Four apps that all block distracting apps on iPhone, compared on what actually separates them. Every number here is pulled from the App Store rather than from marketing copy, and totalled worldwide rather than from a single storefront.
If you want screen-time control and nothing else, on Mac as well as phone, pick Opal. If you need it on Windows, pick Freedom. If you want the pause-before-opening mechanic done best, pick one sec. If you want blocking and daily habit tracking in one app, pick Norte — that is the one thing the other three do not do, and at $11.99 a year it is also the cheapest of the four. All four are free to install and all four use Apple Screen Time on iOS, so the block itself is equally hard to bypass in every case.
| Feature | Norte | Opal | one sec | Freedom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks apps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Uses Apple Screen Time | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pause screen before opening | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tracks daily habits | Yes | No | No | No |
| Year-long consistency view | Yes | No | No | No |
| Platforms | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Android |
| Minimum iOS | 15.1 | 18.0 | 15.0 | 16.1 |
| On the App Store since | 2026 | 2020 | 2020 | 2018 |
| App Store rating (worldwide) | 5.0 (63) | 4.7 (226,152) | 4.8 (116,311) | 4.4 (12,929) |
| Free tier | Blocking and habit tracking work from day one | One rule, basic timers, app blocking | A breathing interruption for one app | Blocking, but no scheduling and sessions cap at 2 hours |
| Monthly | $1.99 | Not offered | €3.99 | $8.99 |
| Yearly | $11.99 | $99.99 | €14.99 | $39.96 ($3.33/mo) |
| One-time / lifetime | $22.99 | Not offered | €99.99 | $99.50 |
Ratings are worldwide totals, summed across every App Store storefront and weighted by count. Apple shows only your own storefront, so these will not match the number on your phone. Facts verified on 2026-09-20.
Prices are each vendor’s own published figure, in the currency they publish it in — one sec prices in euros, and converting would invent a number its FAQ does not state. Check the App Store before buying; regional prices differ. Norte: App Store Connect (live norte_pro_* products, US storefront) · Opal: opalapp.com pricing page · one sec: one-sec.app FAQ, “How much does one sec cost?” · Freedom: freedom.to/upgrade pricing page.
The newest and by far the smallest here — released in 2026, with 63 worldwide ratings. It is the only one that also tracks the daily habits you build with the reclaimed time and shows the year as a single map. iPhone only, iOS 15.1 and up.
The largest app here by a wide margin, on the App Store since 2020 with more than 226,000 worldwide ratings. Deep blocking toolkit, iPad support, and gamified mechanics that many people find motivating. Requires iOS 18. No habit tracking.
The app that popularised putting a breath between the impulse and the feed, with published research behind the approach. Runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Around 116,000 worldwide ratings. No habit tracking.
The cross-platform veteran: on the App Store since 2018, with a desktop product years older. One subscription blocks on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows and Android, and sessions sync between them. Locked Mode genuinely prevents quitting. $39.96 a year. 4.4 across roughly 12,900 worldwide ratings. No habit tracking.
It depends on what you want it to do. Opal is screen-time control on iPhone, Mac and Android, with the largest user base. Freedom reaches the most devices, including Windows. one sec does the pause-before-opening mechanic and stops there. Norte is the only one of the four that also tracks daily habits, and the cheapest, which matters if blocking alone has not worked for you.
All four use Apple’s Screen Time framework, the same system-level API behind parental controls, so iOS itself enforces the block. None of them can be bypassed by simply force-quitting. All of them let you override deliberately, because an app that truly locked your phone would be dangerous.
Of these four, only Norte. Opal, one sec and Freedom all measure and reduce screen use; none of them record whether you read, ran or slept early. If you want both, you would otherwise pair a blocker with a separate habit tracker.
All four are free to install and all four keep a free tier, though what it gets you varies a lot — Freedom caps free sessions at two hours, one sec’s free tier covers a single app. Paid, Norte is the cheapest by a clear margin: $11.99 a year against one sec’s €14.99, Freedom’s $39.96 and Opal’s $99.99. Norte’s $22.99 one-time unlock is also the cheapest way to own one outright, against €99.99 and $99.50.
Apple reports ratings per storefront, so you only ever see your own country’s. The figures here are summed across every storefront and weighted by count, which is why they are considerably higher than the number on your phone.
Block the apps that eat your hours, then watch the habits you build with them instead.
Get Norte on the App Store