12Focus
Get the app
Start with what your phone already has: Screen Time on iPhone and Digital Wellbeing on Android lock apps for free. Pick an app when you need more: Forest or Flipd if a timer keeps you going, ScrollToll if you’d rather earn scrolling with flashcards, Freedom or Cold Turkey if the laptop is the problem, Brick if you need a lock that is hard to undo, and 12Focus if you are studying toward one exam and want app time tied to the study actions you finish.
Every price below is from the app’s US App Store listing or its own pricing page, checked on October 19, 2026. 12Focus is our app.
Updated
Remove the easiest exit, not your whole phone. The apps that cost study time are usually two or three: the feed, short video, a game. Block those, keep the calculator and the class chat.
Then ask three things: does it work where you study (phone, laptop, or both), how hard is it to undo at 11 pm, and does it give the time back to something?
Pick it if you want to start today, for free.
Your phone already locks apps. On iPhone, Screen Time limits and schedules apps, and a passcode someone else types makes them stick. On Android, Focus mode and app timers pause the apps you pick.
Step by step: on iPhone or on Android.
Pick it if you are studying toward one exam and want app time tied to the study actions you finish.
Plan the exam as a 12-week goal, cut it into this week’s study actions, and give TikTok and Instagram a daily allowance. When the allowance runs out the apps pause until midnight; every planned study action you finish adds minutes back.
More on 12Focus for studying.
Pick it if a timer with something at stake keeps you going.
A tree grows while you stay off your phone and withers if you leave. Deep Focus blocks chosen apps during a session, and you can plant together with friends.
Pick it if you’d rather pay for scrolling with flashcards.
Answer one study question, from MCAT, USMLE, math or vocabulary packs or your own notes, to unlock an app for five minutes. Then it locks again.
Pick it if you study better when others are studying too.
Study timers with tags, live study rooms, groups and challenges. On Android the app can lock your phone during a session; on iPhone, blocking lives in a separate app, Focus Lock.
Pick it if you want schedules plus a session you can’t cancel.
Scheduled blocks, app limits, open limits and focus sessions. Deep Focus, a paid feature, can’t be cancelled once it starts. Students get a discount.
Pick it if you want blocks that follow your class timetable or the library Wi-Fi.
Schedules by time, day, location or Wi-Fi, usage limits, and a Strict Mode with a cooldown or someone else’s approval. It has a student plan.
Pick it if you study on a laptop and the browser is the problem.
Block apps, websites or the whole internet on every device at once. Locked Mode stops edits to a running session and allows one early end every seven days.
Pick it if you only need the computer locked, for good.
Blocks websites for free; the Pro version blocks apps too, on schedules, with locks you can’t undo until the time is up.
Pick it if you need a lock that is hard to undo from your desk.
Tap your phone on a small physical Brick to block the apps and sites you chose, including a study mode; tap it again to unblock. Leave the Brick at home and the apps stay closed, apart from five emergency unblocks.
US prices, checked on October 19, 2026. Prices change and differ by country, so check the store before you buy.
| App | Works on | How it blocks | Free plan | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen Time and Digital Wellbeing | iPhone, Android | Limits and schedules | Everything | Free |
| 12Focus | iPhone, Android | Daily allowance, earned by finished actions | No | $2.99/mo, $17.99/yr |
| Forest | iPhone, Android, browser | Timer with app blocking | Yes | $5.99/mo |
| ScrollToll | iPhone | Study question to unlock | Limited | $4.49/wk |
| Flipd | iPhone, Android | Timer; locks on Android | Yes | $5.99 |
| Opal | iPhone, Android, Mac | Schedules, Deep Focus | One rule | $4.99/wk |
| AppBlock | iPhone, Android, browsers | Schedules by place and time | Limited | $4.99/mo |
| Freedom | Mac, Windows, phones | Sessions across devices | Sessions | $8.99/mo |
| Cold Turkey Blocker | Windows, macOS | Website and app locks | Websites | $45 once |
| Brick | iPhone, Android | Physical tap | App only | $59 once |
Yes. Screen Time on iPhone and Digital Wellbeing on Android are built in and free. Forest blocks apps during a session for free, and Cold Turkey blocks websites on a computer for free.
Set a daily limit or a schedule for the apps that pull you away, and let someone else set the passcode. 12focus.app has step-by-step guides for iPhone and Android. The iPhone guide, the Android guide.
Freedom blocks apps and websites on Mac, Windows, ChromeOS and Linux and syncs with your phone. Cold Turkey locks a Windows or Mac computer only. Opal also runs on a Mac.
Brick needs the physical device to unlock, apart from five emergency unblocks. Opal’s Deep Focus, AppBlock’s Strict Mode and Cold Turkey’s locks can’t be ended early once they start; Freedom’s Locked Mode allows one early end every seven days.
They remove the easiest way out; they don’t do the studying. They work best with a plan for what each session is for, so the time you take back has somewhere to go. Here is how to plan the weeks.
ScrollToll asks a study question before it unlocks an app, and 12Focus plans an exam as a 12-week goal with this week’s study actions. Forest and Flipd keep you going with timers.
12Focus plans the exam as a 12-week goal, gives the apps you choose a daily allowance, and adds minutes each time you finish a study action you planned.