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Opal Alternatives for iPhone (2026): Every One Re-Checked

August 2, 2026 · updated October 14, 2026

Short version: if Opal is not working for you, the replacement depends on which part stopped working. Want the same job done for free? ScreenZen. Want a speed bump instead of a wall? one sec. Want your apps to open only after you do something real? That is a different category, and five apps on this page work that way. We build one of them, so read accordingly.

Every fact below was checked against the live US App Store listing or the company’s own site on 4 October 2026. This is our second full sweep. The first, on 2 August, caught a wrong price on our own comparison page and an app that iPhone roundups recommend but that has never shipped on iPhone. This one found that Apple’s public review feed has mostly stopped answering, that Unrot’s listing had swapped earning for a battery, and that one “LockedIn” has left the store. A re-check on 9 October 2026 found Unrot’s listing back on earning.

Why do people look for an Opal alternative right now?

Opal shipped a major redesign around June 2026, and bugs followed it. Opal’s lifetime standing is still strong: 4.72 stars from 89,110 US ratings, plus an Editors’ Choice badge. But its recent reviews are rough. Of the 50 newest US reviews we could pull on 4 October 2026, 36 gave three stars or fewer.

Here is the history. In July we pulled Apple’s public US review feed for Opal, pages one through ten, which covered 400 reviews dated June 25 to July 25, 2026. That slice ran 193 one-star, 75 two-star, 49 three-star, 23 four-star and 60 five-star. Among the 317 rated three stars or lower, the most common theme by a wide margin was the redesign itself, followed by bugs and crashes, then features moving behind the paywall.

On 4 October the same feed gave us one page: Opal’s 50 newest US reviews, dated 19 September to 2 October. They split 21 one-star, 10 two-star, 5 three-star, 3 four-star and 11 five-star. Of the 36 at three stars or lower, 21 mainly report bugs or crashes, and six of those say the app crashes, freezes or will not open. Five mainly object to the redesign, five to price or the paywall, two to being unable to delete apps, and three to other things.

So the low-star share moved from 79 percent in July to 72 percent in October, and the lead complaint moved from the redesign to reliability. Treat that as a rough reading. Fifty reviews is a small sample, and one person sorted them by theme.

Opal is visibly working on it. Its version history lists nine releases after 4.8, ending with 4.17 on 26 September. Several carry the same roadmap, led by “Keep hardening background blocking so every Rule applies on time, every time, without opening Opal.” Version 4.16, on 22 September, added a switch to “Turn off the ‘Open Opal’ shortcut so a blocked app just stays blocked.”

So the useful question is not whether Opal is good. It is whether you want to wait out a rough patch or move.

Can you still check Opal’s reviews yourself?

Not reliably. Apple’s public review feed (itunes.apple.com/us/rss/customerreviews/id=1497465230) answered for a few minutes on 4 October 2026 with Opal’s 50 newest US reviews, then returned nothing on repeat calls. Pages two to ten stayed empty throughout, and Opal’s UK feed returned nothing at all.

Other apps behaved the same way. The newest-first feed returned zero reviews for ScreenZen and Unrot in the US store, and zero for Opal, ScreenZen, one sec and Unrot in the UK store. one sec’s US feed returned 50 reviews once, then nothing. The most-helpful sort returned 50 reviews for ScreenZen once, but they ran from 2023 to 2026, so that is not a recent slice either.

That is why the July count stays on this page as a dated snapshot, and the October 50 as a smaller one. Neither can be rerun on demand the way the July count could when we first published.

What does Apple’s free Screen Time already do?

Apple’s Screen Time sets schedules and daily limits for free, and iOS 27 renamed both. Apple’s iOS 27 guide calls them Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances. On iOS 26 they are Downtime and App Limits. Before paying anyone, including us, check whether the free tool on your phone already covers you.

Apple’s iOS 27 guide puts it this way: “With Screen Time, you can use Time Allowances to set how long you use your apps each day, and Schedules to set when during the day you can use them.” Time Allowances work by category, such as Entertainment, Games or Social Media, with a daily total on top.

The catch is the one everybody in this category is really selling against. Apple’s iOS 26 guide says blocking at Downtime needs a Screen Time passcode, and with it off, “you see a reminder that it’s downtime, but you can choose to continue using the apps.” After a week, most people tap through without thinking. If that is not a problem for you, you do not need any app on this page. We wrote up that tradeoff in app blockers vs time limits.

