Short answer: the best Opal alternatives in 2026 are Hardcore Focus (stricter, most private, no account), Jomo (Opal-style features at about a third of the price), ScreenZen (free), Brick (hardware-level blocking), and Freedom (blocks your computer too). Which one fits depends on whether you’re leaving Opal over price, strictness, or privacy.

Opal is a well-made screen-time app, but people look for alternatives for three recurring reasons: its strongest blocking (“Deep Focus”) sits behind a ~$99.99/year Pro plan, some users find the blocking easier to bypass than they’d like, and others simply want something less like a dashboard and more like a wall. Here are seven honest alternatives.

Quick comparison

App Best for Strictness Price (USD, Jul 2026)
Hardcore Focus Focus sessions + Shield, no account High — No Bypass or 15-min $3.99/wk · $8.99/mo · $49.99/yr
Jomo Opal-like features, cheaper High — Strict Mode Free · $29.99/yr · $99.99 lifetime
ScreenZen A free replacement Low–medium Free
Brick Physical, unbeatable blocking Highest $59 one-time device
Freedom Blocking across phone + laptop Medium $8.99/mo · $39.99/yr · ~$99.50 lifetime
one sec A gentle nudge instead of a wall Low (by design) Free (1 app) · ~$19/yr
Forest Motivation / gamification Low $3.99 one-time

Prices change often — confirm on the App Store before buying.

1. Hardcore Focus — the strict, no-excuses alternative

If you’re leaving Opal because you wanted a wall, not a dashboard, this is the direct answer. Hardcore Focus uses the same Apple Screen Time API, but it’s built around timed focus sessions and a daily-goal dial — not scores and rules. Bypass is No Bypass or a 15-minute unlock. Everything stays on-device with no account. Pricing: $3.99/week, $8.99/month, or $49.99/year (7-day trial on annual). iPhone, with an Apple Watch companion.

2. Jomo — Opal’s features at a third of the price

Jomo is the closest like-for-like swap: a Screen Time-based blocker with a genuine Strict Mode (no pauses, edits, or deletions mid-session, and it can block the Settings app to stop the usual bypass). It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. At $29.99/year or $99.99 lifetime, it’s well under Opal’s ~$99.99/year — the natural pick if you liked Opal but not the price.

3. ScreenZen — the free alternative

ScreenZen is completely free and donation-supported, with no feature paywall. It uses escalating delays (each reopen waits longer) and can prevent its own deletion. It’s less of a hard wall than the strict options, but for replacing Opal’s free tier without paying anything, it’s the strongest choice on iPhone, Android, iPad, and Mac.

4. Brick — hardware you can’t argue with

If software blocking keeps losing to your willpower, Brick moves the switch into the physical world: a $59 one-time NFC tag (the companion app is free, no subscription) that you tap to block or unblock apps via the Screen Time API. Leave the tag at home and your phone stays blocked. It’s the strictest option here — the tradeoff is remembering to carry (or deliberately not carry) a physical object.

5. Freedom — block your computer too

Opal is mobile-first. If your distractions are also on a laptop, Freedom blocks across Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android at once using an on-device local VPN filter (traffic never leaves your device, per Freedom’s docs). “Locked Mode” makes quitting early harder. It’s $39.99/year or around $99.50 for lifetime.

6. one sec — if you want a nudge, not a wall

Some people don’t want a hard block — they want a beat of friction. one sec inserts a breathing pause before a distracting app opens. A 2023 PNAS study (Grüning, Riedel, and Lorenz-Spreen, Max Planck Institute / Heidelberg University) found this kind of friction cut problematic app openings by about 57%. Free for one app, ~$19/year for unlimited. Pick this if Opal felt too heavy-handed.

7. Forest — motivation over enforcement

Forest is a gamified timer: start a session, grow a virtual tree, and leaving the app kills it. It’s not a true blocker (the only cost of bypassing is a dead tree), but its tree-planting partnership — over 2 million real trees planted — makes it a motivating option for people who respond to positive reinforcement. $3.99 one-time on iOS.

Which Opal alternative should you choose?

  • Leaving over strictness: Hardcore Focus or Brick.
  • Leaving over price: Jomo (cheaper) or ScreenZen (free).
  • Leaving over privacy / wanting no account: Hardcore Focus (nothing leaves your device).
  • Need laptop blocking too: Freedom.
  • Opal felt too aggressive: one sec.

If the reason you’re switching is that Opal didn’t actually keep you off the apps, the fix is a blocker attached to a focus session you actually start. Try Hardcore Focus.