Best Free App Blockers for iPhone in 2026 (What You Actually Get for Free)

Two iPhone app blockers are genuinely free with no meaningful paywall: Apple's built-in Screen Time and ScreenZen, which is donation-supported and doesn't sell a subscription at all. Everything else — Opal, one sec, Jomo, AppBlock, Freedom, and unhookd's own free plan — gives you a usable starter tier and then charges for the thing you probably came for: more than one rule, more than one app, or blocking that lasts longer than a day.

I checked every price and free-tier limit below on the developer's own pricing page or App Store listing on 16 September 2026. Prices move, and Apple shows different prices in different regions, so treat these as "at the time of writing" and tap through before you buy.

Quick comparison: what's free, and where the paywall starts

Now the detail, app by app — because "free" means five different things in that table.

Is Apple Screen Time enough? (the zero-cost baseline)

Start here before you download anything. Screen Time is free, already on your phone, and in iOS 27 it got a real upgrade: Settings → Screen Time → Screen Time Schedule now lets you build named time windows across the week (before work, during work, dinner, evening), and Time Allowances sets how long you get in categories like Social Media or Entertainment inside those windows. Apple's own documentation notes those two features need iOS 27 or later on all your devices.

What's good: it's free forever, it's system-level, it covers every app on the phone, and Always Allowed keeps Messages and your emergency contacts reachable no matter what.

What bites: you are both the warden and the prisoner. When a limit fires you get a screen with a button that lets you keep going, and the Screen Time passcode is one you set yourself — so at 11pm, tired, you'll enter it. That's the single most common complaint I hear, and it's why iPhone Screen Time limits often stop working in practice even though they work technically.

Free verdict: the best free option for tracking and for light scheduling. The weakest for anything you'll actually try to talk yourself out of. If you want the longer version of this trade-off, see Apple Screen Time vs third-party apps.

Is ScreenZen free? (yes — genuinely)

ScreenZen's homepage headline is literally "Less screen time. No subscription," and it describes itself as the only donation-supported screen time app that blocks distracting apps and websites. There's no Pro tier gating the good stuff. It runs on iPhone, Mac, Windows and Android.

What you get for nothing: a pause screen before a chosen app opens, a prompt you write yourself ("What are you seeking?"), a cap on how many times you can unlock an app per day, session timers that boot you out, and schedules. The company now sells a companion hardware device called halo, but the app itself stays free.

What bites: friction isn't a lock. The pause and the unlock count work brilliantly on autopilot reaching — the reflex grab at a red light — and much less well on a deliberate decision to scroll. There's no hard mode that a motivated you can't walk around, and reviewers regularly mention occasional blocking hiccups.

Free verdict: the best free app blocker for iPhone, full stop, if friction is enough for you. I've written a longer breakdown in ScreenZen Review 2026: Is Free Good Enough?.

What does unhookd's free plan include?

Full disclosure: I built unhookd, so read this section with that in mind. Here's the honest version of what free gets you, from our own pricing FAQ: up to 3 blocked apps, 2 Slots, and 5 Peeks per day.

The difference is the default. Every app on this page starts from the same place — your apps are open, and you go build rules to close them. unhookd starts the other way round: the distracting apps you choose are blocked by default, 24/7, from the moment you finish setup. You then schedule Slots — recurring windows when those apps become accessible, like Instagram on weekdays 6–7pm. Outside a Slot, tapping the icon gets you a block screen, not a feed.

If something genuinely comes up outside a Slot, you take a Peek: pick a duration (2, 5, 10 or 20 minutes), give a reason, and you're locked back out when it expires. Earn your Peek puts a short pause, breathing exercise or gratitude check in front of that door. Insights and your Unhookd Score — the share of your day spent outside Slots — show you when and why you reached.

What bites on free: 3 apps covers Instagram, TikTok and YouTube and nothing else, and 2 Slots is tight if you want a different weekday and weekend schedule. Pro lifts those ($2.99, $19.99 or $49.99 one-time). It's iPhone only — it's built on Apple's Screen Time API, so there's no Android or desktop version.

Free verdict: the free tier is a real product, not a countdown, as long as three apps is your whole problem. Which, for most people reading this, it is.

Is one sec free? (one app, forever)

one sec's own FAQ is refreshingly blunt: the free version lets you set up a breathing interruption for one app. Want more apps or the advanced customisations, and you're on one sec pro.

At the time of writing the App Store lists one sec pro at $2.99/month, $19.99/year, or $99.99 lifetime, with family plans at $4.99/month, $29.99/year and $149 lifetime.

What bites: one app is a strange place to draw the line, because the app you block is rarely the app you end up on. Block Instagram and you'll find yourself in TikTok. The free tier is best thought of as a working demo of whether a forced breath actually changes your behaviour.

Free verdict: worth a week to find out if friction works on you. If it does, $19.99/year is one of the cheaper paid tiers here — I went through the maths in One Sec Pricing: Is $20/Year Worth It?.

Are there apps like Opal but free?

Opal does have a free tier, and its pricing page spells it out: 1 Rule, app blocking, basic timers and soundscapes, and your Opal Score for today only. Pro adds unlimited rules, Hard Mode ("No way out. You can't turn Opal off"), Allow Only, advanced timers and Score history.

