The best app blocker for iPhone and Android
There is no single best one, and any page that names one and stops is selling you something. There are five or six jobs people mean by "block apps", and a different app wins each. Here is which, with the prices. Otto, which this site makes, is declared up front as the free one rather than smuggled in at number one.
Best for each job
| If you want… | Pick | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Everything free, on both phones | Otto | $0 |
| A block you genuinely cannot undo | Otto's Strict, or Cold Turkey on desktop | $0 / one-off licence |
| One blocklist across phone, Mac and PC | Freedom | $39.99 / yr |
| A pause and a breath instead of a wall | one sec | $19.99 / yr |
| Routines built for ADHD and autism | Focus Bear | from $2.99 / mo |
| Deep analytics, streaks and coaching | Opal | $99.99 / yr |
| The deepest rule engine, NFC and location unlocks | Jomo | $29.99 / yr |
| Limits on how many times you open an app | Roots | $59.99 / yr |
| A real person holding you to it | Clearspace | $44.99 / yr |
| Blocks that switch on by location or Wi-Fi | AppBlock | $29.99 / yr |
| Keyword and category blocking in the browser | BlockSite | $23.99 / yr |
| A physical object between you and the phone | Brick or Unpluq | $59 / $26.50 + plan |
| The hardest Android lockouts, uninstall protection | Lock Me Out | Not published |
| Guilt, in the shape of a dying tree | Forest | $35.99 / yr |
Best free app blocker
Free is where the market is thinnest, because blocking apps is not expensive to run and charging for it is simply the convention. Three are genuinely free: Otto, with no paid tier at all; ScreenZen, tip-funded, and it covers desktop too; and StayFree, free and ad-free, which is a usage tracker first and a blocker second.
Both phones also ship with one. Screen Time on iPhone, Digital Wellbeing on Android. They cost nothing, they are already installed, and they come off in two taps, which is the entire problem with them.
The strictest app blocker
"Strict mode" usually means a countdown before the block lifts. That is friction, not strictness, and it does nothing against a decision you have already made. Otto's Strict is one-way: ten days of training, then it can be turned on and never off, rules cannot be deleted, and an edit costs a credit earned by leaving the rules alone or ten credits with Super Strict on. On Android, Lock Me Out goes further still with uninstall protection. On iPhone nothing can stop a determined uninstall, whatever the listing says.
What decides it more than the app
Which one you install matters less than what you point it at and what you do with the time it gives back. The guide to cutting phone use covers what the trials actually found, including the two pieces of standard advice that backfire. About 6,800 words with the references attached.
Otto is free, on both stores
No paid tier, no trial that expires, no account. There is a tip jar in the settings and that is the whole business model.