Which Opal alternatives are worth trying?

Nine, in three groups. ScreenZen and one sec do roughly what Opal does, for free or close to it. Jomo and Clearspace block on a schedule with a twist of their own. Steppin, Unrot, LockedIn, Habit Doom and Sparky make you earn the unlock.

Ratings and prices come from the US App Store and each company’s site on 4 October 2026. We read Unrot’s listing again on 9 October 2026, after it changed, and its ten prices had not moved. Apple’s free option is listed first, because it should be the default consideration, and every row names its main weakness.

What if you want what Opal does, but free?

ScreenZen is the closest thing to a straight swap for Opal, and it costs nothing. ScreenZen’s FAQ says: “No. ScreenZen is completely free. You can always support the project with a small donation if you’d like to help it grow.” Its only in-app purchases on the App Store are tips of $5, $10, $20 and $40.

None of those tips unlocks a feature. At 4.86 stars from 50,936 ratings, ScreenZen is also better reviewed than every paid app on this page. The mechanics are a stack rather than one idea: a delay before an app opens, daily open limits, scheduled blocks, and lock protection that makes bypassing harder. That covers most of what people use Opal Pro for.

ScreenZen 4.0.0 shipped on 6 September 2026, and ScreenZen’s site now also shows halo, “A companion device you place in your bedroom, at your desk, or in a shared area to make it distraction-free.” The site gives no price for it.

Recommending a free competitor over our own paid app is the correct answer here, and if that costs us a subscription, so be it.

What if you want a speed bump instead of a wall?

one sec is the only app in this list with a peer-reviewed study behind its mechanism. Rather than blocking, one sec interrupts: you tap Instagram, a breathing animation plays, and then you choose whether to go on. Using one sec with a single app is free. Adding more apps needs one sec pro.

The 2023 PNAS study followed 280 people over six weeks. The authors report that “on average 36% of the times participants attempted opening a target app, they closed that app again after one sec interfered.” They also found that users “attempted to open target apps 37% less than in the first week.” One of the authors, Frederik Riedel, created one sec, and the paper’s competing-interest note says so: “F.R. is the originator of one sec.”

one sec’s App Store description states the philosophy plainly. It says one sec “DELAYS access to distracting apps instead of blocking apps completely,” and calls that “an important difference psychologically.”

one sec pro costs $6.99 a month, $19.99 a year or $99.99 for life, with family plans on top ($9.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $149 for life). Our August version listed only the yearly and lifetime plans.

What if you want to earn your screen time instead of scheduling it?

Then you want a different category. These apps keep your feeds locked until you do something real, and the something varies a lot: steps, habits, timed tasks or photos of habits. Our guide to apps that make you earn screen time covers the whole field. These are the ones Opal switchers ask about.

• Steppin is the purest version. 100 steps buys a minute by default, read from the iPhone pedometer or Apple Health, so there is nothing to self-report. Steppin’s homepage says there is “no paid tier, no subscription, and no trial that expires,” and its FAQ still helps people who “paid for Steppin Pro” get a refund “now that it’s free.”
• Unrot is the second-largest app on this page by ratings, behind only Opal, with 56,848. Unrot’s website says “Do healthy tasks, earn brain points, use it to buy screen time.” Unrot’s App Store listing says “Real life earns coins,” and tells you to “Start a timer or snap a photo when you’re done.” That earning copy came back with version 4.1.0 on 6 October 2026. From version 4.0 on 22 September, the listing was titled “Unrot: Screen Time Battery” and said “Time away from those apps recharges it.” Unrot’s listing says an active subscription is required.
• LockedIn (LockedIn: Earn Screen Time) turns habits into coins that you spend on an unlock timer. LockedIn 2.0, on 2 April 2026, added “Camera-based push-up verification to ensure every rep counts,” and 2.1 on 20 May promised “New and improved verification AI.” We compare its coins with our banked minutes in Sparky vs LockedIn.
• Habit Doom photo-checks each check-in with an on-device model, which we set against our own trust model in Sparky vs Habit Doom.
• Jomo was a pure blocker until June 2026, when version 2.0.0 brought Routines. Jomo’s changelog says “With Routines, you can complete habits to unlock apps (or even earn time progressively).” The same entry says “Extra time on Limits has been removed.”
• Sparky is ours. Habits earn Energy, Energy opens the gates, and minutes you do not spend bank for later instead of expiring.

