Subscription fatigue is a reasonable objection, and this guide answers it honestly — including the part where Fella itself is subscription-only. Free, one-time, and lifetime iPhone blockers compared on what they cost and what you give up.
"No subscription" is not one thing. It splits into free forever (Foqos, ScreenZen, Screen Time), one-time lifetime unlocks (Noff at €9.99, plus lifetime plans from AppBlock, Jomo, one sec, Opal, and Freedom), and hardware you buy once (Brick's $59 tap device). Each has a different compromise, and the cheapest option that actually holds your block is the right one — not the cheapest option, period.
And the disclosure this page owes you: Fella is subscription-only — $9.99 monthly or $34.99 yearly, no free trial, no lifetime plan. There is a section below on when that subscription still makes sense, argued on features rather than savings math. If the subscription alone rules Fella out, the rest of this guide is built for you anyway.
Prices are per official sites and App Store listings at the time of writing, in the vendor's own currency — confirm on the purchase sheet, since pricing varies by country.
| Product | Model | Verified cost | App blocking | Website blocking | Strictness | Schedules | Account | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Screen Time | Built in, free | $0 | Limits, Downtime | Web Content list | Passcode only | Downtime windows | No | Basic free limits |
| Foqos | Free, open-source | $0 (optional $1.99 tip) | Yes, profiles | Yes | NFC/QR-gated sessions | Timer-based | No | Free physical-friction blocking |
| ScreenZen | Free, donations | $0 | Yes + limits | Yes | Strict blocks + lock | Yes | No | Free full toolkit |
| Noff | One-time lifetime | €9.99 (launch; €14.99 planned) | Yes, NFC sessions | Not stated | Tag-required unlock | Focus sessions | No | Cheapest lifetime lock |
| AppBlock | Sub or lifetime | $29.99/yr, $4.99/mo, ~$149.99 lifetime | Yes + profiles | Yes, keywords | Timer, PIN, approval | Yes | Check in-app | Lifetime full system |
| Jomo | Sub or lifetime | $29.99/yr, $99.99 lifetime | Yes + challenges | Yes + Mac | Strict Mode | Yes | Yes | Cheap lifetime, Apple-wide |
| one sec | Sub or lifetime | $19.99/yr, $2.99/mo, $99.99 lifetime | Pause + block sessions | Safari ext. (Pro) | Block sessions | Yes (Pro) | No | Cheapest paid path |
| Freedom | Sub or one-time | $39.99/yr, $8.99/mo, Forever plan | Yes, all devices | Yes | Locked Mode | Yes | Yes | One payment, every device |
| Opal | Sub or lifetime | $99.99/yr, $19.99/mo, $399 lifetime | Yes + limits | Desktop ext. | Deep Focus | Yes | Yes | Lifetime premium stats |
| Brick | Hardware, once | $59 device | Yes, tap-gated | Check product page | Physical separation | While separated | Check in-app | Physical barrier fans |
Free forever means no payment ever: Screen Time (Apple maintains it), Foqos (open-source, community-supported), ScreenZen (donation-supported). The compromise is rarely the blocking — it is support response, polish, and the durability question of who funds development. For a deeper free-only ranking, our free app blocker comparison owns that topic; this page stays on the no-subscription question broadly.
One-time lifetime unlocks mean one payment, no recurring charge, usually with future updates included. Noff (€9.99) is the cheapest verified lifetime here; Jomo and one sec ($99.99), AppBlock (~$149.99), Freedom's Forever plan, and Opal ($399) are the subscription vendors' exits. The compromise to check: platform coverage (does lifetime include Mac/desktop?), account requirements, and vendor durability — a lifetime deal lasts as long as the company does.
Hardware one-time cost (Brick, $59 device, per our Fella vs Brick comparison) moves the lock off the screen entirely: apps stay blocked until you physically tap. No subscription for the barrier itself — but confirm the companion app's current terms, since hardware and software pricing can differ.
When you know the mechanism works for you (physical friction, fixed windows, strict schedules), when one device is the whole problem, and when you'd rather bet a small one-time amount than audit a subscription yearly. Noff's €9.99 is priced for exactly that bet.
Subscriptions fund cross-device sync infrastructure, support teams, and continuous development — Freedom's multi-device sync and Opal's analytics are the visible results. If your habit spans phone plus computer, or you need support when something breaks, the recurring fee buys something real. Reject the model, not the math: compare the subscription's yearly cost against the lifetime exit from the same vendor (Jomo: $29.99/yr vs $99.99 once — the lifetime pays for itself in year four; Opal's $399 takes far longer).
Apple Screen Time is already on the phone: App Limits, Downtime windows, and Web Content restrictions at $0 with no account. Limits: passcode-only strictness (whoever holds it can undo it), no temporary-access control, app and site rules kept separate. Enough for simple caps; not enough for compulsive reopening. Whether blockers work at all as a category is covered in do app blockers work.
Foqos (foqos.app; App Store, 4.9 stars across thousands of ratings) is free, open-source, private (no account, no ads, no tracking — data stays on device), and uses Apple's Screen Time APIs for app and website blocking with manual, NFC-tag, QR-code, and timer activation. Sessions end by timer, smart break, or a second tap — so bypass resistance equals the physical setup: a tag left on the desk is weak, a tag in another room is strong. There are no usage limits or analytics depth, and support is community-scale. The only payment in the App Store listing is a voluntary $1.99 developer tip. Bring-your-own NFC tags keep the total cost near zero. Compromise: physical-friction blocking only. For the privacy angle see no-account blockers and offline blocking.
