How to block distracting apps on iPhone and Android
By the Braintoll team · · 5 min read
The short answer
On iPhone, block apps with Screen Time: App Limits cap daily use, Downtime blocks everything except allowed apps on a schedule, and a Screen Time passcode stops a limit from being one tap from ignored. On Android, Digital Wellbeing offers app timers, Focus mode and Bedtime mode. Both only act at the limit and are easy to skip, so for the quick, automatic open a toll on every open, such as Braintoll, works better.
On this page
Your phone already has app blocking built in. Most people just never set it up, or set it up once and stop noticing it after a week. This guide walks through the built-in options on iPhone and Android, explains where they fall short, and shows a different kind of block for the apps you open without thinking.
Block apps on iPhone with Screen Time
Screen Time has two tools for blocking apps: App Limits and Downtime.
App Limits cap how long you can use an app or a whole category each day.
- Open Settings → Screen Time and turn it on if you haven’t already.
- Tap App Limits → Add Limit.
- Pick a category, or expand it and choose single apps such as Instagram or TikTok.
- Set a daily time and tap Add.
Downtime blocks everything except the apps you allow during a set period, for example in the evening.
- In Settings → Screen Time, tap Downtime.
- Turn on Scheduled and choose the hours.
- Under Always Allowed, keep only the apps you still need, such as Phone or Maps.
To make either one harder to skip, turn on Block at End of Limit and set a Screen Time passcode. Without a passcode, a limit is one tap away from “Ignore Limit”.
Block apps on Android with Digital Wellbeing
Menu names vary slightly between manufacturers, but most Android phones offer the same three tools.
App timers work like Screen Time’s App Limits.
- Open Settings → Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.
- Tap Dashboard and choose an app.
- Set an App timer. Once it runs out, the app’s icon greys out and the app stays paused until midnight.
Focus mode pauses a chosen set of apps on demand or on a schedule.
- In Digital Wellbeing, tap Focus mode.
- Select the apps that distract you.
- Tap Turn on now, or set a schedule.
Bedtime mode turns the screen grey and silences the phone at night. It doesn’t block apps, but it makes them a lot less tempting.
Where the built-in tools fall short
These tools are good at showing you where your time goes. As blockers, they have the same three weak spots on both platforms:
- They only act at the limit. Until you’ve used up your daily time, every open is free, and most mindless opens happen long before that.
- Getting past them is easy. Ignore the limit, take a five-minute break from Focus mode, or turn it off. A tap beats a reflex every time.
- They give you nothing back. A wall that only says no is the first thing you switch off when it gets annoying.
That doesn’t make them useless. It means they work best for hard boundaries, such as no phone after 23:00, and poorly for the quick, automatic open that turns into twenty minutes of scrolling.
Block with a toll instead of a wall
Braintoll takes a different approach for those automatic opens. Instead of blocking an app outright or after a daily budget, it asks for a small toll every time you open it: a few flashcards.
- Choose the apps you want to interrupt.
- Build a small library of cards: vocabulary, exam material, anything you want to remember. Write them yourself, start from a preset, import an Anki deck or generate them with AI.
- When you open a blocked app, Braintoll shows a card. Reveal the answer and rate how well you knew it.
- Once you’ve marked enough cards Easy, the app opens for the access time you’ve set. When that time runs out, the toll comes back, even mid-scroll.
Changed your mind? Keep my attention takes you away from the app instead. With active hours, the toll only applies at the times you choose, such as during work or study, and your apps open normally the rest of the time.
How it works on each platform
On Android, Braintoll notices that you’ve opened a blocked app through the Accessibility permission and shows the toll right away. After you’ve paid it, it takes you straight back into the app. It only reads the package name of the app in front of you and never reads messages, typed text or screen content.
On iPhone, Braintoll builds on Apple’s Screen Time, because iOS lets no app watch which app you open. You pick the apps, websites or categories in Apple’s own list, and a blocked app is covered by the Braintoll screen. Tap “Pay the toll” and a notification brings you into Braintoll to answer your cards; then open the app again from your Home Screen. Braintoll only receives private Screen Time tokens and never learns which apps you chose or what you do in them.
Which approach should you use?
| Screen Time / Digital Wellbeing | Braintoll | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Hard daily limits and screen-free hours | The quick, automatic open |
| When it acts | Once your limit is used up or during set hours | Every time you open a blocked app |
| Getting past it | A tap, or a passcode if you set one | Mark enough cards Easy |
| What you get from it | Usage statistics | Reviewed vocabulary, facts or exam material |
| Price | Built into your phone | Free for one app; Premium for unlimited apps |
They work well together. Use Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing to find the two or three apps you open most without thinking, keep Downtime or Bedtime mode for the night, and put exactly those apps behind a toll in Braintoll for the rest of the day. To go further than the built-in tools, see our comparison of the best app blockers, free and paid. If you mainly need focus while studying, app blockers for studying covers more options, from hard locks to focus timers.