Cold Turkey Blocker alternatives in 2026
Cold Turkey Blocker is the strictest blocker ever made, for desktops. It cannot touch your phone. Here is what to use instead, depending on why you are leaving.
Why people look for an alternative to Cold Turkey Blocker
Cold Turkey is not a bad product that people abandon. It is a very good product with one shape, and the reasons to look elsewhere are all about that shape.
- It does not run on a phone, and it is not going to. Cold Turkey is desktop software whose strength comes from sitting deep in Windows and macOS. That is exactly why it cannot exist on iOS or Android.
- Which is where the hours are now. If your laptop is under control and your evenings are not, no version of Cold Turkey addresses the problem you actually have.
- The lock is absolute. Frozen Turkey does not negotiate, does not accept a password, and survives a restart. That is the selling point and it is also the thing people discover they are not ready for.
- The free tier is websites only. Blocking applications and the scheduler are the paid half.
- It has no view on how much is too much. Cold Turkey enforces a rule you wrote. It never tells you that today was six hours.
| App | Platforms | Price | At the limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| PhoneStop | Android | Free | A full-screen stop, a reset, then a one-tap lock |
| Freedom | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Chrome | Subscription, with a lifetime option (around $100) | Blocks the sites and apps on your list for the scheduled session |
| AppBlock | Android, iPhone | Usable free tier; premium by month, year or a one-time payment | Blocks the profile's apps and sites, and Strict Mode refuses to be turned off |
| Brick | iPhone and Android (needs recent OS versions) | $59 one-time for the puck; the app is free | Your chosen apps are gone until you physically tap the phone on the puck |
| ScreenZen | iPhone, iPad, Android | Free, donation-supported | Shows a pause screen and can refuse the open once you pass your cap |
| Digital Wellbeing | Android (built in) | Free | The icon greys out and a Time's up screen appears — with a button to dismiss it for the day |
The alternatives
1. PhoneStop
Android · Free
The phone half of the job, free: one daily budget for everything, warnings on the way down, and a full-screen stop at zero.
2. Freedom
iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Chrome · Subscription, with a lifetime option (around $100)
The obvious cross-device answer. One subscription covers Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android with synced block sessions — weaker than Cold Turkey on the desktop, but it is on every device.
3. AppBlock
Android, iPhone · Usable free tier; premium by month, year or a one-time payment
The nearest thing to Frozen Turkey on Android, with a strict mode you cannot switch off once it starts.
4. Brick
iPhone and Android (needs recent OS versions) · $59 one-time for the puck; the app is free
Cold Turkey's philosophy in physical form: a puck you tap to unlock, and no software route around it.
5. ScreenZen
iPhone, iPad, Android · Free, donation-supported
Free and much softer — a pause before the app opens rather than a wall in front of it.
6. Digital Wellbeing
Android (built in) · Free
Already on your Android phone and free. Worth a week before you buy anything, if only to learn your real total.
PhoneStop vs Digital Wellbeing
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.
PhoneStop is a free Android app. Set a daily screen time budget, get warned before it runs out, and get stopped when it does.
Android. No account, no ads, no data leaves your phone. An iPhone version is coming soon.
Questions people ask
Is there a Cold Turkey for Android?
No, and the reason is structural rather than commercial. Android will not let an app make itself un-uninstallable, which is the property Frozen Turkey depends on. AppBlock's strict mode is the closest approximation, and it is still softer.
Is Cold Turkey's free version enough?
If your problem is a handful of websites during work, yes — the free tier blocks sites and costs nothing. The paid upgrade buys application blocking, the scheduler and Frozen Turkey.