ScreenZen (screenzen.co) is completely free and donation-supported: delays, daily limits, schedules, strict blocks with a Settings lock, usage tracking, and website blocking across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and Android. The delay-before-open is the mechanism that ages best — it never expires, needs no renewal decision, and works identically in year three as on day one. Strict blocks plus the Settings lock give it a genuine answer to bypassing, not just friction. The fullest free toolkit here. Compromise: free-app polish and support bandwidth rather than features.
Noff (noff.app) is the cleanest "pay once" story verified: free download, one-time €9.99 lifetime unlock at launch (planned regular price €14.99, per their site), no subscription, no account, offline-first, NFC-tag-gated focus sessions with weekly and eight-week usage trends kept on-device. Bring your own compatible tag — no proprietary device. A tag-lost fallback exists so lock-in stays safe rather than absolute. Schedules are session-based rather than calendar-recurring: you start focus when you start it, which suits desk-anchored routines better than automatic evening blocks. Compromise: young product, single-device iPhone focus. At roughly the price of one month of most subscriptions, it is the lowest-risk paid experiment on this page.
The lifetime exits from subscription vendors suit buyers who want a full system without recurring billing: Jomo ($99.99, Apple-wide with Strict Mode), one sec ($99.99, pause plus block sessions), AppBlock (~$149.99, profiles and keyword site blocking), Freedom's Forever plan (every device at once), Opal ($399, analytics-heavy). All verified from official pricing and App Store listings; confirm current figures on the purchase sheet since storefront pricing shifts. Run the break-even before buying: Jomo's lifetime matches about three years of its annual plan, while Opal's $399 needs roughly four years against its own annual price — a long commitment to a habit tool. Also confirm what the lifetime covers (desktop apps? family sharing?) since vendors define it differently. The tradeoff versus Noff is price and breadth; versus their own subscriptions, it is time horizon.
"No subscription" gets abused in app marketing, so check three things before money moves. First, the App StoreInfo section. Apple lists every in-app purchase by name — a true lifetime shows as a one-time item ("Lifetime," "Lifetime License," "Forever"), while subscriptions show durations ("Monthly," "Annual"). If the listing shows both, the app has both models and the article or ad quoting only the lifetime is cherry-picking. Second, the vendor's own pricing page. Confirm the lifetime covers what you need: some lifetimes exclude new platforms, family sharing, or future "Pro" tiers the vendor hasn't built yet. Screenshot the terms at purchase; they are the contract that matters if the model changes later.
Third, the durability question. A lifetime deal is a bet that the company outlives your need for the app. Signals worth ten minutes: years in business, review counts in the thousands rather than dozens, an active changelog, and a support channel that answers. This cuts both ways — an established vendor's $99 lifetime (Jomo, one sec) carries less longevity risk than a newcomer, while a newcomer's €9.99 (Noff) risks almost nothing either way. And a warning in the other direction: beware "lifetime" prices that only appear in third-party reviews. Old articles routinely quote launch pricing, regional prices, or confused subscription-versus-lifetime figures. The App Store purchase sheet on your own storefront is the only number that counts, and it takes thirty seconds to check.
Brick is a $59 physical device (per our Brick comparison): tap to block, tap again (with the object present) to unblock. The barrier is distance, not software — leave it at home and the block holds regardless of motivation. Compromise: you carry an object, and strictness equals separation. Best for people whose phones lose all appeal only when access is physically elsewhere. Confirm the companion app's current terms on top of the device price.
Fella is subscription-only, stated plainly: $9.99 monthly or $34.99 yearly, billed immediately, no free trial, no lifetime plan (pricing, how it works). If that alone ends the conversation, the options above are genuine answers and this page has still done its job.
The case for considering it anyway is mechanical, not financial. Fella runs blocked-by-default sessions (manual or routinely scheduled) on Apple's Screen Time frameworks with exactly one fixed 5-minute Emergency Unlock per session and automatic relock — no strict mode to arm, no per-open negotiation. No account needed. If your history is deleting free blockers the first hard evening and churning through trials, the relevant comparison is not $34.99/yr versus $0 — it is a system that holds versus ones that didn't. The annual plan runs about 71% cheaper than paying monthly, which is a billing fact, not a reason to buy: buy it only if default-blocked sessions match your failure mode. That is the only honest pro-subscription argument: pay for the mechanism that survives you, whatever its billing shape. Schedules background: blocking apps at certain times; exception design: emergency access and limited unlocks; strictness: strict blockers; the category hub: iPhone app blocker.
Yes. Foqos and ScreenZen are free with no subscription, Apple Screen Time is built in free, Noff offers a one-time lifetime unlock, and AppBlock, Jomo, one sec, Opal, and Freedom all sell lifetime or one-time plans alongside subscriptions.
No. Fella is $9.99 monthly or $34.99 yearly with no free trial and no lifetime plan. This guide explains when that subscription is still worth it — and when a free or one-time alternative fits better.
Usually yes for the app itself: one payment, no recurring charge, typically including future updates. Check whether the lifetime covers all platforms, whether an account is required, and whether the vendor is established enough to be around — a lifetime deal is only as durable as the company behind it.
Foqos (free, open-source, no ads or tracking) and ScreenZen (free, donation-supported, with delays, limits, and schedules) are the strongest free answers. Apple's built-in Screen Time controls cover basic limits free. Our dedicated free comparison is best-free-app-blockers-iphone.
Fella is subscription-only — $34.99 a year. What it buys is blocked-by-default sessions with one fixed 5-minute unlock that closes itself. If that mechanism fits your failure mode better than everything above, it's here.
