one sec alternatives in 2026
one sec is a breath before the app opens. The purest friction app, and the one with the best evidence behind it. Here is what to use instead, depending on why you are leaving.
Why people look for an alternative to one sec
one sec is a good app with one honest limitation: it acts at the door, not during the visit.
- It interrupts the opening, not the hour. Breathe, tap through, and you can still lose ninety minutes. The friction is at minute zero, when you still have willpower.
- The free tier is one app. Most people have three or four problems, not one.
- Setup on iPhone is fiddly. Shortcuts automations work, but you build one per app and they can break.
- On Android it wants an accessibility service, which is a heavy permission that some people will not grant and some phones aggressively kill.
| App | Platforms | Price | At the limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| PhoneStop | Android | Free | A full-screen stop, a reset, then a one-tap lock |
| ScreenZen | iPhone, iPad, Android | Free, donation-supported | Shows a pause screen and can refuse the open once you pass your cap |
| Opal | iPhone and iPad (an Android build exists but trails the iOS app) | Free tier, subscription for the real features (around $100/year) | Blocks the apps in your session; Deep Focus makes the block hard to lift |
| 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 |
| Forest | iPhone, iPad, Android, browser extension | One-time purchase on iOS; free with in-app purchases on Android | Nothing — the tree dies if you leave your focus session |
| 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
Free and Android-only. Instead of a pause at the door it gives the whole day a budget, then takes the screen over when the budget is gone.
2. ScreenZen
iPhone, iPad, Android · Free, donation-supported
The closest free like-for-like: a delay screen before the app opens, plus a cap on how many times you may open it.
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 paid, polished iPhone answer. Sessions and hard blocks rather than a breath.
4. AppBlock
Android, iPhone · Usable free tier; premium by month, year or a one-time payment
For Android users who tried friction, tapped through it every time, and now want a block with a strict mode.
5. Forest
iPhone, iPad, Android, browser extension · One-time purchase on iOS; free with in-app purchases on Android
Friction turned into a reward instead of a delay — plant a tree, leave the app, kill the tree.
6. Digital Wellbeing
Android (built in) · Free
Free, built into Android, and its app timers cover the same ground badly but at no cost.
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. Coming to Google Play — no account, no ads, no data leaves your phone.
Questions people ask
Is there a free app like one sec?
ScreenZen is the closest free equivalent: a delay screen before the app opens plus a cap on daily opens, on both platforms, with no paid tier. PhoneStop is also free but works on the session rather than the opening.
Does anything do the one sec pause without an accessibility service?
Not on Android, because detecting an app launch is what the accessibility service is for. Tools that avoid it — PhoneStop included — work from total screen time instead, which needs only usage access and an overlay.