Opal vs Brick: Software Wall or Physical One?

There’s a simple diagnostic question hiding inside this comparison: when you’re blocked, do you argue with the block?

If you open Settings to check for a workaround, uninstall-reinstall to see what happens, or just delete an app and re-add it later — Brick is probably the honest answer. If you don’t do any of that (or you want to be able to pause for a work meeting without ritual sacrifice), Opal is the better fit.

That’s the whole comparison in two sentences. Everything below is evidence.

What each one actually does

Opal is an iOS app that uses Screen Time’s API to block apps and websites on a schedule or on demand. You set sessions, add apps to a block list, and optionally enable “Deep Focus” mode which makes it harder to override. Subscription-based. Works entirely in software.

Brick is a small NFC sticker you physically tap your phone to. The tap triggers a locked session via its companion app; to end the session early you have to tap the sticker again — and the whole point is that you put the sticker somewhere inconvenient. The hardware is a one-time purchase. The app has a free tier and a paid subscription for advanced features.

Neither blocks every app perfectly. Both rely on iOS’s Screen Time layer at some level, which means a determined person with 4 minutes and the right sequence of taps can defeat either. Brick makes that sequence more annoying because it adds a physical obstacle. Opal makes it more annoying by burying the override behind a waiting period. Different tax on the same impulse.

Cost over 3 years

Pricing shifts with sales and region, so treat these totals as directional rather than exact.

Brick wins on cost if you use the free tier or stick to annual billing. Opal wins on flexibility — no physical object to lose, works immediately, no shipping wait.

Brick’s free tier covers the core use case: tap to lock, tap to unlock. The Pro subscription adds scheduling, session stats, and some customization. If you just want the physical commitment device, you may not need Pro at all.

The bypass question, honestly

Opal’s Deep Focus mode makes overrides slower and more deliberate — you wait, confirm, sometimes answer a prompt about why you’re doing this. It’s friction, not a wall. A motivated person who wants to check Instagram badly enough will get there.

Brick’s bypass path is: find the sticker, tap it, session ends. The defense is geography. If the sticker is in your car, at your office, in a locked drawer, or at your partner’s place — that’s a real obstacle. If it’s on your desk next to your phone, it’s not.

Neither company is lying about this. Brick’s pitch is explicitly “put it somewhere you can’t easily reach.” The commitment device is you deciding where the sticker lives.

For people who negotiate with software (“I’ll just do 5 minutes then re-block”) — Brick’s extra step genuinely helps. For people who don’t negotiate, the extra hardware is just inconvenience.

Where Opal is the better choice

• You block during work hours and need to unblock quickly for legitimate reasons
• You travel and don’t want to pack a sticker or risk losing it
• You want website blocking, not just apps
• You’re already inside the Apple ecosystem and want scheduling, stats, and widget access
• You want to block different apps in different sessions (Opal’s session customization is more granular)

If you’re evaluating other options in this space, the Opal app alternatives guide covers seven competitors sorted by what specifically bothers people about Opal.

Where Brick is the better choice

• You’ve tried software blockers and overridden them within 20 minutes
• You want a one-time payment model (free tier + hardware)
• The physical ritual of tapping has psychological value for you — you want a real start/stop gesture
• You’re blocking one or two specific apps and don’t need granular scheduling

If Brick’s hardware requirement is the sticking point, the Brick alternatives post covers apps that replicate the friction without the physical object.

What neither handles well

Both are iPhone-only in their primary form. If you need to block on desktop, Android, or across a whole network, you’re in Freedom or router-level territory. The Freedom app alternatives post covers the cross-device blocking options.

Neither replaces parental controls if the person being blocked is a child with unsupervised device access. Both are designed for adults blocking themselves.

The pick

Opal if you want flexibility, scheduling, and don’t have a history of defeating your own blocks.

Brick if you’ve already proved to yourself that software alone doesn’t hold — and you’d rather make the override inconvenient than just slow.

The 3-year cost math slightly favors Brick, especially on the free tier. But cost isn’t the right frame. The right frame is: which version of the block do you actually respect?