An app to help break phone addiction

Lock In Squad is a free app for iPhone and Android that makes the apps you check on autopilot harder to reach. Pick them and start a timer or stopwatch, and they stay blocked until you hold a button for the 1 to 10 seconds you set, even after a timer reaches zero.

Download FreeHow it works
Your life in weeks, a reminder of how much time compulsive phone use can quietly take

Why the habit is so hard to break

Struggling to put your phone down is not a character flaw. "Phone addiction" is not an official diagnosis either, and a 2018 review suggests calling it problematic smartphone use. Many apps are designed to keep you scrolling, with infinite feeds and unpredictable rewards that keep you pulling the lever. Willpower alone is up against a system built to beat it, so the answer is to change the system. Here is how Lock In Squad does that.

Break the automatic reach
The hold that ends a session early is a pause long enough to interrupt the reach and hand the decision back to you.
Decide once instead of all day
You make the call once, when the session starts. After that you are not re-deciding every five minutes, which is the exhausting part of trying to cut back on your own.
See the time you reclaim
Lock In Squad tracks the time you stay focused and shows it back to you. Watching those hours add up is far more motivating than a screen time report that just makes you feel bad.
Build a streak you want to keep
Lock in on each of the days you choose and your streak grows. Seeing an unbroken streak makes people more likely to keep going, so cutting back starts to feel like a win instead of a sacrifice.

How to start cutting back today

  1. Pick the two or three apps you reach for most without thinking.
  2. Block them during the times you want to be present (mornings, meals, the first hour at work, before bed).
  3. When you reach for one out of habit, the pause gives you a moment to choose differently.
  4. Keep a streak going so the new habit has momentum behind it.

Questions

What is the best free app for phone addiction?

Lock In Squad is our pick, though we make it, so weigh that. It is free on iPhone and Android with every blocking feature included, and one optional $4.99 purchase removes ads. The Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing tools on your phone are free too, but their limits are easier to override.

What apps control phone usage?

Three kinds. Tools that come with your phone, Screen Time on iPhone and Digital Wellbeing on Android, report your use and set daily limits. Blockers such as Lock In Squad, Opal and Forest shut chosen apps during a session or on a schedule. Delay apps such as one sec make you wait before a chosen app opens.

Am I addicted to my phone?

A self-check helps more than a label. Notice whether you pick up your phone without deciding to, use it longer than you meant to, have tried to cut back and slipped, or lose sleep to it. If several ring true, change the setup around your phone, and talk to a doctor or counselor if it feels out of control.

Why am I addicted to my phone?

Partly because a habit can form around cues like boredom or a free hand, until the reach happens before you decide. In a study published in 2022 that paid people to cut back, economists estimated that self-control problems cause 31 percent of social media use, so wanting to use it less and still not managing is common.

Source for the 31 percent estimate: Allcott, Gentzkow and Song, "Digital Addiction," American Economic Review, 2022.

Take back your time

Free app to break phone addiction. No subscription, no judgment.

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