# PhoneStop vs Opal

The polished iPhone focus-session app: block lists, schedules, scores and a subscription.

*Source: https://phonestop.app/vs/opal · Last checked August 2026 · PhoneStop — A daily screen time budget that stops you. A free Android app.*

## 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) |
| At 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 before the limit | Yes — 60, 30 and 10 minutes left | Session reminders, not a whole-day countdown |
| Enforcement | Foreground service + display-over-apps overlay | Apple's Screen Time API |
| Blocks individual apps | No — whole-phone budget | Yes — per app, per website, per category |
| Account needed | No | Yes |
| Data leaves the phone | No | 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.

![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-640.411574cd.webp)

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

## 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. 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. https://phonestop.app/

## 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](https://phonestop.app/alternatives/opal).

### 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.

## Keep reading

- [Opal alternatives](https://phonestop.app/alternatives/opal)
- [Why blocking one app does not lower your screen time](https://phonestop.app/why-blocking-apps-does-not-work)
- [Every PhoneStop comparison](https://phonestop.app/compare)