PhoneStop vs Unpluq

A physical key for your distracting apps. The most deliberate unlock in the category, on a subscription.

Last checked August 2026 · Read this page as Markdown

The short version

Buy Unpluq if you have already proved that you will tap through any software prompt, and you want per-app control that Brick's all-or-nothing puck does not give you. It is the better tool for a specific, named set of apps you would like to make genuinely difficult. Install PhoneStop instead if you have not measured your week yet, or if your honest complaint is the total rather than three particular apps — it is free, and a number may be the only intervention you need.

How each app stops you

Unpluq and Brick share a thesis — make the undo physical — and split on granularity. Brick is all-or-nothing: bricked or not. Unpluq is fine-grained, with per-app rules, schedules and software barriers for when the tag is not to hand. If you want the hardware idea with real configuration behind it, Unpluq is the one that has it.

PhoneStop does not remove anything, so there is nothing to unlock and no key to carry. It assumes the common failure is not a decision you would defend but a session nobody ended, and it treats that with arithmetic: a budget, three warnings as it drains, and a full screen at zero with a lock button on it. Where Unpluq asks have you earned this app back, PhoneStop asks do you know how much of today is already gone.

Where Unpluq is the better choice

• The most deliberate unlock in software. Reaching for a tag is a real decision in a way that tapping through a dialog never is.
• Both platforms, with the tag doing the same job on each.
• Genuinely granular. Per-app rules and schedules, which the all-or-nothing hardware options do not offer.
• In-app barriers as a fallback — shake the phone, type a phrase — for when the tag is in the other room.
• A family plan, which makes the hardware cost per person much easier to justify.

Where PhoneStop is the better choice

• Free, with nothing to buy and nothing to carry.
• A whole-phone total, which no per-app blocker gives you.
• Warnings before you arrive, rather than a barrier at the door and silence in between.
• No account, and the Android app holds no internet permission, so your usage physically cannot leave.
• Nothing to lose down the back of a sofa.

What PhoneStop does at the limit

The whole product is three moments. Warnings arrive as the budget empties, inside whatever app you are in:

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.