Which apps do other Opal alternative lists get wrong?

Three errors show up again and again, and each takes about a minute to check. Intently is not an iPhone app. unhookd gets filed under “earn your screen time” without any earning mechanic. And “LockedIn” names more than a dozen apps, one of which has now left the store.

Intently is not an iPhone app. iPhone roundups keep recommending it. Intently now goes by Pawse, and its download page lists Android and a Chrome extension, with iPhone still marked “Coming Soon” on 4 October 2026. There is no App Store listing to link.

unhookd has no earning mechanic. unhookd blocks your chosen apps “by default, 24/7.” Access comes back through Slots, recurring windows you schedule, or Peeks of up to 20 minutes where you pick a reason. It does that job, and you earn nothing.

“LockedIn” is the name of many apps. LockedIn: Earn Screen Time (id 6747677872) is the earn-back one. LockedIn: Screen Time Control (id 6466096636) was a different developer’s Pomodoro blocker, and on 4 October 2026 Apple’s US, UK and Canadian stores did not return it. A US search for “lockedin” that day listed 12 apps with LockedIn in the name, plus five more spelled Locked In or Locked-In. A list that says “LockedIn” without an app id has not told you which one it means.

Why is it so hard to find out what these apps cost?

For several of these apps, you cannot find out without installing them. Apple’s web listing shows in-app purchase names and prices, but never the billing period. So “unhookd Pro $49.99” could be yearly or lifetime, and the listing will not say. Ten purchase items on unhookd’s listing carry that same name.

Company pricing pages would fix that, but they are rare. Clearspace’s own site footer links to /pricing and /features, and on 4 October 2026 both returned 404.

Multi-item listings make it worse. Achieve shows eight overlapping tiers between $9.99 and $69.99. unhookd shows ten, from $2.99 to $149.99. Unrot shows ten, from $9.99 to $69.99, most of them named “Full Access.” Jomo shows two different lifetime prices on one listing, $99.99 and $84.99. Apple’s listing shows at most ten purchase items and does not say which ones a new user is offered. So no single item is “the price,” and we will not print one as though it is.

Where a price appears in the table above, both the number and the period came from a source that stated them. Where they did not, the table says so.

What do all of these apps share, including Sparky?

All nine run on the same Apple frameworks, FamilyControls and ManagedSettings, so they share the same ceiling. None of them is a workaround of iOS, and all of them stop working the moment you remove the Screen Time permission in Settings. Any app promising a block you cannot escape is overselling.

The shared rules get strange at the edges. Apple’s DeviceActivity API rejects monitoring windows shorter than 15 minutes. In 2023 an Apple engineer explained on the developer forums why a schedule with a day component counts usage from before it started. Together those rules produce odd behavior just after midnight in every app in this category. We wrote up Apple’s explanation, and the code we built around it, in the Habit Doom comparison. On iOS 26 a separate bug can make an app limit fire the moment it starts, which we cover in App Limits firing instantly on iOS 26.

We mention it here because it is the honest answer to “why did my screen time app do something weird at 12:05 a.m.?” It is usually the platform, not the app.

So which one should you pick?

Stay on Opal if the recent complaints do not match your own experience, or if you need a Mac or an Android phone covered too, because nothing here matches its reach. Otherwise, pick by the part of Opal that failed you: the price, the strictness, or the feeling of being policed. The short list below maps each one.

• ScreenZen if you want Opal’s job done for free.
• one sec if blocking makes you rebel and a pause would be enough.
• Steppin if you want the honest version of earning, where a sensor decides.
• Jomo if you want real hard blocking and habit-earned unlocks together.
• Sparky if the problem is autopilot opens, and you want the minutes you earned to bank rather than expire.

We put Opal and Sparky side by side in their own comparison.

Where Sparky is wrong for you: Sparky 1.6 has no web filter and no Android app. If you need websites blocked, Jomo or Opal can do it, and if you need an Android phone covered, Opal can. Sparky also needs iOS 26.0, while every other app on this page runs on older versions. And we are the smallest app here, still with no App Store ratings, so far fewer people have run us on hardware we have never owned.

Sparky turns small habits into screen time you earn. Download it free on the App Store.