Screen Time Apps Compared: Mechanic, Price, Strictness
Every App, One Table
Twelve apps. One table. No preferred winner buried at the top.
The columns that matter: what does the app do when you try to open Instagram, which platforms it covers, what you’ll pay, and how easy it is to cheat. Strictness is rated 1–5, where 1 is “friendly reminder” and 5 is “you cannot override this without another human.”
Prices are in USD, sourced from App Store / Play Store listings as of July 2026. Stores change prices without notice — verify before subscribing.
The Comparison Table
| App | Core mechanic | Platform | Free tier | Paid price | Strictness (1–5) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Sec | Breathing pause before opening | iOS, Android, macOS, Chrome | Yes (1 app) | ~$2.99/mo or ~$19.99/yr | 2 | Impulse openers who need a pause, not a wall |
| Opal | Hard block with Focus Sessions | iOS, macOS | Limited (3 apps) | ~$6.99/mo or ~$99.99/yr | 4 | iPhone + Mac users who want a real wall |
| Forest | Grow a virtual tree during focus | iOS, Android, Chrome | Yes (basic) | ~$1.99 one-time (iOS) | 2 | People who respond to gamified gentle pressure |
| Freedom | Block across all devices simultaneously | iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Chrome | Yes (7 sessions) | ~$8.99/mo or ~$99.99/yr | 4 | Multi-device workers who need one scheduled block |
| ScreenZen | Delay + intention prompt | iOS, Android | Yes (full feature set) | ~$4.99/mo or ~$29.99/yr | 2 | Budget-conscious users; free tier is genuinely usable |
| Clearspace | Delay + breath + question | iOS | Yes (limited) | ~$6.99/mo or ~$39.99/yr | 2 | People who want to feel the urge before deciding |
| Jomo | Block + gentle journaling prompts | iOS | No | ~$4.99/mo or ~$29.99/yr | 3 | Journalers; pairs well with a morning routine |
| Brick | Physical NFC tile kills apps | iOS | No | $39–$69 hardware + optional sub | 5 | People who’ve cheated every software blocker |
| One Focus | Simple URL/app block, menubar | macOS only | No | ~$19.99 one-time | 3 | Mac-only workers who want no subscription |
| AppBlock | Schedule-based hard block | Android (primarily) | Yes | ~$2.99/mo or ~$14.99/yr | 3 | Android users who want Opal-style scheduling |
| Refocus | Block + replace with to-do view | iOS | No | ~$2.99/mo | 2 | Task-focused users who want a redirect, not a wall |
| Lummi (ours — disclosed) | Block + opens a real book | iOS only | 1-week trial (annual plan) | $8.99/wk or $59.99/yr | 3 | iPhone users who want to replace the habit, not just block it |
What the Columns Actually Mean
Core mechanic is the most important column. Apps cluster into three families:
- Friction apps (One Sec, Clearspace, ScreenZen): they slow you down and make you conscious of the reach. They don’t block. If you want the app badly enough, you get it.
- Wall apps (Opal, Freedom, Brick, AppBlock): they refuse. Hard or soft modes vary, but the intent is a locked door.
- Replacement apps (Forest, Lummi, Jomo, Refocus): they block and hand you something else — a tree, a book, a journal, a task list.
Most people buy the wrong family. They buy a friction app when they need a wall, or a wall app when what they actually need is something to do with their hands. The failure-mode breakdown is worth reading before you commit to a subscription.
Strictness measures how hard it is to override the block without help from another person or device. A score of 5 (Brick) means you have to physically walk to where you left the NFC tile and tap it — software can’t route around it. A score of 2 means a determined version of you will be back on Twitter in 45 seconds.
Free tier matters more than it used to. ScreenZen’s free tier is genuinely full-featured. Forest’s is limited but usable. Opal’s three-app limit is enough to test whether you like the interface. Freedom gives you seven free sessions total, then asks you to pay. Where the table says “limited,” check what’s actually gated before assuming it’s enough — it varies a lot.
Platform Coverage at a Glance
| App | iPhone | Android | Mac | Windows | Chrome ext. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Sec | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Opal | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Forest | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Freedom | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ScreenZen | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Clearspace | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Jomo | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Brick | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| One Focus | — | — | ✓ | — | — |
| AppBlock | — | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Refocus | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Lummi (ours) | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
If you need blocking that follows you from phone to laptop to browser, Freedom is the only app here that covers all four surfaces. Opal covers iPhone and Mac. Everything else is one or two platforms at most.
Price Reality Check
The monthly prices look small. They compound.
Brick is the outlier — $39–$69 upfront for hardware, then an optional subscription for advanced features. It sounds expensive until you consider it’s the only option with a strictness score of 5. Brick’s no-hardware alternatives are worth considering if you like the concept but not the shipping wait.
One-time purchases (One Focus at ~$19.99, Forest’s iOS app at ~$1.99) look cheap until you account for what you’re not getting: cross-device sync, schedule updates, ongoing support. For a purely Mac workflow with no mobile problem, One Focus is good value. For everything else, check the annual plan — it’s consistently cheaper than paying monthly.
How to Pick
Answer three questions:
- Do I need it on more than one device? Freedom (all platforms) or Opal (iPhone + Mac only).
- Have I already cheated every app I’ve tried? Brick. Nothing else.
- Do I want to block the habit or replace it? Block only: Opal, Freedom, AppBlock. Replace with something: Forest (tree), Lummi (book — iOS only, and ours), Jomo (journal), Refocus (task list).
If the answer to all three is “I don’t know, I just want something free to start” — try ScreenZen. Its free tier is honest, the friction mechanic is low-stakes, and you’ll find out whether friction is even the right approach before spending anything.
The full iPhone-specific ranking goes deeper on iOS-only options. If you’re deciding between the two dominant friction apps, One Sec vs ScreenZen does the head-to-head properly.