The best Opal alternative depends on why you’re leaving. If it’s the price, try ScreenZen (free) or one sec (cheaper). If it’s that you keep unblocking apps yourself, you need something you can’t undo alone: a physical blocker like Brick, or a limit someone else controls.
Below is what Opal actually does well, the two reasons people go looking elsewhere, and six alternatives with what each one is good at and where it falls short. Prices are from each app’s App Store listing or official site as of October 2026.
What Opal does well
Let’s be fair first. Opal is the most polished app in the category. It’s an Editors’ Choice on the App Store, with a 4.7 rating from about 90,000 reviews.
You set Rules that block apps and websites at certain times, run timed focus sessions, add daily app limits, and get a daily score with detailed reports. It also runs on iPhone, Mac and Android, according to its website.
Its strongest feature is Deep Focus. The listing describes it as “the maximum level of protection — you can’t bypass or cancel.” For a planned work block or an exam week, that’s exactly what you want.
Why people look for something else
Two things come up again and again.
1. The price. Opal is free to download, but the listing shows a monthly plan at $19.99, a yearly plan at $99.99 and a lifetime plan at $399.99. One reviewer on the listing points out that Deep Focus is limited to paying users. If you only want a daily limit on two apps, that’s a lot.
2. You can still unblock. Outside Deep Focus, Opal lets you unblock apps from inside the app. There’s a waiting room first, with a delay you can set to increase each time, plus mini-games while you wait. That’s friction, and friction helps. But if you’re fully awake and determined at 11pm, a waiting room is just a short queue before Instagram.
That second point is the real one. Most apps in this space make breaking your limit slower. Very few make it not your call.
The alternatives at a glance
| App | How it stops you | When you want to cheat | Price (Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Screen Time | Daily app limits | Tap Ignore Limit, unless you set a passcode | Free, built in |
| ScreenZen | Delays, open limits, schedules, lock mode | Wait out the delay | Free, optional tips |
| one sec | A breathing pause before the app opens | Breathe, then open it | Free for one app; Pro from $19.99/year |
| Freedom | Scheduled blocks synced across devices | Locked Mode stops you quitting a session | Premium $39.99/year |
| Brick | A physical device you tap to lock and unlock | Find the Brick, or use one of five emergency unbricks | $59 for the device |
| PeerPause | Daily limits that lock the app | Ask your Time Buddy. They decide. | Free to be a buddy; Pro to limit your own apps |
1. Apple Screen Time: free, already on your phone
Before you pay for anything, Screen Time can do the basics. Set a daily limit for an app or a category, and the app greys out when you hit it.
The weak spot is the Ignore Limit button. You can hide it by setting a Screen Time passcode and choosing to block at the end of the limit, but if you know the passcode, you’re back where you started. Having a friend type in a code you don’t know works better, with some real catches we cover in how to make Screen Time limits you can’t ignore.
Pick it if: you want a free first step and haven’t tried it properly yet.
2. ScreenZen: the best free Opal alternative
ScreenZen is free and supported by optional tips. Its website says “No subscription,” and it runs on iOS, macOS, Windows and Android.
It does a lot for free: a delay before an app opens that can grow with each open, strict blocking after a set number of opens, daily goals, schedules that change by weekday and time, and streaks. A lock mode stops you changing settings mid-urge, and its latest version adds an accountability partner who can grant access to locked settings.
The catch is similar to Opal’s waiting room. Most of the friction is time. If you’re willing to wait, you get in.
Pick it if: price is your main reason for leaving Opal.
3. one sec: a pause instead of a wall
one sec puts a short intervention, like a breathing animation, between you and the app. It can also kick you out after a few minutes and make you do it again.
It’s backed by real research. A 2023 study in PNAS found one sec users tried to open their chosen apps 37% less over six weeks. One app is free; one sec pro is listed at $19.99 a year or $99.99 lifetime.
It’s a speed bump, though, not a lock. Great against autopilot. Not much help when you know exactly what you’re doing.
Pick it if: you mostly open apps without thinking.
4. Freedom: blocks across every device
Freedom runs on Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Chromebook and Linux. Its big strength is syncing: start a session on your laptop and your phone is blocked too. Recurring schedules start sessions for you, and Locked Mode stops you quitting a session once it’s running.
Premium is $39.99 a year, or $199 one time for Freedom Forever. Like Opal, it’s built around sessions, so it’s best for planned focus time rather than a daily allowance.
Pick it if: your distractions follow you from phone to laptop.
5. Brick: an off switch you can leave at home
Brick is a small device, $59 on its site. You tap your phone on it to block your chosen apps and tap again to get them back. Leave it at home and your apps stay blocked while you’re out.
Physical distance is hard to argue with. But the app also gives you five emergency unbricks, and a Brick on your desk is only two steps away.
Pick it if: you like a ritual and can keep the device out of reach.
6. PeerPause: someone else holds the key
PeerPause takes a different angle. It doesn’t make the limit harder for you to break. It takes the decision away from you.
You pick apps or categories and give them a daily limit. At the limit the app locks, and there’s no Ignore Limit button. To get more time, you send a request, anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour with an optional note, to your Time Buddy, a friend you choose. They tap accept or deny from wherever they are. Changing or removing a limit needs their OK too, so you can’t quietly delete it at 1am. Streaks count the days you didn’t ask at all.
Privacy matters here. Your buddy sees only the app name, the time you asked for and your note. Never your messages, photos or what you do inside apps, and your Screen Time data stays on your phone.
The trade-offs are real. A friend has to respond, so pick someone who’ll actually reply, and who’ll say “lol no, go to bed” when that’s the right answer. And while being someone’s Time Buddy costs nothing, limiting your own apps needs a PeerPause Pro subscription. If you’re curious why a second person works better than willpower, we wrote about it in what is a screen time buddy.
Pick it if: you’ve tried the other apps and keep breaking your own rules.
How to choose
Be honest about how you usually break your limits with Opal:
- “It’s just too expensive.” Start with ScreenZen. It’s free and does most of what Opal does.
- “I open apps without noticing.” one sec, or ScreenZen’s delays, will catch most of that.
- “I need blocks for planned work.” Freedom, or honestly, Opal’s Deep Focus is good at this.
- “I unblock on purpose, every time.” You need something outside your own head: a Brick across the room, or a friend who decides.
You can combine them, too. A pause app for autopilot plus a buddy for the moments when you really mean it is a solid setup. For more habit-level tricks that work with any app, see how to stop scrolling on your phone. And if you want the full side-by-side with Opal, one sec, ScreenZen and Brick, read our comparison of popular screen time apps.