Pro pricing on opal.so at the time of writing: $8.29/month billed annually ($99.99/year), $19.99/month monthly, or $399 one-time. Students can apply for up to 50% off.

What bites: one rule is one schedule. Cover your mornings and your evenings are open; cover work and your evenings are open. And Hard Mode — the only thing stopping you from switching Opal off mid-scroll — sits entirely behind the paywall. That's the paywall doing exactly what a paywall is designed to do.

Free verdict: fine as a taste test. If "apps like Opal but free" is what you typed into Google, the honest answers are ScreenZen (free, friction-based) and unhookd's free tier (blocked by default, 3 apps). More options in 7 Best Opal Alternatives in 2026 and the $99/year breakdown.

Is Jomo free?

Jomo's pricing page lists a $0 Free Plan: 1 Session, 1 Action or Limit, 1 Screen Time Budget. Paid is $29.99/year with a 3-day trial, and the App Store listing shows $5.99/month and a $99.99 one-time purchase alongside it.

What bites: same shape as Opal's. One session, one limit. Jomo's strength is its reporting and its "unlock more time by completing an action" mechanic — and you'll hit the ceiling of the free tier within a day or two of actually using it.

Free verdict: the free plan is a preview. Treat the $29.99/year as the real price.

AppBlock: free vs Premium on iPhone

AppBlock publishes an unusually honest free-versus-premium table for iOS. On the free version you get:

• A limit of 2 schedules
• Blocking for 1 day only (time, location and usage-limit conditions)
• Usage limits of max 30 minutes
• Quick Block capped at 4 hours
• Strict Mode timer capped at 12 hours, with "Follow Schedules" and "Approval" access conditions unavailable, and no timer extension
• No allowlist, no backup, 3 Academy lectures

Premium removes all of that. AppBlock's own pricing page lists $29.99/year and $89.99 lifetime, with monthly around $4.99 on the App Store — though the US listing shows several regional yearly prices, so check what yours says.

What bites: the one-day blocking limit. You build a beautiful schedule, and tomorrow it's gone. That single restriction is what pushes most free users to pay.

Free verdict: usable for short focus sessions, frustrating for anything recurring. Full write-up: AppBlock Review 2026.

Is Freedom free?

Not really. Freedom's free tier is 7 sessions total — not seven per month, seven ever — after which you need Premium. At the time of writing that's $8.99/month, $39.99/year, or a $199 Forever plan that Freedom frequently discounts (their page showed $99.50 when I checked).

What bites: you'll spend your seven sessions learning the interface. Freedom's real selling point isn't the free tier anyway — it's syncing blocks across iPhone, Mac, Windows and browsers at the same time. If you only need your phone handled, you're paying for coverage you won't use. Numbers in full: Freedom App Pricing in 2026.

Free verdict: a trial, labelled as a free plan.

How to choose, in about thirty seconds

• You want $0 and you've never tried a blocker: turn on Screen Time Schedule in Settings first. It costs nothing and tells you whether your problem is scheduling or self-negotiation.
• Screen Time didn't stick and you still want $0: ScreenZen. Genuinely free, genuinely good, and the unlock-count feature does more work than people expect.
• Friction isn't enough and you keep overriding your own limits: the issue isn't your rules, it's that your apps are open by default and you're relying on a decision you make while already reaching for the phone. That's the gap unhookd's free tier fills for up to 3 apps.
• You want everything on one device family for one payment: compare lifetime tiers, not monthly ones. AppBlock ($89.99) and one sec ($99.99) are the cheapest of the lifetime options here; Opal's is $399.

Whatever you pick, the point isn't fewer minutes on a chart. It's using the thing on purpose instead of on autopilot.

FAQ

Is there a completely free app blocker for iPhone with no paywall?

Yes — two. Apple's built-in Screen Time costs nothing and covers every app on the device. ScreenZen is donation-supported with no subscription tier, so every feature is available without paying. Everything else in this guide is freemium and limits you by app count, rule count, or session length.

Is ScreenZen free forever, or will it start charging?

At the time of writing, ScreenZen's own site describes it as donation-supported with no subscription, and the App Store listing is free with the core features included. The company has since launched a paid hardware device called halo, but that's separate from the app. No developer can promise "forever," so check the listing before you commit your whole setup to it.

What's the best free alternative to Opal?

If you liked Opal's scheduling but not the $99.99/year, ScreenZen gives you schedules and pause screens for free, and unhookd's free plan gives you blocked-by-default coverage for up to 3 apps with 2 Slots and 5 Peeks a day. Neither replicates Opal's Hard Mode, which is a Pro-only feature on Opal's own pricing page.

Does unhookd have a free plan, and what are the limits?

Yes. unhookd is free to download, and the free tier includes blocking up to 3 apps, 2 Slots, and 5 Peeks per day, with the basic Earn your Peek pause. Pro raises those limits and unlocks the full friction options and Insights, at $2.99, $19.99, or $49.99 as a one-time purchase.

Can a free app blocker be bypassed?

All of them can, on iOS. Third-party blockers run on Apple's Screen Time API, which means deleting the app or changing settings is always physically possible. What a good blocker buys you isn't a prison — it's enough of a pause that the automatic reach becomes a conscious decision. That's the whole game.

Your phone was designed to hook you. The free tier of the right app is often enough to flip that. Your phone, on your terms.