for every app in this list.
If you want harder enforcement than Jomo
Opal
Opal blocks at the network level and adds a Screen Time lock you can configure to require a delay before disabling. The friction to turn it off is genuinely higher than Jomo — not undefeatable, but meaningfully harder than a Settings tap.
Standout feature: Focus Sessions that lock you out for a set period with no easy escape hatch. Free tier allows one session type; Pro runs around $7-10/month or ~$50/year on annual plans (verify current pricing). iOS only.
The comparison between Opal and One Sec is covered in detail in this head-to-head.
Brick
Brick is hardware. You tap an NFC card to your phone and blocking activates — enforced server-side, not defeatable through Screen Time settings alone. To turn it off, you tap the card again, which you can put somewhere inconvenient.
If you want blocking that doesn’t bend to a weak moment, Brick is the most credible option in the category. The device costs around $30-40 one-time; there’s a subscription for premium scheduling features. iOS only. Overkill for mild distractions. Exactly right for people who’ve tried everything else.
The full case for Brick — and options for people who want the same commitment level without ordering hardware — is in this alternatives guide.
Freedom
Freedom covers Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS simultaneously, which is useful if your problem isn’t just the phone. It blocks at the DNS level and can lock sessions so you can’t easily undo them mid-session. Utilitarian UI compared to Jomo’s polished feel, but enforcement is more consistent across devices. Check their site for current pricing; they run annual and lifetime options.
More on the Freedom category here.
If you want less app than Jomo
Hardened Screen Time (free)
iOS’s built-in Screen Time, configured properly, does most of what Jomo does: app limits, downtime schedules, content restrictions. Set a Screen Time passcode — different from your device passcode, held by a trusted person — and it becomes significantly harder to override.
Cost: zero. Learning curve: 20 minutes. If you’ve never actually locked down Screen Time properly, try this before paying for anything.
ScreenZen
ScreenZen adds a breathing exercise or pause before apps open rather than blocking them outright. Awareness over enforcement. Works well for people who respond to gentle prompts; useless for people who’d click through without thinking. Free for core features, with an optional paid tier. iOS and Android.
One Sec
One Sec inserts a breath prompt before a distracting app opens. It doesn’t block — it interrupts. Some people find this more effective than hard blocking because it breaks the automatic reach-for-phone loop without the frustration of being locked out. Around $2-3/month, though pricing has shifted; check the App Store.
Where One Sec works and where it fails is covered in the One Sec alternatives post.
Quick comparison
| App | Enforcement | Platform | Defeatable via Settings? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jomo | Medium | iOS | Yes |
| Opal | Medium-high | iOS | Harder, not impossible |
| Brick | High | iOS | No (needs card) |
| Freedom | Medium-high | Multi | Session-locked |
| Screen Time (hardened) | Medium | iOS | With passcode: harder |
| ScreenZen | Friction only | iOS/Android | N/A |
| One Sec | Friction only | iOS | N/A |
Pricing removed from the table — it changes too often to be useful frozen in a row.
The honest pick
Jomo felt too easy to override: try Opal first, Brick if Opal doesn’t hold.
Jomo felt like more app than you needed: lock your Screen Time passcode with someone else before spending anything. If you want a maintained UI with the same friction logic, ScreenZen or One Sec.
The full iPhone app blocker ranking covers the whole category with a clearer map of which tool matches which failure mode — worth reading if you’ve already burned through three or four of these.