Hardcore Focus is an iPhone app blocker that uses Apple’s native Screen Time (Family Controls) API — the same framework parental controls use. It does not install a VPN, does not proxy your traffic, and does not require a Hardcore Focus account.
How does Shield block apps?
You pick apps or categories. Shield can run:
- During a focus session — on when the Focus dial is running
- On a schedule — work hours, evenings, weekends
- Always on — until you change the rule
If you open a blocked app, iOS shows the Shield screen instead of the app. Apple caps a Screen Time blocker at 100 apps at once.
Screen Time vs a VPN blocker
Most iPhone blockers (Hardcore Focus, Opal, Jomo, ScreenZen, Brick’s software layer) ride on Family Controls. Freedom is the common exception: an on-device local VPN filter, useful if you also need a laptop.
Native Screen Time blocking never routes traffic through someone else’s servers. That is the privacy reason to prefer it if you only need iPhone.
More detail: Screen Time API vs VPN app blockers.
Bypass modes
Because you granted the permission, Settings → Screen Time can still turn it off. Inside the app there are two unlock styles:
| Mode | What happens if you try to open a blocked app |
|---|---|
| No Bypass | Locked is locked for the session or schedule |
| 15-minute bypass | A true timed unlock, then the shield comes back |
There is no AI negotiation mode. A 15-minute bypass empties the block list for the break and re-applies it when the timer ends.
Honest write-up: Can you bypass iPhone app blockers?.
What it is not
- Not a parental-control dashboard. There is no remote parent view and no account.
- Not a Mac or Android app. iPhone + Apple Watch; iPad runs the iPhone app.
- Not a task manager or calendar. Focus, Habits, Shield — that’s the app.
- Not a free tier. A subscription unlocks the full app ($3.99/wk, $8.99/mo, $49.99/yr with a 7-day annual trial).