Both start blocked.
Only one stays that way.

unhookd is the closest thing to Fella's own philosophy. It's built around the same core idea: apps should be locked by default, not left open with a limit you set and can quietly raise. No single tap undoes it. That starting position is genuinely rare in this category, and it's worth taking seriously rather than dismissing.

The two apps diverge in how the exception is built. unhookd gives you two ways back in: Slots, which are scheduled windows that open automatically, and Peeks, which are typed-reason access grants that scale with your subscription tier. Fella gives you one way back in: a single 5-minute unlock, once per session, that doesn't change no matter what you're paying.

Pricing reflects the same split. unhookd's free tier covers 3 apps, 2 slots, and 5 peeks a day, and PRO, around $6.99 a month or $49.99 a year, removes every one of those caps. Fella is one plan, $9.99 a month or $34.99 a year with a 3-day free trial, and the unlock per session is identical whether you've just started your trial or been subscribed a year. Both run on Apple's Screen Time framework. The difference is whether upgrading buys you more access or just more app selection.

A slot is a planned exception, not an emergency one. You set it in advance, like lunch or after work, and when that window arrives, the app opens automatically. No typing, no peek, no friction at all in the moment. Free accounts get 2 slots a day. PRO removes the limit entirely.

That's a genuinely different model from Fella's. Fella has no concept of a recurring open window. There's no lunch slot, no evening slot, nothing that opens on a schedule. The only access is the one unlock per session, and it has to be spent deliberately in the moment, not pre-planned days in advance.

Planned windows can be useful, and they can also become the new default. A slot you set once keeps opening every day without you having to decide again, which is convenient right up until the slot itself becomes the thing you build your day's scrolling around. Fella doesn't offer that convenience, on purpose.

A peek is unhookd's version of an emergency unlock. You choose 2, 5, 10, or 20 minutes, type a reason, and the app opens for that window. The typing step is real friction, and it's a smart design choice: naming why you want in makes the decision visible instead of automatic.

But the cap on peeks isn't fixed. It's a subscription tier. Free accounts get 5 peeks a day. unhookd PRO removes that number entirely, unlocking unlimited peeks alongside unlimited slots and up to 50 apps. That means the only thing standing between a PRO subscriber and the app all day is typing a reason, repeatedly, for as many 20-minute windows as they're willing to type through.

Fella's unlock doesn't move with the plan. one 5-minute emergency unlock per session, once per session, on the $9.99 monthly plan, the $34.99 annual plan, or the 3-day free trial. There's no tier where paying more buys you more access. The cap is the product, not a limit removed by upgrading.

Run the numbers on a PRO account. Five separate 20-minute peeks, each requiring only a typed sentence, adds up to 100 minutes of access in a single day, and there's no daily count stopping a sixth. The friction is real in the moment, but it's the same kind of friction as ClearSpace's breathing exercise or AppBlock's Strict Mode toggle: cleared by effort, not blocked by a rule.

Fella's math doesn't change no matter how the day goes. Five minutes, once, and then it's gone until tomorrow. There's no sixth peek to type your way into, because there's no peek at all, just the one unlock that was already spent or wasn't.

This isn't a knock on unhookd's design. A typed reason is a meaningfully higher bar than a single tap, and for a lot of people that's enough. It's just a different bet than Fella's: unhookd bets that naming the impulse will usually be enough to stop it, tier by tier. Fella bets that on the days naming it isn't enough, the number of chances left should already be zero.

The daily limit isn't for sale. unhookd's structure means paying more literally buys more access. Fella's single unlock is identical on every plan, so there's no upgrade that quietly loosens the one rule that matters.

No scheduled window to build a habit around. A slot that opens itself every day at the same time stops feeling like an exception and starts feeling like the plan. Fella never opens on its own.

One number to remember, not a running tally. Peeks used, slots left, minutes remaining across four possible lengths, is more to track than a single unlock per session that's either spent or isn't.

unhookd fits people who want planned, recurring access. If a scheduled lunch or evening window covers your real use, and typing a reason is usually enough friction to stop an impulsive check, its slots-and-peeks model gives you more built-in flexibility than Fella does.

Fella fits people who don't trust a cap that can move. If knowing that PRO unlocks unlimited peeks would eventually tempt you to upgrade just for the access, a plan where the daily limit is fixed no matter what you pay removes that temptation from the equation entirely.

Both apps agree on the hardest part. Blocked by default beats a limit you set yourself. Where they disagree is whether the exception should be able to grow.