PhoneStop vs ScreenZen
The best free app in the category. A pause, a reason and a cap, per app, on both platforms.
The short version
If you know exactly which three apps cost you your evenings, ScreenZen is excellent and free and you should use it. If you have tried that and simply drifted to a fourth app, you need a number for the whole phone, and that is PhoneStop.
| PhoneStop | ScreenZen | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Android | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| Price | Free | Free, donation-supported |
| What it does when you hit the limit | Full-screen stop, then a reset and a one-tap lock | Shows a pause screen and can refuse the open once you pass your cap |
| Warns you before the limit | Yes — at roughly 60, 30 and 10 minutes left | Per-app, at the moment you open the app |
| How it enforces | Foreground service and a display-over-apps overlay | Apple's Screen Time API; an accessibility service on Android |
| Blocks individual apps | No — it budgets your whole screen time | Yes — a delay, an intention prompt and an open limit per app |
| Account needed | No | No |
| Data leaves the phone | No — the app holds no internet permission | No |
How each app stops you
ScreenZen and PhoneStop share a philosophy — interrupt, never imprison — and split on scope. ScreenZen guards the doors of individual apps: a delay, a question about why you are here, and a limit on the number of opens.
PhoneStop ignores which app you are in. It has one number for the day, it warns you as that number gets small, and it takes the screen over when it hits zero. If you have ever hit an app limit and simply moved to a different app, that difference is the whole point.
Where ScreenZen is the better choice
- Free, on both platforms, with no paid tier waiting.
- Per-app control with a genuinely good pause screen.
- It is on iPhone.
- Open limits ("you may open this four times today") are a smarter unit than minutes for some habits.
Where PhoneStop is the better choice
- One budget, whole phone. Nothing escapes it by not being on a list.
- Escalating warnings at 60, 30 and 10 minutes left, so the ending is never a surprise.
- A real ending. A full-screen stop, a physical reset, then a one-tap lock.
- No accessibility service, which matters on phones that kill background services.
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 ScreenZen really free?
Yes. It is donation-supported with no paid tier gating the core features, which makes it the strongest free option in the category as of August 2026.
ScreenZen or PhoneStop?
ScreenZen if your problem is a short list of named apps. PhoneStop if your problem is total time and the list keeps growing.
Can I run both?
Yes. They use different Android permissions and do not conflict — ScreenZen guards the app opens, PhoneStop counts the day.