AppBlock hands you schedules, locations, Wi-Fi triggers, and an optional Strict Mode to assemble yourself. Fella has one rule already built: blocked, with one 5-minute unlock per session.
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AppBlock is the most configurable blocker in its category. It's built around profiles, preset blocking scenarios you can trigger by time, location, or Wi-Fi network, so work, study, sleep, and family dinner can each run their own rules automatically.
Fella isn't trying to be a system. There's no profile to build for each part of your day. Selected apps stay blocked for every session, and the only way in is the same 5-minute emergency unlock, gone the moment it runs out.
Pricing follows the same split. AppBlock's free tier caps you at 4-hour Quick Blocks, 2 profiles, one-day schedules, and a 12-hour Strict Mode ceiling, with Premium removing those limits. Fella is one plan, $9.99 a month or $34.99 a year, no free trial on either plan, with nothing held back behind a higher tier. Both run on Apple's Screen Time framework. What differs is how much you're asked to build versus how much is already decided.
Profiles are AppBlock's core idea. Instead of one blocking state, you build separate rule sets for different contexts, each with its own apps, schedule, and trigger. A location trigger can turn a profile on when you arrive somewhere, a Wi-Fi trigger can do the same when you join a specific network.
Strict Mode is the layer meant to stop you from undoing it all. It adds a cooldown of two to ten minutes before you can turn it off, a timer lock that holds your settings for a set duration like a week, or partner approval that requires someone else to unlock it. All three are opt-in, and none of them are how AppBlock behaves by default.
Pomodoro integration adds a work-break rhythm on top. A built-in timer structure syncs blocking sessions with focus and break intervals, which is a genuinely useful layer for structured work, but it's one more setting alongside the profiles, schedules, and Strict Mode options already in play.
Fella replaces all of that with one decision. Pick your apps once. There's no profile to assign them to, no trigger to configure, no Strict Mode to remember to arm before the moment you'll actually need it.
Usage-based schedules depend on the system reporting correctly. A documented issue lets apps get miscounted as still "in use" if you navigate away without force-closing them, which can throw off schedules that key off usage time. You can also compare the current no-cost choices in our free and paid app blocker options.
Location and Wi-Fi triggers depend on signals outside the app's control. Background location changes introduced with iOS 18 made location-based triggers fire unreliably for a stretch, sometimes not activating a profile until the app itself was opened. Later iOS updates reportedly improved this, but it can still misbehave on some devices.
Scale introduces its own limit. Once a schedule spans more than roughly 50 apps across all profiles, blocking can become inconsistent. None of this makes AppBlock unusual, since every third-party blocker on iOS runs on the same underlying framework and shares its constraints. It just means the more automation and configuration a system has, the more places a mismatch between plan and reality can slip through.
Fella has one state to keep working: blocked. No trigger to fire, no profile to activate, no usage count to get wrong. Fewer parts means fewer ways for the day to go differently than planned.
| At a glance | Fella | AppBlock |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking profiles | 1, used by every session | Multiple, built per context |
| Triggers to configure | None | Time, location, Wi-Fi |
| Strict enforcement | Default behavior | Opt-in Strict Mode, armed manually |
| Free tier limits | None, one plan | 4hr blocks, 2 profiles, 12hr Strict Mode cap |
| Daily choices | None | Ongoing |
No system to build before it works. AppBlock rewards the person willing to set up profiles, schedules, and triggers correctly. Fella works the moment you pick your apps, with nothing left half-configured.
No opt-in step between you and real enforcement. Strict Mode only holds if you turn it on, and the free tier caps how long it lasts. Fella's block isn't a setting you activate. It's the only mode the app has.
Nothing depends on your location or your Wi-Fi being read correctly. A trigger is one more thing that can fail silently. Fella doesn't need to detect anything about where you are to stay blocked.
AppBlock fits people who want a system, not a switch. If different parts of your day genuinely call for different rules, and you're willing to build and maintain profiles, schedules, and triggers to get there, its flexibility is the whole point.
Fella fits people who don't want to manage a system at all. If setting up multiple profiles just becomes one more thing to configure around, or if you've caught yourself never actually arming Strict Mode when it mattered, a single rule that's already on removes that step entirely.
The difference is maintenance, not intent. Both apps are trying to keep you off distracting apps. AppBlock asks you to keep building the system that does it. Fella just does it.
AppBlock is built around profiles, schedules, location triggers, and an optional Strict Mode you configure yourself. Fella has one mode: blocked, with one 5-minute unlock per session. AppBlock gives you a system to set up; Fella gives you a rule that's already decided.
AppBlock has a free tier limited to 4-hour Quick Blocks, 2 blocking profiles, one-day schedules, and a 12-hour maximum for Strict Mode. Premium removes those limits. Fella has one plan, $9.99 a month or $34.99 a year, no free trial on either plan, with no feature gated behind a higher tier.
Strict Mode adds a cooldown period, a timer lock, or partner approval before you can turn it off, but it has to be manually activated first, and the free tier caps it at 12 hours. Fella's block isn't a mode you arm. It's the only state the app has.
Yes. Reported issues include usage schedules miscounting apps left open in the background, location-based triggers behaving unreliably on some iOS versions, and inconsistent blocking once a schedule includes more than roughly 50 apps. Fella's single blocked-by-default state has far fewer moving parts to misfire.
They can automate when blocking turns on, which is useful for context-based routines like work or study. But a trigger that depends on location or network data is a trigger that can fail to fire. Fella doesn't depend on where you are. It stays blocked regardless.
AppBlock's premium tier unlocks unlimited profiles, longer schedules, and full Strict Mode duration, priced separately from the free tier. Fella is a single $9.99 monthly or $34.99 annually, no free trial on either plan, and every feature is included from the start.
People who want granular, context-based blocking, like different rules for work, study, sleep, or specific locations, and don't mind configuring and maintaining that system, may get more out of AppBlock's flexibility than Fella's single fixed rule.
Not a Pomodoro timer. Fella runs manual focus sessions and scheduled routines, but it has no built-in work-break cycle layered on top.
No. Fella doesn't use location, Wi-Fi, or usage-based triggers at all, so there's nothing for a signal failure to disrupt. Sessions and routines run the same way regardless of location or network.
