The best free screen time apps in 2026

"Free" in this category usually means a trial, an ad, or a free tier that covers a single app. These six are the exceptions.

Last checked August 2026 · Read this page as Markdown

This category has a pricing problem. A timer that shows you a number and greys out an icon is, at bottom, a small piece of software, and quite a lot of it is sold for $100 a year. There are good arguments for paying — someone has to maintain the thing — but you should not have to pay to find out whether the idea works for you.

Everything below is usable indefinitely without paying. Where there is a paid tier, we say what it holds back.

How we judged them

• Free forever, not a trial.
• The free tier has to do the actual job — one app is not enough.
• No ads inside the intervention. An advert on the screen telling you to stop looking at screens is a contradiction we ruled out.
• No account required, wherever possible.

The list

1. Digital Wellbeing — Costing nothing and being here already

Android (built in) · Free

Free, part of Android, no install. Weekly reports, app timers and bedtime mode. Its weakness is famous — the Time's up screen offers to remove your timer for the day — but as a free instrument for finding out the truth about your week it is unbeatable.

Good: Nothing to install or trust.

Less good: One tap dismisses the limit.

Read the full PhoneStop vs Digital Wellbeing comparison

2. ScreenZen — The best free app in the category

iPhone, iPad, Android · Free, donation-supported

Donation-supported with no paid tier holding features hostage. A pause screen before the app opens, an intention prompt, and a limit on daily opens — on both Android and iPhone.

Good: Genuinely free, genuinely good, on both platforms.

Less good: Per app, and the Android version wants an accessibility service.

Read the full PhoneStop vs ScreenZen comparison

3. PhoneStop — A free whole-phone budget

Android · Free

Free with no paid tier and no ads. One budget for the day, escalating warnings inside other apps, and a full-screen stop at zero with a reset and a one-tap lock. No account, and the Android build does not hold the internet permission.

Good: Nothing paid, nothing collected, nothing to configure.

Less good: Android only, and it will not block a specific app.

4. StayFree — Free tracking with real depth

Android, iPhone, Chrome · Free with a premium tier

The free tier gives you per-app, per-day and per-week usage that is far more detailed than the built-in reports, plus basic limits.

Good: The best free numbers on Android.

Less good: Ads and a premium tier; blocking is soft.

Read the full PhoneStop vs StayFree comparison

5. Forest — Free focus sessions on Android

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

Free on Android with in-app purchases (it is a paid app on iPhone). Plant a tree, stay off the phone for the session, keep the tree.

Good: Free where most people need it, and pleasant enough to keep using.

Less good: Only guards sessions you start yourself.

Read the full PhoneStop vs Forest comparison

6. Apple Screen Time — iPhone, free, already there

iPhone, iPad, Mac (built in) · Free

The iPhone equivalent of starting with Digital Wellbeing: app limits, categories, Downtime, and a five-minute warning before the block. Then an Ignore Limit button.

Good: Free, deeply integrated, and the category system is better than any third-party list.

Less good: Ignore Limit is right there.

The verdict

Start with the free thing already on your phone — Digital Wellbeing or Apple Screen Time — for one week, purely to get an honest number. Then add ScreenZen if a few named apps are the problem, or PhoneStop on Android if the total is the problem. None of that costs anything, and if it works you have saved yourself a $100 subscription.

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.