Brick alternatives: NFC app blockers compared (Android and iOS, 2026)

Brick did something useful: it made “tap a physical object to unblock your apps” a normal idea. Two years later there are at least ten products built on the same gesture, and the differences between them are mostly not about the gesture. They’re about price, platform, subscriptions, and how strict the lock really is.

I make one of them (Lock, Android, free), so read this with that in mind. I’ve tried to keep the numbers straight and to say clearly where the others do things Lock doesn’t. Prices are what the vendors showed in August 2026; they change, and promos are frequent.

The short answer

• You’re on iPhone: Foqos (free, any tag) if you want the simplest thing, Brick if you want a polished puck and don’t mind $59.
• You’re on Android and want the physical gesture for free: Lock or Switchly with a €0.50 tag. Both do the core job. Lock is deliberately smaller; Switchly has more knobs.
• You want a branded object and no subscription: Brick ($59) or Bloom ($39 card).
• You want schedules and lots of unlock methods, and you’re fine paying yearly: Unpluq or Blok. Check the subscription terms before buying the tag.
• You don’t need hardware at all: Android’s Digital Wellbeing is free and honestly fine, as long as you can live with the “Ignore” button. That’s the whole reason the products above exist.

The table

The hardware is not the technology. A Brick puck and a €0.50 sticker hold the same thing: a serial number. The gesture is what you are buying.

Two things jump out. First, the hardware is not the technology. A Brick puck and a €0.50 NTAG213 sticker both hold a serial number that your phone reads when you tap. What you pay for with a branded object is the design and the packaging, which is fine, but it’s worth knowing. Second, “no subscription” needs checking: two of the products sell a physical tag that doesn’t work without a yearly plan.

Product by product

Brick ($59, iOS and Android)

The reference. Magnetic puck, battery-free, tap to block, tap to unblock. Strict Mode prevents uninstalling. The Android app arrived in September 2025 and is now solid.

What people like: it works, it looks good, there’s no subscription. What people don’t: the price for what is essentially an NFC chip in a nice shell; the five lifetime “emergency unbricks” (after which you email support and wait); the fact that, per several reviews, it needs an internet connection; and a fairly rigid model (full blocks only, no timed access, no daily limits). Reviewers at Forbes and NBC also noted people locking themselves out of Maps or calls after over-eager setup, which is a fair warning for every product on this list.

If you want the polished version and $59 isn’t a problem, it’s a good buy. It’s the one product here your parents have heard of.

Foqos (free, iOS only)

The closest thing to Lock on iPhone, and it’s excellent. Made by one developer, open source, no ads, no paywall, a $1.99 tip if you want. It reads any NFC tag or a QR code, has profiles and timers, and blocks app deletion during a session. It’s local-first and doesn’t run analytics.

Limits: iOS only (its own README sends Android users to Lock and Switchly, which is how some of you found this page), and until recently no emergency override at all, which is either a feature or a problem depending on your temperament. If you’re on iPhone, start here before spending money.

Unpluq (tag plus subscription, iOS and Android)

A rubberised tag on a small carabiner and an app with seven “barriers”: NFC tap, shake, tap pattern, scroll, QR and so on, plus scheduled blocks and 5-minute timed access. Portable by design, and it works offline once set up.

The catch is the model. The tag costs $22 to $30, and the app needs a yearly plan (figures seen in 2025 and 2026 range from about $35 to $66 depending on bundle and country). Reviews on Product Hunt also mention that on iOS the Screen Time permission can be turned off, which softens the lock. Good product if you want flexibility and don’t mind the yearly cost. Read the plan before buying the tag.

Bloom ($39 card, iOS and Android)

A stainless-steel NFC card, one-time price, lifetime app access, 30-day refund. It got a Shark Tank episode in 2026 and sells out regularly. Feature set is broad: app and website blocking, schedules, break timers, a child mode, emergency exits.

I couldn’t find much on how it handles data or accounts, and the card was out of stock when I checked, so treat this as “worth a look” rather than a recommendation. The price sits sensibly between a raw tag and a Brick.

