# Opal vs Brick

Opal charges you every year to make a block hard to lift. Brick charges you once and makes the block a thing you have to walk to.

*Source: https://phonestop.app/compare/opal-vs-brick · Last checked September 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

**Choose Opal if you want flexibility and will pay yearly for it.** Schedules,
categories, Deep Focus, and detailed control, all in software, near $100 a year.

**Choose Brick if you have out-tapped software already.** If you have installed and defeated app-based
blockers, the fix is not another clever app; it is distance. A $59 puck left in another room turns an
impulsive unlock into a walk.

Software if you want control; hardware if you want a wall you cannot argue with from the sofa.

| | Opal | Brick |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Platforms | iPhone and iPad (an Android build exists but trails the iOS app) | iPhone and Android (needs recent OS versions) |
| Price | Free tier, subscription for the real features (around $100/year) | $59 one-time for the puck; the app is free |
| At the limit | Blocks the apps in your session; Deep Focus makes the block hard to lift | Your chosen apps are gone until you physically tap the phone on the puck |
| Warns before the limit | Session reminders, not a whole-day countdown | No |
| Enforcement | Apple's Screen Time API | A passive NFC tag plus the OS blocking APIs |
| Blocks individual apps | Yes — per app, per website, per category | Yes — the apps disappear entirely while you are bricked |
| Account needed | Yes | Yes |
| Data leaves the device | Yes — account and cloud sync | Account |
| Google Play rating | 4.5 stars (8.77K) | 4.9 stars (4.15K) |

*Google Play ratings verified September 2026.*

## How each one stops you

Opal is pure software on Apple's Screen Time API: build a session, block apps and
categories, and let Deep Focus raise the cost of quitting. Everything lives in the app, and everything in
the app can, in principle, be changed in the app.

Brick moves the off-switch out of the phone. Your apps stay gone until you physically tap the phone on
the puck, so the unlock is a physical act in physical space. That is a different kind of hard: not a
harder tap, but a walk to another room.

## Where Opal wins

- **Flexible**: schedules, categories, routines.
- **No object to carry or lose.**
- **Deep Focus** for a strong software block.
- **Richer control** for people who like to tune things.

## Where Brick wins

- **$59 once**, no subscription.
- **Physical distance** is the strongest deterrent there is.
- **Nothing to configure**, tap on, tap off.
- **It beats software** for people who defeat software.

## You are paying to make one app harder to reach

Opal and Brick answer the same question, how do I make the app harder to open, with a
subscription and a puck. But both still work app by app: you nominate what to block, and the phone stays
fully open for everything you did not nominate. The hours are slippery precisely because they move to
whatever is not on the list.

[PhoneStop](https://phonestop.app/) stops counting apps and starts counting time. One budget for the whole phone, draining as
you use it, with a stop when it is gone. No yearly fee, no object, no blocklist to keep guessing at. Free
on Android, iPhone coming, and it [cannot block a single app on purpose](https://phonestop.app/why-blocking-apps-does-not-work).

![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 September 2026 and change often, so 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

### Opal or Brick for phone addiction?

Brick, if software blockers have stopped working on you, the physical unlock is harder to cheat. Opal, if you want flexible, schedulable software and will pay the subscription.

### Is Brick a subscription?

No. Brick is $59 once for the puck, and the app is free. Opal's real features are a subscription near $100 a year.

### Does Opal need the phone to be a certain platform?

Opal is iPhone-first; its Android build trails. Brick works on both iPhone and Android with recent OS versions.

## Keep reading

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