ScreenZen configures friction entirely in software, for free, across five platforms. Brick moves the friction into the real world: a one-time $59 device you have to tap to lock and unlock your phone. The comparison isn't cost alone, it's whether a physical object changes your behavior more than any setting can.
ScreenZen and Brick take opposite approaches to where the friction lives. ScreenZen builds delays, limits, and schedules entirely inside the app, free and configurable across five platforms. Brick requires a physical device: tap your phone to it to start blocking, and tap it again to stop, moving part of the friction into the physical world.
This page compares the two products directly. For how either one stacks up against Fella specifically, see Fella vs ScreenZen or Fella vs Brick, or read on for where Fella fits as a third, software-only option.
| What matters | ScreenZen | Brick |
|---|---|---|
| Enforcement mechanism | Software: configurable delays, limits, schedules, and goals | Physical: tap your phone to the Brick device to lock and unlock |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and Android | iOS and Android phones only; no desktop app |
| Pricing model | Free and donation-supported | One-time $59 hardware purchase; lifetime app access, no subscription |
| Bypass resistance | Settings Lock to prevent changes mid-urge | Physical Brick required to unbrick; remote unbrick via long-press still needs the Brick nearby |
| Emergency access | Configurable access windows and opening rules | 5 Emergency Unbricks included, resettable through a support form |
| Analytics | Usage tracking for selected distracting apps | Focus Insights: average Brick time, session length, week/month/lifetime comparisons |
This isn't a close comparison on paper, they're fundamentally different products. ScreenZen is free, software-only, and broad in platform reach. Brick costs a one-time $59, requires a physical object, and covers only phones. The real question is whether physical distance works better for you than any configurable delay could.
ScreenZen's friction lives entirely on the screen. An escalating delay, an 'Is this important?' prompt, and a Settings Lock are all software mechanisms, real, but never further away than the phone itself.
Brick's friction depends on where you put the object. A Brick placed across the room turns unblocking into a deliberate trip. A Brick kept in your pocket creates almost no friction at all. Its effectiveness is entirely a function of placement, not app settings.
That's the real tradeoff between them. Software friction is always available, wherever you are, but can be reconfigured or waited out. Physical friction can be much stronger when placed deliberately, but depends on an object you have to manage and can lose.
ScreenZen costs nothing on an ongoing basis. Its official site describes the app as free and donation-supported, with no subscription standing between you and its full configuration.
Brick asks for a single upfront payment instead. The $59 hardware purchase includes lifetime app access with no subscription, a genuinely different pricing philosophy: pay once for the object, then no recurring cost.
Neither is more expensive in an apples-to-apples sense. ScreenZen is free indefinitely; Brick is a fixed one-time cost. The real comparison is whether $59 for a physical object is worth it to you over a purely free software tool.
Choose ScreenZen if you want free, broad platform coverage with no object to manage. It reaches five platforms at no cost, with configuration you control entirely in software.
Choose Brick if a physical barrier genuinely changes your behavior. Its one-time cost and phone-only focus suit someone who's found that software settings alone don't hold, but a real object placed with intention does.
Weigh the loss risk of a physical device. Brick includes 5 Emergency Unbricks for when the device isn't available, but losing it beyond that is a real practical problem ScreenZen's software-only model doesn't have.
| At a glance | Fella | ScreenZen / Brick |
|---|---|---|
| Core approach | Selected apps blocked by default | Configurable delays (ScreenZen) or a physical device requirement (Brick) |
| Hardware required | No | No (ScreenZen); yes, a $59 Brick device (Brick) |
| Platforms | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Android (ScreenZen); iOS and Android phones only (Brick) |
| Emergency access | One 5-minute unlock per session, every session | Configurable access windows (ScreenZen); 5 Emergency Unbricks total (Brick) |
ScreenZen and Brick both offer real friction, through very different means. One configures it in software for free; the other builds it into a physical object worth a one-time cost. Both are legitimate answers to the same problem.
Fella stays in software, without ScreenZen's configuration or Brick's hardware. Selected iPhone apps stay blocked by default, enforced through Apple's Screen Time frameworks, with one 5-minute emergency unlock per session and nothing to set up or carry.
The right pick depends on which kind of friction you actually trust. If a free, configurable delay is enough for you, ScreenZen does that well. If a physical object genuinely works better, Brick's one-time cost is worth it. If you want strictness without either the setup or the hardware, that's the gap Fella is built for. See how Fella works or current pricing.
Yes. Brick requires the physical Brick device, a one-time $59 purchase, to start and end blocking by tapping your phone to it. ScreenZen is entirely software-based, with no object to buy or carry.
ScreenZen's official site describes it as free and donation-supported. Brick is a one-time $59 hardware purchase with lifetime app access and no subscription, a different pricing model rather than a directly comparable ongoing cost.
Brick's resistance is physical: unbricking normally requires the physical device itself, with 5 Emergency Unbricks available without it. ScreenZen's resistance is a Settings Lock meant to prevent changing rules mid-urge, a software protection rather than a physical requirement.
ScreenZen covers more ground: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and Android. Brick is phone-only, covering iOS and Android with no desktop app, though it is fully cross-platform between the two and one Brick can pair with many phones.
Fella requires no hardware and no delay configuration: selected iPhone apps stay blocked by default, with one 5-minute emergency unlock per session as the only exception.
