one sec vs ScreenZen

Both put a moment between you and the app. one sec has the research and the polish; ScreenZen does nearly the same thing for nothing.

By Ruslan Shchuchkin, who built PhoneStop · Last checked September 2026 · Read this page as Markdown

The short version

Choose one sec if the breath is the whole point. Its enforced pause before an app opens is the most studied intervention in this category, and it is beautifully done. Going past one app costs a subscription, around $50 a year.

Choose ScreenZen if you want the same idea for free. It also pauses you, asks for a reason, and can refuse the open after a cap, across as many apps as you like, on iPhone and Android, donation-supported.

If money were no object it would be close. It is not, and ScreenZen does most of what one sec does for zero.

How each one stops you

one sec triggers a mandatory pause the moment you open a watched app, a breath, a short wait, a chance to change your mind, and can stop the open after a count you set. On iOS it runs through Shortcuts automations; on Android through an accessibility service.

ScreenZen works the same seam: a pause screen, an intention prompt, and an open limit per app. It leans on Apple's Screen Time API on iOS and an accessibility service on Android. The mechanics are close enough that the real question is the price and the polish, not the method.

Where one sec wins

• The evidence. one sec's pause has actual published research behind it.
• The craft. The interruption is the most refined in the category.
• A browser extension, so the desktop is covered too.

Where ScreenZen wins

• It is free, where one sec charges ~$50/year past the first app.
• Every app, not one, without paying to unlock more.
• A firm cap, not only a breath, it can refuse the open.
• No account. Nothing leaves the device.

A pause per app still needs you to name the apps

one sec and ScreenZen both interrupt you app by app. That means the protection only covers the apps you thought to add, and the habit is free to walk to the one you did not. You breathe before Instagram, then open the browser instead, and neither app says a word.

The number that cannot be walked around is the total. PhoneStop budgets your whole phone at once, so the ten minutes you saved by breathing before one app are not quietly spent inside another. It is free on Android, with iPhone coming, and it pauses the whole day rather than each icon. See why blocking one app does not lower your screen time.

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 September 2026 and change often, so check the vendor before you pay.