The short verdict. ScreenZen is one of the best free options on iPhone, and if it’s working for you, keep it. Choose ScreenZen if price matters most, you want deep customization, you use Android, Mac or Windows too, or you want to strip Reels and Shorts out of apps instead of blocking them. Choose Bricked if you want something simpler: one daily budget you can watch fill up, apps that lock solid when it runs out, and unlocks that get slower every time you take one. Bricked has a free plan too, so you can try both without paying.
Bricked vs ScreenZen at a glance
| ScreenZen (as of Nov 2026) | Bricked | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (US) | Free. Optional tips in the App Store, $5 to $40. No subscription | Free plan (up to 3 apps or categories, 1 schedule). Bricked+ $2.90/week, $39.90/year (7-day free trial) or $59.99 lifetime |
| How blocking works | A pause before an app opens, which can grow with each open. Limits on opens per day, daily time goals with optional blocking, schedules by day, time and app | A daily limit that fills a brick as you use your apps. When it’s full, Apple’s shield covers them until midnight. Schedules and Slide to brick focus sessions |
| How you get back in | Wait out the pause, then a timed visit for a length you choose | 5-minute peeks only. Bricked+: press and hold, 3 s rising to 60 s. Free: a wait, none rising to 5 min |
| Strictness | Lock mode against common loopholes, can prevent uninstalling. Lock settings until a set time, with an optional accountability partner | Friction, not a prison. Strict mode removes early exit from focus sessions. You can raise your limit or delete the app |
| Inside apps | Minimal mode for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Reddit without Reels, Shorts or endless feeds | Whole apps or categories only |
| Privacy | App Store label: usage and diagnostics data, not linked to you | No account, no ads, no third-party trackers. Limits, schedules and stats stay on your iPhone |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad and Mac (App Store); the site also lists Android and Windows | iPhone only, iOS 17+ |
Facts come from ScreenZen’s site and App Store listing. We haven’t tested ScreenZen hands-on.
What ScreenZen does well
It’s hard to argue with free. ScreenZen’s own FAQ answers “Do I need to pay?” with “No. ScreenZen is completely free,” and the App Store purchases are labelled as tips. For a lot of people, that’s the end of the comparison.
It’s also unusually deep. Based on its App Store listing, you can set a pause that gets longer each time, cap how many times a day you open an app, add custom messages like “Is this important?”, swap in a replacement app such as Duolingo or Kindle, set different schedules for different days, and lock your settings until a chosen time. Version 4.0 added an accountability partner who can unlock settings for you, and a minimal mode that strips Reels, Shorts and endless feeds from four big apps.
ScreenZen also sells halo, a companion device you place in a room. Its listing describes a “scroll zone” where apps unlock only in that one place.
How Bricked is different
Bricked is deliberately narrower. Instead of lots of dials, it has one main idea: a daily limit you can see.
Pick your apps in Apple’s picker and choose, say, 60 minutes. As you use them, a glass brick on Bricked’s Home screen fills with clay: “22 MIN LEFT”. When it’s full, the apps turn to brick until midnight. Schedules lock them at bedtime or during work hours even if you still have minutes left.
Getting back in is where Bricked is strictest:
- Every unlock is a 5-minute peek. Then the brick comes back on its own. There’s no “for the rest of the day” option.
- On Bricked+, you press and hold. 3 seconds the first time, then 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60.
- On the free plan, you wait. No wait the first time, then 30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes and 5 minutes.
- Unlocks cost something. The sixth unlock of the day resets the brick tier you’re working toward.
Where ScreenZen is the better choice
We’d point you to ScreenZen if:
- You don’t want to pay anything. ScreenZen’s features are free. Bricked’s free plan stops at 3 apps or categories and 1 schedule.
- You want to keep Instagram but lose Reels. ScreenZen’s minimal mode does that. Bricked can only block the whole app.
- You use other devices. ScreenZen lists iOS, macOS, Windows and Android. Bricked is iPhone only.
- You want the app to resist deletion. ScreenZen says it can prevent uninstalling. Bricked doesn’t.
- You like to fine-tune. Open limits, per-day schedules, custom pause screens, replacement apps. ScreenZen has more settings than Bricked.
When Bricked is worth paying for
Paying for an app blocker when a free one exists only makes sense if the paid one changes your behavior more. Bricked+ might, if:
- The pause has become a habit. If you sit through every wait on autopilot, a limit that ends in a solid lock is a different kind of barrier.
- Too many settings is part of the problem. When it’s easy to edit a schedule or open limit at 11 p.m., a single daily budget gives you less to fiddle with.
- You want a hard stop for focus. Slide to brick locks apps for 25 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours or until tonight. With strict mode on, there’s no early exit at all.
- Seeing progress keeps you going. The filling brick, a day streak, weekly stats and brick tiers you earn with scroll-free time, from Clay to Diamond.
- You want no account at all. Bricked has no sign-up. Your limits, schedules and stats stay on your iPhone. See privacy.
For scale: $39.90 a year works out to about $3.33 a month in the US, and there’s a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. Full details are on the pricing page.
The fair way to decide
Try the free route first. Install ScreenZen, or Bricked’s free plan, for two weeks and compare your Screen Time report before and after. If one of them brings the number down and keeps it down, you’re done.
If you keep tapping past whatever you set, look at the unlock itself. A one-tap way out fails at the moment you’re weakest. That’s the idea behind Bricked’s hold, and why we compare it with Apple Screen Time and one sec on the same terms.