Summary of the Article
Opal works well if you want polished sessions and schedules on your phone, but its free tier allows only one rule and its strictest settings live behind Pro pricing. The best alternative depends on what you want instead of Opal: a truly free blocker, a cheaper schedule tool, a pause instead of a lock, hardware, or focus sessions tied to tasks.
- Kohru: study-first option that turns tasks into focus sessions and blocks distractions across phone, laptop and Chrome.
- ScreenZen: completely free app and website blocker with delays, mindful prompts and an optional strict block.
- Jomo: cheaper scheduled blocking for iPhone, iPad and Mac, with a one-time purchase option.
- One Sec: adds a breathing pause before distracting apps open; free for one app.
- Brick: a $59 NFC device that blocks apps until you physically tap back in; no subscription.
- Habit Doom: locks apps until you complete daily habits, with photo verification.
- iOS Screen Time: free and built in, but a one-tap bypass makes it easy to defeat.
Opal is not a bad app. For many people it is the right one. But if you searched for an Opal alternative, something about it is not working for you. This guide groups the real options by the reason people leave, so you can jump straight to your situation.
When Opal Is Actually the Right Tool
Opal suits you if you want a polished, all-in-one screen time app on iOS, Android and Mac, with sessions, schedules, limits and a focus score. Its pricing page shows a free tier with one rule (one schedule, time limit or open limit) plus app blocking, and Opal Pro at $19.99/month, $99.99/year or $399 for life. Students can get up to 50% off Pro.
People usually look elsewhere for three reasons:
- The free tier is tight. One rule means one block. If Instagram is your morning problem and YouTube your evening one, the free plan makes you choose.
- The strictest enforcement costs money. Hard Mode, which stops you canceling or bypassing a rule, is a Pro feature.
- Desktop coverage is limited. Opal covers phone and Mac, but there is no Windows app and no Chrome-browser-level blocking.
If none of those bother you, stay with Opal. If one does, read on.
First, Understand How These Tools Differ
Every blocker on this list uses one of five mechanisms, and the mechanism matters more than the feature list:
| Mechanism | How it works | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled rules | Apps blocked during set times or after limits | You can usually change the schedule mid-urge |
| Pause and friction | A delay, breathing screen or prompt before an app opens | Nothing is truly locked; it relies on the pause working |
| Hard lock | A block you cannot cancel until a condition is met | Can trap you if you genuinely need the app |
| Hardware | A physical device controls the block | Costs money up front; you can misplace the device |
| Focus session plus tasks | Blocking is tied to a task you are working on | Less useful if you only want raw screen-time limits |
Ask yourself honestly: do you need apps gone, or do you need a moment to decide? The first group of options is for the first answer, the second for the second.
Kohru: Focus Sessions Built From Your Tasks
Pure blockers answer the question "how do I use my phone less?". If your actual question is "how do I get this essay written?", a different design fits better, and that is where Kohru starts.
Instead of blocking on a clock, you turn a task into a focus session: pick something from your Work or Personal list, start the session, and Kohru blocks distracting apps and websites on your phone and laptop for as long as you work. A Chrome extension extends the same blocking into your browser.
Around the sessions, Kohru keeps smart to-do lists for planning, and tracks habits, focus time and completed tasks so you can see progress over the week. It is aimed at students and working students, and it is designed to support people with ADHD or other attention-regulation challenges, where starting the task is often the hard part, not just avoiding the phone.
Tradeoff: Kohru is not a pure screen-time dashboard. If your goal is strictly reducing overall phone usage with scores and reports, Opal or Jomo match that better. If your goal is finishing study sessions, the task-first mechanism fits.
Free Alternatives to Opal
These are the free alternatives to Opal that actually hold up, with an honest note on what "free" enforces and what it merely adds friction to.
ScreenZen
ScreenZen is completely free and donation-supported, with no subscription. Its website states it is available for iOS, macOS, Windows and Android, which is unusually broad coverage for a free blocker.
It mixes friction with real blocking. You can add a delay before a distracting app opens, show yourself a message like "Is this important?", set daily limits, and schedule blocks. Crucially, it also has a strict block mode for time ranges or after a number of opens, and locks on settings to stop you from loosening your own rules mid-urge.
Tradeoff: the friction tools only work if the pause genuinely changes your mind. If you tap through breathing screens on autopilot, use the strict block mode instead.
iOS Screen Time (built in)
Your iPhone already ships with a blocker: Screen Time, with app schedules, time allowances and content restrictions built into Settings. It costs nothing and needs no extra app.
The honest problem is bypass resistance. Loosening a Screen Time limit is a few taps away, so it works well when a parent sets the passcode, and poorly when you set it yourself. Use it as a baseline, not as your only defense.
If you want a fuller comparison of free tools and which ones hold, our guide to free screen time apps covers the enforcement-versus-friction question in more depth.
