Norte vs Opal
Pick Opal if screen-time control is all you want and you want it on your Mac and Android devices too. Pick Norte if you want the blocking to be half the product — Norte also tracks the daily habits you build with the time you reclaim, and shows the year as a single map. Both are free to install, both enforce blocks through Apple Screen Time, and Opal has roughly 3,500 times as many ratings because it launched five years earlier.
Side by side
| Feature | Norte | Opal |
|---|---|---|
| Blocks apps | Yes | Yes |
| Uses Apple Screen Time | Yes | Yes |
| Pause screen before opening | Yes | Yes |
| Tracks daily habits | Yes | No |
| Year-long consistency view | Yes | No |
| Platforms | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android |
| Minimum iOS | 15.1 | 18.0 |
| On the App Store since | 2026 | 2020 |
| App Store rating (worldwide) | 5.0 (63) | 4.7 (226,152) |
| Free tier | Blocking and habit tracking work from day one | One rule, basic timers, app blocking |
| Monthly | $1.99 | Not offered |
| Yearly | $11.99 | $99.99 |
| One-time / lifetime | $22.99 | Not offered |
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.
Where Opal is better
- Far more mature. Opal has been on the App Store since 2020 and carries more than 226,000 ratings worldwide against Norte’s 63. That is not a rounding error, it is a different scale of product.
- Runs on Mac and Android as well as iPhone and iPad. Norte is iPhone only, so it cannot help when the distraction is on a laptop.
- A deeper blocking toolkit, including session types and gamified streak mechanics that a lot of people genuinely enjoy.
- A much larger community, which in practice means more reviews, more guides and more people who can tell you whether it worked for them.
Where Norte is better
- Norte tracks habits. Opal tells you how long you spent on your phone; Norte asks what you did instead, and keeps score of that.
- The year map. Every day is one cell, darker for more habits kept, so consistency is visible at a glance rather than buried in weekly reports.
- Deliberately quiet. One streak flame, no confetti, no badges, no streak freezes to buy. If gamification is what put you off other blockers, this is the difference.
- A lower iOS floor: Norte runs on iOS 15.1, Opal requires iOS 18.
Pick Opal if
you want a screen-time app and nothing more, and you want it on your Mac as well as your phone.
Pick Norte if
blocking alone has not worked for you before, and you want the hours you win back to go somewhere you can see.
Questions people ask about this comparison
Is Norte a replacement for Opal?
For the blocking half, yes — both use Apple’s Screen Time framework, so iOS itself enforces the block in either case. The difference is what sits around it. Opal invests in the blocking experience; Norte spends that effort on habit tracking and the year view.
Which one is cheaper?
Norte, by a wide margin. Norte Pro is $1.99 monthly, $11.99 yearly or $22.99 once. Opal Pro is $99.99 a year — roughly eight times Norte’s annual price. Both are free to install and both have a free tier, so you can try either without paying. Regional prices differ; check your own App Store before buying.
Does Opal have habit tracking?
No. Opal is a screen time and focus app; it measures phone usage rather than the habits you are trying to build. That is the clearest functional difference between the two.
Norte has a 5.0 rating and Opal 4.7. Is Norte better?
No, and that comparison is misleading. Norte’s 5.0 comes from 63 ratings and Opal’s 4.7 from over 226,000. A handful of early ratings tells you almost nothing; a quarter of a million tells you a great deal.
Norte is free to try
Block the apps that eat your hours, then watch the habits you build with them instead.
Get Norte on the App Store