ScreenZen vs Brick
One costs nothing and lives entirely in software. The other costs $59 and lives in your pocket, or better, in another room.
By Ruslan Shchuchkin, who built PhoneStop · · Read this page as Markdown
The short version
Start with ScreenZen, because it is free. A pause, a reason and a per-app cap, on iPhone and Android, with nothing to buy. For most people it is enough, and it costs nothing to find out.
Move to Brick if software never holds you. If you tap through every pause, the missing ingredient is distance, and a $59 puck in another room supplies it. Hardware is the honest next step after software has failed.
Try free first. Buy the puck only if you have proven you need it.
| ScreenZen | Brick | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Android | iPhone and Android (needs recent OS versions) |
| Price | Free, donation-supported | $59 one-time for the puck; the app is free |
| What it does when you hit the limit | Shows a pause screen and can refuse the open once you pass your cap | Your chosen apps are gone until you physically tap the phone on the puck |
| Warns you before the limit | Per-app, at the moment you open the app | No |
| How it enforces | Apple's Screen Time API; an accessibility service on Android | A passive NFC tag plus the OS blocking APIs |
| Blocks individual apps | Yes — a delay, an intention prompt and an open limit per app | Yes — the apps disappear entirely while you are bricked |
| Account needed | No | Yes |
| Data leaves the device | No | Account |
| Google Play rating | 4.7 stars (32.2K) | 4.9 stars (4.15K) |
How each one stops you
ScreenZen interrupts the open of each watched app and can refuse it past a cap, using the Screen Time API on iOS and an accessibility service on Android. Everything is software, so everything is, ultimately, a tap away.
Brick removes that last tap. Your apps are gone until you physically touch the phone to the puck, so the block lives in the physical world rather than in a settings screen. That is exactly why it holds when software does not, and exactly why it costs $59 and asks you to carry an object.
Where ScreenZen wins
- Free, with no hardware to buy.
- A considered per-app pause and cap.
- Nothing to carry or lose.
- iPhone and Android.
Where Brick wins
- The hardest block in the category, if you keep the puck away.
- No software tap can undo it, you need the object.
- $59 once, then nothing.
- It works when willpower and pauses have not.
Free pause or paid puck, both still fence off single apps
ScreenZen fences each app with a pause; Brick fences each app behind a puck. One is free and one is $59, but they share the same shape: you decide which apps to guard, and the phone stays open for the rest. The scroll simply relocates to the unguarded corner.
PhoneStop guards the whole phone with a single daily budget instead of guarding apps one at a time. It is free, it needs no puck, and it counts every app toward the same total, so there is no unguarded corner to relocate to. Android now, iPhone next.
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.
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. No account, no ads, no data leaves your phone. An iPhone version is coming soon.
Questions people ask
Should I buy Brick or use ScreenZen?
Use ScreenZen first, it is free and handles most people. Buy Brick only if you have shown that software pauses do not stop you, in which case the physical unlock is worth $59.
Is ScreenZen strong enough on its own?
For most people, yes: a pause plus a cap kills most autopilot opens. Heavy compulsion is where hardware like Brick, or a whole-phone stop like PhoneStop, earns its place.
Does Brick track screen time?
No. Brick blocks the apps you choose when it is engaged; it does not keep a daily total. Neither does ScreenZen. PhoneStop does.