Blok ($29 card, subscription, iOS and Android)

Card, keychain or magnet, plus an app. The pricing has moved around: Pro plans from about $30 to $60 a year, a “membership” tier, and paid emergency unlocks ($4.99 each after three free). One App Store review complains it was advertised subscription-free and wasn’t; the developer later changed the model. It’s also the company running the biggest SEO content push in this category, so if you googled “best app blocker 2026”, you probably read their ranking.

The Android version uses the Accessibility Service, same as Lock. Fine product, but between the yearly plan and paid unlocks, do the maths against a $59 puck or a free app.

Zenbox (€49.99, iOS and some Android)

A 3D-printed device from Germany, no subscription, monthly emergency unlocks, local data. Android support is limited to Pixel and Samsung. Small team, honest positioning. If you like the object, it’s the European answer to Brick.

Switchly and TapBlok (free, Android)

Two free Android apps that, like Lock, work with any tag. Switchly (Austria) has profiles, schedules, QR and barcode unlock, website and in-app blocking, and an offline build. TapBlok is Apache-licensed, supports emergency overrides from 30 seconds to 15 minutes, and integrates with Tasker.

If Lock feels too minimal for you, try Switchly next. That’s a sincere recommendation, not a polite one. Its comparison page describes Lock as “deliberately small, NFC-first”, which is accurate (it also lists Lock as closed source, which isn’t: the code is on GitHub under MIT).

Lock (free, Android)

Mine, so briefly. Android 14+, any NFC tag, up to five tags paired. Open source under the MIT license, so you can read exactly what the Accessibility Service is used for instead of taking my word for it. You choose the apps, tap to lock, tap to unlock. There is no button on the lock screen. Emergency unlocks are configurable and reset each session; sessions time out on their own after a few hours by default (you can push that to “never”); uninstalling always works. No account, no server, no analytics in the app; the only permission that matters is the Accessibility Service, and the support page explains exactly what it does. It’s free, and stays free.

What it doesn’t do: schedules, website blocking, iOS. If you need those, look at the entries above. If you want the gesture and nothing else, this is the smallest thing that does it. There’s a step-by-step setup guide if you want to see what the ten minutes look like.

Digital Wellbeing (free, built in)

Worth including because it’s what most Android users already have. App timers, Focus mode, Bedtime mode. It’s well made. Its problem is structural: every limit ends in a “Take a break” or “Ignore for today” button, and notifications keep arriving from paused apps. Google is reportedly testing a PIN on app limits, which would help. Until then, it’s a good tool for people who don’t need to be stopped, and no tool at all for the rest of us. I wrote more about why that button matters here.

One caveat for all the Android options

Everything on Android that blocks apps (Brick, Blok, Switchly, TapBlok, Lock, and the others) relies on the Accessibility Service. Android 17 introduces an opt-in Advanced Protection Mode that cuts non-accessibility apps off from that API. It’s off by default and aimed at high-risk users, but if you turn it on, no app blocker of this kind will work. Not specific to any product; just good to know before you buy hardware.

How to choose

Ask three questions:

1. Which platform? iPhone: Foqos or Brick. Android: Lock, Switchly, or Brick.
2. Do you want to pay once, monthly, or not at all? Brick, Bloom and Zenbox are one-time. Unpluq and Blok are yearly. Foqos, Lock, Switchly and TapBlok are free with a tag you buy anywhere.
3. Do you want to see the code? Foqos, Switchly, TapBlok and Lock are open source. It matters more than usual here, because these apps hold a permission that can read your screen; being able to check what they do with it is the whole trust question.
4. How strict do you need it? If you know you’ll talk yourself out of anything, look at the products with limited or no emergency exits (Brick’s five lifetime unbricks, Foqos). If you want the gesture but also a safety net, Lock, Switchly and Unpluq all give you configurable escapes.

Whichever one you pick, put the tag somewhere that makes you stand up. That decision matters more than the brand on the chip.