PhoneStop vs Opal
The polished iPhone focus-session app: block lists, schedules, scores and a subscription.
The short version
Pick Opal if you are on an iPhone, you know which apps are the problem, and you will pay a subscription for a block you cannot argue with. Pick PhoneStop if you are on Android, your problem is total time rather than one app, and you want the intervention to arrive without you having to plan for it.
| PhoneStop | Opal | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Android | iPhone and iPad (an Android build exists but trails the iOS app) |
| Price | Free | Free tier, subscription for the real features (around $100/year) |
| What it does when you hit the limit | Full-screen stop, then a reset and a one-tap lock | Blocks the apps in your session; Deep Focus makes the block hard to lift |
| Warns you before the limit | Yes — at roughly 60, 30 and 10 minutes left | Session reminders, not a whole-day countdown |
| How it enforces | Foreground service and a display-over-apps overlay | Apple's Screen Time API |
| Blocks individual apps | No — it budgets your whole screen time | Yes — per app, per website, per category |
| Account needed | No | Yes |
| Data leaves the phone | No — the app holds no internet permission | Yes — account and cloud sync |
How each app stops you
Opal blocks. You pick apps, you start a session or let a schedule start one, and those apps stop opening until the session ends. Deep Focus removes the escape hatch, which is the paid feature that actually changes behaviour.
PhoneStop does not block anything. It counts. You get a budget for the day, every app spends from it, and when the budget is gone the phone puts a full screen in front of you asking you to stop. Nothing is ever locked, so nothing has to be unlocked — which means there is no lock to defeat and no reason to uninstall the app on a bad evening.
Where Opal is the better choice
- It is the more finished product. Onboarding, charts, session presets — Opal is a real company's app and it shows.
- Per-app control. If your problem is one app rather than the phone, Opal blocks that one app and leaves the rest alone. PhoneStop cannot do that.
- Deep Focus is genuinely hard to bypass. For people who cheat on themselves, that matters.
- iPhone. PhoneStop has no iPhone version at all.
Where PhoneStop is the better choice
- It is free, with nothing behind a paywall.
- It works without you deciding anything. No session to start; the budget runs from the moment you wake up.
- It reaches you inside the app you are in. Warnings land at 60, 30 and 10 minutes left, on top of whatever you are scrolling.
- Nothing leaves the phone. No account, and the Android app does not hold the internet permission, so it physically cannot send your usage anywhere.
What PhoneStop does at the limit
The whole product is three moments. Warnings arrive as the budget empties, inside whatever app you are in:
PhoneStop
30 minutes left
Half an hour of budget to go. A good moment to pick where it goes.
PAUSE
PhoneStop
Time's up
You are out of budget for today. Take a minute, then lock the phone.
PAUSE
Then, at zero, the screen is taken over: a fifteen-second breath or twenty squats, and a button that locks the phone. If you genuinely need it, one tap extends the window and says so honestly, because an intervention you cannot escape is one you uninstall.
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.
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. Coming to Google Play — no account, no ads, no data leaves your phone.
Questions people ask
Is Opal available on Android?
Opal is designed around Apple's Screen Time API, and the iPhone app is the product the reviews describe. An Android build has existed, but it has never matched the iOS feature set. If you are on Android, judge it on its own Play listing rather than on an iPhone review.
Is there a free alternative to Opal?
Yes — several. ScreenZen is free and donation-supported, Android's Digital Wellbeing is already on your phone, and PhoneStop is free with no paid tier. See Opal alternatives.
Can PhoneStop block individual apps like Opal does?
No, and that is deliberate. PhoneStop budgets your whole screen time instead of policing a blocklist, because the apps people lose hours to are rarely the ones they put on the list.