iPhone app blockers compared

Every app blocker on the iPhone is fighting the same battle. You set a limit when you're feeling strong, then you switch it off when you're not. Feature lists don't tell you much about how each app handles that moment. What matters is what's standing between you and the unlock button when you want to press it.

Some blockers put an object in the way. To end a session you have to get up and go to wherever the QR code or NFC tag lives, and often the walk is long enough for the urge to pass. That's good against impulse. Some blockers put a person in the way. To end a session you have to ask someone and wait for a yes. That's good against determination, or at least it makes giving up cost something. Most blockers do neither. They rely on a PIN you know, a timer you set, or a button that says something like "I really need this".

This page shows which apps do what, with prices, so you can pick the one that matches how you actually cheat. We checked everything in the table against each vendor's own site on 4 September 2026. Where we couldn't verify a price, the table says so rather than guessing. If you spot something that's changed, email support@indistractable.co.uk and we'll fix it.

Which should you actually use

Sorted by what you're trying to do, not by what we sell.

You want a free blocker you control yourself

Use Foqos. It's free, open source, and there's no account, no ads and no subscription. Its NFC and QR unlocking is as good as anyone's, including ours, and it also does timers, website blocking, profiles and habit tracking. The only money involved is an optional $1.99 tip to the developer. If there's nobody in your life who's going to hold a key for you, there's no reason to pay for a blocker. We've written up the differences in Indistractable vs Foqos.

You want hardware, and you like objects

Brick is $59 once, no subscription. Tap the battery-free puck to block, tap it again to unblock, and the app keeps five emergency unbricks for when the puck is somewhere else. It's the same physical-key idea as an NFC tag, in a nice object you'll actually leave on the shelf. Brick alternatives for iPhone looks at what each option does at the moment you want to break the block.

You want analytics and coaching

Opal is better than any blocker on this page at showing you where the hours go, with a score, reports and coaching on top of the blocking. It's also the most expensive. The free tier is limited to one rule. Pro is $19.99 a month, $99.99 a year or $399 for life, and there's a Teams tier priced on request. No partner approval.

You want to open apps less, rather than block them

If your problem is opening Instagram forty times a day without meaning to, rather than deliberately breaking a block, one sec is aimed at exactly that. It puts a breathing pause in front of the app so opening it becomes a decision again, and it can also hard-block apps during a session. It cites a peer-reviewed study (Grüning et al. 2023 in PNAS, linked to the Max Planck Institute) reporting 57% fewer app openings. The essentials are free, and Pro is £19.99 a year on the UK App Store. Its site doesn't publish a price, so check the App Store for your region.

You want someone else to hold the key

Four iOS blockers let another person hold the key: Impulse, LockPact, AppBlock and Indistractable. They're not the same product with different logos, and the differences are worth knowing.

• LockPact does partner approval and nothing else. You pair with a 6-digit code, and after that only your partner can approve an unlock. You both need an iPhone with the app. Pairing, locking, bypass detection and unlock requests are free. If a person is all you want, this is the obvious choice.
• AppBlock has Approval Access as part of its Premium plan. Your partner gets an email and approves with a click. It works on iOS and Android, alongside self-imposed locks like a PIN, a charger, a timer or a cooldown. We couldn't find a QR or NFC unlock on either platform. We couldn't verify Premium pricing either, so check their site.
• Impulse has both a partner code and a physical Disc or NFC tag, but as alternative strictness levels. For each blocking profile you pick one or the other. The core app is free. Pro pricing isn't shown on the page we checked, so see their site.
• Indistractable has QR, NFC and partner approval, and in Hardcore mode a session can't end without your partner's approval first and a physical unlock after it. $4.99 a month or $19.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial.

So: if you only want a person, LockPact is free. If you want to choose between a person and an object, Impulse. If you want one session to need both at once, Indistractable is the only one we've found that does it. App blockers where someone else holds the key goes through all four properly.

The ceiling every iOS blocker shares

Every app on this page, ours included, is built on Apple's Screen Time API. It lets an app put a shield over other apps and decide when to lift it. That's all. It can't stop you deleting the app, and it can't stop you switching off its Screen Time permission in Settings. Do either and every block disappears. Apple built it that way on purpose, and no blocker can change it. So every iOS blocker is, in the end, advisory. The question isn't which one is unbreakable, because none of them are. It's how you break them.

If you break them on impulse, thumb moving before the thought does, an object is enough. The thirty seconds it takes to fetch the tag is long enough for the thought to catch up. Foqos, Brick, an NFC tag: any of them will do, and the free one is fine. If you break them on purpose, having decided you're going to and ready to delete the app if that's what it takes, no object will stop you. You can walk to the object. The only thing that changes the sums is another person knowing. They can't stop you deleting the app either. What they change is what getting round the block feels like. It's not a tap any more. It's asking someone, hearing no, and doing it anyway. That's a very different thing to do, and it's the whole reason a social layer exists.

It's the honest limit of Indistractable too. Hardcore mode makes a session as hard to end as Apple's API allows, which means a person has to agree and then you have to go and get the key. Beyond that, the phone is yours. Every mode also keeps two emergency unlocks a month that skip all of it, because a blocker you can't get out of is a jail, not a tool.

Indistractable is free to download from the App Store, with a 7-day trial before it costs $4.99 a month or $19.99 a year. It needs iOS 18.

More comparisons

• Indistractable vs FoqosFree, open source, and just as good at QR and NFC. When to use which.
• Brick alternatives for iPhoneWhat each option actually stops, and what two years costs.
• App blockers where someone else holds the keyImpulse, LockPact, AppBlock and Indistractable, each on its own terms.