Why Lock In Squad?
Lock In Squad is a free app blocker for iPhone and Android, with no subscription. Your chosen apps stay blocked for the session, and quitting early takes a hold on the Lock Out button. Below are the story behind it and a comparison with Opal, Forest, Screen Time and eight other options.
The Story Behind Lock In Squad
How more than a year of development turned personal frustration into a productivity solution
Lock In Squad was inspired by a friend at Swarthmore who tracked focus time manually with a stopwatch and Google Sheets. Simple but effective: start when you work, stop when you break.
The creator, Eli, adopted this method and has been logging every minute of focus time since March 2024.
- 1.Manually logging to spreadsheets was tedious and prone to error
- 2.Phone distractions kept breaking focus: start stopwatch, work 2 minutes, stop to check phone, repeat
- 3.The blockers Eli tried were either too strict, with no way out, or too easy to ignore, like iOS Screen Time's Ignore Limit button
After months of dealing with these frustrations, Eli spent more than a year building Lock In Squad to solve them:
Automatic Tracking
Sessions log themselves, with analytics built in. No more spreadsheets or manual timers.
Smart App Blocking
Block distracting apps with conscious friction. You can bypass, but it takes a moment to reconsider. Strike the perfect balance between self-control and strictness.
"That moment of pause can interrupt a doomscroll. If you really need to stop, great! If not, you've given yourself the space to make a better choice."
Eli, founder
The Battle Inside Your Brain
The Instant Gratification Monkey
As Tim Urban explains in his viral TED talk, procrastinators have an Instant Gratification Monkey in their brain that grabs the wheel and only cares about what is easy and fun right now.
The Panic Monster wakes up when a deadline gets close. But on tasks with no deadline, he never shows up at all. That's where Lock In Squad comes in.
Your Life in Weeks
Tim Urban's "Your Life in Weeks" visualization shows a life of 90 years as just 4,680 weeks. Each box is one week.
When you see your entire life laid out like this, every week matters. Lock In Squad helps you make the most of each one by creating conscious distance between distraction and action.
Lock In Squad's Solution: Conscious Friction
Lock In Squad puts a deliberate pause between the urge to quit your session and actually quitting. To end a session early, you hold the Lock Out button for 1 to 10 seconds (you choose the length), and that hold makes you ask: "Do I really need this right now, or am I just avoiding work?" This conscious distance helps your rational brain override the Instant Gratification Monkey.
What Makes Lock In Squad Different?
Here is what we kept from other focus apps, and what we do differently.
Competitor Problem:
Opal charges $99.99 a year. Freedom is $8.99 a month. Cold Turkey Pro is $45 once, but only on desktop. Many blockers put features like scheduling or an allow list behind a paywall.
Lock In Squad's Promise:
- 100% of features are free forever
- The free version shows an ad when you end a stopwatch session or quit a timer early
- A single $4.99 payment removes ads forever, with no subscription
Focus should be accessible to everyone. We mean it: no paywalls and no recurring fees.
Analytics included:
- Daily, weekly, and lifetime focus stats
- Streak tracking to build consistency
- Visual charts and progress insights
- Earn in-app currency for cosmetics
Email newsletter:
An optional newsletter with focus tips.
Unlike blockers that do nothing but block, Lock In Squad helps you understand and improve your focus habits over time.
How Lock In Squad Compares
See how Lock In Squad stacks up against the biggest competitors and the tools built into your phone.
| Feature | Lock In Squad | Forest | AppBlock | iOS Screen Time | Android Wellbeing | RescueTime | Opal | Freedom | Stay Focused | Cold Turkey | Brick | Bloom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Core Features | Yes | Yes | Partial (with limits) | Yes | Yes | No | Partial (1 rule) | Partial (Start Now sessions only) | Partial (paid upgrades) | Partial (websites only) | No | No |
| Whitelist Mode | Android now, iPhone in the next update | Yes (Forest Plus) | Yes (Premium) | Downtime only | No | No | Yes (Pro) | Websites only (Mac, Windows) | Yes | Websites (apps need Micromanager) | Yes (iPhone) | No |
| Hold to Unlock | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Gamification (minutes or points) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Bonus Time After Timers | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Prices checked on September 22, 2026. Sources: Forest, AppBlock, RescueTime, Opal, Freedom, Stay Focused, Cold Turkey, Brick, Bloom.
Questions
What is the best free app blocker?
Pick the one whose free tier has the fewest limits. Of the apps compared here, Lock In Squad and Forest both block phone apps for free, and only Lock In Squad makes you hold a button to quit. Opal, Freedom and AppBlock cap their free plans, and Cold Turkey's free version blocks only websites on a computer.
Can you bypass Screen Time?
Yes, and by default nothing stops you. Apple's iPhone guide says Screen Time limits can be ignored once reached. A Screen Time passcode closes that door only if a friend or parent sets it, because if you know the code you can approve more time yourself.
Why use an app blocker instead of Screen Time?
Because Screen Time measures phone use better than it stops it. Its reports show your pickups and which apps take your hours, but a blocker keeps those apps closed. Lock In Squad blocks them for a whole session, makes you hold a button to quit early, and rewards you with streaks and earned minutes, which Screen Time lacks.
Ready to lock in?
Free, no subscription. The App Store and Google Play list it as Lock In until the next update.
