BePresent alternatives in 2026

BePresent is duolingo for screen time: streaks, XP, leaderboards, and friends who are told when you fail. Here is what to use instead, depending on why you are leaving.

Last checked August 2026 · Read this page as Markdown

Why people look for an alternative to BePresent

BePresent is unusually well made and it genuinely works for the people it suits. The complaints cluster in four places.

• The price, and the trial. It is roughly $60 a year, and the seven-day trial charges automatically. A large share of the negative reviews are from people who meant to cancel.
• The social half needs other people to pay. Accountability partners, group sessions and leaderboards are the reason to choose BePresent over its rivals, and they are worth very little on your own — so the real cost is a subscription multiplied by however many friends you can recruit.
• It fights fire with fire, and some people do not want the fire. Streaks, XP and a ranking are the exact mechanics of the apps you are trying to use less. Pointed at a better goal, they are the same loop, and for some people the last thing they need is one more score to protect.
• It is session-shaped. You schedule a present session and it holds. It has nothing prepared for the unplanned Tuesday that quietly becomes three hours.

The alternatives

1. PhoneStop

Android · Free

The opposite bet, free: no streak, no score, nobody watching — one budget for the whole phone, three warnings as it drains, and a full-screen stop at zero.

2. Forest

iPhone, iPad, Android, browser extension · One-time purchase on iOS; free with in-app purchases on Android

If the gamification was the part that worked, Forest is the original and the gentlest version of it — grow a tree, and it dies if you leave.

PhoneStop vs Forest

3. Opal

iPhone and iPad (an Android build exists but trails the iOS app) · Free tier, subscription for the real features (around $100/year)

The polished iPhone rival without the social layer. Similar price, Deep Focus instead of a leaderboard.

PhoneStop vs Opal

4. Jomo

iPhone and iPad · Subscription, with a one-time lifetime option

The deepest iPhone option, with a one-time purchase available if the recurring charge is the objection.

PhoneStop vs Jomo

5. ScreenZen

iPhone, iPad, Android · Free, donation-supported

Free on both platforms, and covers the everyday blocking half with no subscription at all.

PhoneStop vs ScreenZen

6. one sec

iPhone, iPad, Android, browser extension · Free for one app; subscription to go further (around $50/year)

Cheaper and much simpler: a breath before the app opens, with real published evidence behind it.

PhoneStop vs one sec

Disclosure: we make PhoneStop, so treat our own entry with the scepticism it deserves. Everything else here is written from public information and hands-on use; prices and platforms were checked in August 2026 and change often — check the vendor before you pay.