# Brick vs Freedom

A $59 magnet against a subscription. One makes the undo physical, the other makes it synchronised — and they fail in completely different ways.

*Source: https://phonestop.app/compare/brick-vs-freedom · Last checked August 2026 · PhoneStop — A daily screen time budget that stops you. A free Android app, on Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.phonestop.*

## The short version

**Buy Brick if you have already defeated software.** If you have installed three
blockers and tapped through all three, the missing ingredient is not a better app, it is distance. Brick
puts your apps behind a physical puck, and if the puck is in a kitchen drawer, getting them back means
standing up.

**Subscribe to Freedom if the problem is spread across devices** and you would rather schedule it than
carry it. Freedom blocks on the laptop, the phone and the tablet from one session, which no piece of
hardware does.

The tie-breaker is honesty about your own failure mode. Brick's power evaporates the moment the puck is
in your pocket, and Freedom's evaporates the moment you decide a session was a bad idea. Pick the one
whose weakness you are least likely to exploit.

| | Brick | Freedom |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Platforms | iPhone and Android (needs recent OS versions) | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Chrome |
| Price | $59 one-time for the puck; the app is free | Subscription, with a lifetime option (around $100) |
| At the limit | Your chosen apps are gone until you physically tap the phone on the puck | Blocks the sites and apps on your list for the scheduled session |
| Warns before the limit | No | Session start and end notices |
| Enforcement | A passive NFC tag plus the OS blocking APIs | A local VPN profile to filter traffic, plus app blocking |
| Blocks individual apps | Yes — the apps disappear entirely while you are bricked | Yes — apps and websites, across your devices at once |
| Account needed | Yes | Yes |
| Data leaves the device | Account | Yes — account and cross-device sync |

## How each one stops you

Brick is a passive NFC tag and an app. You tap the phone on the puck to brick it,
your chosen apps disappear — icons, notifications, everything — and they stay gone until you tap the puck
again. There is no code, no timer to wait out and no in-app override, which is the entire design. It is
also a one-time $59 with no subscription.

Freedom is a scheduler with an account behind it. You build blocklists, you start a session or let one
start itself, and the block applies everywhere you are signed in. Locked Mode is the version that will
not let you end a session early. Nothing is physical, so nothing has to be carried, and nothing has to be
found again.

The real difference is where the undo lives: **in a drawer, or in your account.**

## Where Brick wins

- **The strongest friction available**, provided the puck is genuinely out of reach.
- **$59 once.** No renewal, ever.
- **Blocked apps vanish completely**, notifications included — not a grey icon with a timer on it.
- **Nothing to configure in the moment.** Tap on, tap off.
- **It works on both platforms**, and the tag itself has no battery.

## Where Freedom wins

- **It covers the laptop too**, which a phone puck cannot.
- **Nothing to carry, and nothing to lose.**
- **Schedules run themselves**, so it works on the evenings you forgot to plan for.
- **Far more granular**: per-site, per-app, per-device, per-time.
- **Locked Mode** gives you most of Brick's commitment without the object.

## Neither of them has an opinion about how much is enough

Look at what these two actually disagree about: **how hard the undo should be.** Brick
says put it in another room. Freedom says put it behind a subscription setting. It is a real argument and
both answers are defensible.

Now look at what neither of them says. Neither product will ever tell you that today was five hours.
Brick is binary — you are bricked or you are not — and Freedom is a schedule, which is a rule about
*when*, not about *how much*. You can use either one faithfully for a year, hit every session, and end
the year with exactly the screen time you started with, because the hours simply moved to the times and
apps that were not covered.

A budget is the other kind of tool. [PhoneStop](https://phonestop.app/) gives the whole phone one number for the day, every
app spends from it, and it counts down whether or not you planned anything. You get told at roughly
sixty, thirty and ten minutes left, inside whatever app you happen to be in, and at zero the screen is
taken over. Free, no account, no hardware.

It also pairs with either of these rather than replacing them: Brick for the evenings you want gone
entirely, a budget for the ordinary Tuesdays in between.

![A PhoneStop budget warning arriving on top of another app.](https://phonestop.app/assets/warning-dark-640.e3c6fb7e.webp)

*A warning notification at 30 minutes left*

![The PhoneStop over-limit takeover screen.](https://phonestop.app/assets/takeover-dark-640.c0f44075.webp)

*The full-screen stop, 57 minutes over budget*

*Disclosure: we make PhoneStop. 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, get stopped when it does. An iPhone version is coming soon. Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.phonestop · https://phonestop.app/

## Questions people ask

### Is Brick better than Freedom?

For a phone, and for someone who has already beaten software, yes. For anything involving a computer, no — Brick has no desktop story at all. They are not really competing for the same job.

### Is Brick a one-time cost?

Yes. The puck is around $59 and the app is free, with no subscription. That is the main financial argument against Freedom, which renews every year.

### Can I use Brick and Freedom together?

Yes, and some people do — Freedom handles the working day across devices, Brick handles the evening on the phone. They do not know about each other and do not conflict.

### What happens if I lose the Brick puck?

You can unbrick from the app, which is the escape hatch that keeps a lost puck from locking you out permanently. It is also the honest limit of the hardware idea.

## Keep reading

- [PhoneStop vs Brick](https://phonestop.app/vs/brick)
- [PhoneStop vs Freedom](https://phonestop.app/vs/freedom)
- [Why blocking one app does not lower your screen time](https://phonestop.app/why-blocking-apps-does-not-work)