6 Opal Alternatives, Ranked by How Hard They Are to Ignore
The six Opal alternatives worth considering, ranked by how hard they are to ignore: one sec (a breathing pause, about $20 a year), ScreenZen (free friction with more knobs), Jomo (the closest sibling at $29.99 a year), Freedom (blocks every device at once), Brick (a $59 physical NFC tag), and Paywall (real money per early unlock, pre-launch). Which one actually fixes anything depends on why you're leaving.
Opal's reputation is largely earned: clean design, useful focus reports, a Deep Focus mode that genuinely commits. People leave it for three specific reasons.
Why people look for an Opal alternative
The price. Opal Pro runs $19.99 per month or $99.99 per year on the App Store as of August 2026. The free tier covers basic blocking, app limits, and analytics, but the features that make Opal hard to ignore — Deep Focus, unlimited sessions — sit behind Pro. That is roughly $100 a year to not use apps that are free.
Standard sessions are easy to skip. Outside Deep Focus, Opal's blocking is polite. Sessions can be ended or snoozed, and like every iOS blocker, Opal's access can be revoked in Settings by anyone with fifteen seconds and a motive. Reviewers consistently note that the free tier works mostly as a demo for the paid one — the deeper mechanics are covered in why app blockers do not work.
Deep Focus is all-or-nothing. When it holds, it holds — users describe sessions that survive almost anything short of surgery on the phone's settings. That rigidity is the feature, and also the complaint: no valve for the moment you legitimately need a blocked app, so some people respond by never arming Deep Focus at all. A lock you refuse to use protects nothing.
One honest note before the list: no app blocker on iOS is impossible to bypass — every one can be deleted or stripped of permissions. The real question, and the ranking principle below, is how much stands between the impulse and the feed. The full honest answer is in the app blocker you cannot turn off.
The alternatives, from easiest to hardest to ignore
1. one sec — the mindful pause
one sec does not block anything. It inserts a breathing pause before a chosen app opens, then asks whether you still want in. A 2023 study published in PNAS found this simple forced pause reduced target-app openings by about 57%. It is free for one app, and Pro is cheap — €14.99 per year (about $20 in the US; varies by region — one sec FAQ) — on iOS, Android, and desktop browsers via extensions.
Pick it if: your Opal complaint is price and you need a nudge, not a wall. Skip it if: you already blow through Opal's confirmation screens — a breathing exercise will not slow you down for long. Full comparison in Opal vs one sec.
2. ScreenZen — free friction with more knobs
ScreenZen is free and donation-supported, on iOS and Android, with nearly everything included: delay timers before apps open, limits on opens per day, schedules, and stricter blocking for set time ranges. It is the obvious first stop when the Opal complaint begins and ends with the subscription.
Pick it if: you want Opal's core loop — friction plus limits — at a price of zero. Skip it if: you are the one who configured it, because you can also be the one who reconfigures it at 11pm.
3. Jomo — the closest sibling
Jomo is an iPhone and iPad blocker built on the same Apple Screen Time controls as Opal, with a free tier and a Plus plan at $29.99 per year (jomo.so/pricing). It is polished, offers strict modes and flexible rules, and undercuts Opal on price for a broadly similar experience.
Pick it if: you like Opal's approach and want the same category of app for less. Skip it if: price was never your problem — a cheaper wall is still a wall you climb.
4. Freedom — every device at once
Freedom's advantage is territorial: it blocks apps and websites across iPhone, Android, Mac, and Windows in one synced session, with scheduling and a Locked Mode that resists mid-session edits. Pricing is $8.99 per month, $39.96 per year billed annually, or $99.50 for the one-time Forever plan (freedom.to/premium).
Pick it if: your escape route from Opal is your laptop — phone blocked, browser open. Freedom closes that door too. Skip it if: your problem lives entirely on one iPhone.
5. Brick — friction you can hold
Brick is a $59 physical NFC tag — no battery, no subscription. Tap your phone against it to block apps; tap again to unblock. If the Brick is at home and you are not, unblocking requires a commute. The friction is measured in meters, a unit iOS cannot override.
Pick it if: Deep Focus was too rigid but a tap-out-anytime app is too soft — physical distance is the middle setting. Skip it if: you know the Brick will live in your pocket, next to the phone, defeating itself.
6. Paywall — money at the door (pre-launch)
Full disclosure: Paywall is our app, it is iOS-only, and it has not launched yet — a waitlist is live ahead of an upcoming App Store release. The mechanic: you pick the apps that own you, Paywall walls them with Apple's Screen Time controls, and opening one early costs real money at a price you set — floor of $0.50, typically $1–2, with a monthly cap so one bad week stays a line item. An unlock buys a timed session; then the wall re-arms. Where does the money go? Yes, we keep it. Every other app here charges you whether you cave or not; we only earn when you do. We are rooting for you anyway.
Pick it (join the waitlist) if: friction alone has demonstrably not stopped you, and you want caving to have a price. Skip it if: a pause or a schedule still works — cheaper is cheaper.
Comparison table
| App | Approach | Platforms | Price | What ignoring it costs you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| one sec | Pause before opening | iOS, Android, browsers | Free (1 app); ~$20/yr Pro | A few seconds of breathing |
| ScreenZen | Pauses, open limits, schedules | iOS, Android | Free | A few taps |
| Jomo | Scheduled blocking, strict modes | iOS, iPadOS | Free tier; $29.99/yr | Dismissing your own rules |
| Freedom | Synced cross-device blocking | iOS, Android, Mac, Windows | $39.96/yr; $99.50 lifetime | Ending a locked session |
| Brick | Physical NFC toggle | iOS, Android (device + app) | $59 one-time | Walking to the Brick |
| Paywall | Real-money unlocks | iOS (pre-launch waitlist) | You set the unlock price ($0.50 floor) | Actual money, per unlock |
The verdict, by user type
- Leaving over the $99.99: ScreenZen first. It is free, and Opal's core loop is mostly there.
- Leaving because you bypass Opal too easily: Freedom with Locked Mode if you also leak time on a computer; Brick if the bypasses happen with the phone in your hand.
- Leaving because Deep Focus is too rigid: Jomo for flexible rules, or Brick for a valve you control by location.
- Leaving because nothing digital has held so far: that is the gap Paywall is built for — friction is negotiable with yourself; a charge is not. Our broader ranking lives in best app blockers for iPhone.
FAQ
Is there a free alternative to Opal? ScreenZen — pauses, open limits, and schedules on iOS and Android, nearly all of it free. one sec is also free for a single app.
Is Opal worth $99.99 a year? If you actually arm Deep Focus, arguably yes — it is one of the strictest software blockers on iOS. If you only run standard sessions, ScreenZen replicates most of the value free.
What is harder to bypass than Opal? Nothing on iOS is bypass-proof — not Opal, not us. Brick raises the cost of a bypass to a physical trip; Paywall raises it to real money at the moment of temptation.
Does Opal work on Android? No — Opal is iPhone-only. Freedom, ScreenZen, and one sec all cover Android.
Try Paywall
If you have already paid for one blocker and negotiated your way past it, consider paying only when you lose. Paywall blocks the apps you choose and charges you real money to open them early. Resisting is free.