Apps to reduce screen time all promise the same number going down, but they get there by very different routes: some protect hours, some interrupt taps, some follow you across devices, and some wait for you at the places where the scrolling happens.
Before the ranking, a disclosure: we make one of the five, enough., and where another app fits your situation better, we'll say so.
If you're still deciding whether your screen time is a problem worth solving, how much screen time is too much is the place to start. Ratings and prices below come from the US App Store, checked this week.
1. Opal
App Store rating 4.7 from 83,913 ratings on the US App Store, as of 20 July 2026.
Price: Free tier + $99.99/yr Pro (source)
Platforms: iPhone, Android, Mac
Opal reduces screen time by defending chunks of it. Sessions cover the apps you choose, difficulty levels decide how hard the block pushes back, and an Opal Score tracks how your day went. It's the most polished app in this space and the most expensive, $99.99 a year for Pro. The free tier covers one schedule or limit, enough to know within a week whether the approach suits you.
Best for: people whose screen time comes in big, predictable blocks that need a fence around them.
2. Freedom
App Store rating 4.4 from 5,562 ratings on the US App Store, as of 20 July 2026.
Price: $39.99/yr (one-time Forever pricing varies) (source)
Platforms: iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, browser
Freedom is the only app here that treats your screen time as one problem across every screen you own. Sessions block sites and apps on your iPhone, laptop, and browser at once, Locked mode stops you editing a session once it starts, and you can block the whole internet if that's what it takes. Its iPhone rating (4.4) trails the others on this list, and the mobile experience is rougher than the desktop one. If your worst hours happen on a laptop, that trade is worth it.
Best for: people whose scrolling migrates to the laptop the moment the phone is handled.
3. one sec
App Store rating 4.8 from 23,198 ratings on the US App Store, as of 20 July 2026.
Price: Free tier + $19.99/yr Pro ($99.99 lifetime) (source)
Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android
one sec reduces screen time one open at a time. A breathing pause before your chosen apps launch gives you a moment to decide whether you actually want to go in, and in a published study that was worth about 57 percent fewer opens on average. It never blocks the app outright, which is either its charm or its flaw depending on what you need. At $19.99 a year for Pro, it's the cheapest subscription on the list.
Best for: cutting the dozens of small, unthinking opens rather than the one long nightly session.
4. enough.
Our app. Newer than the others here, with far fewer App Store ratings, so judge it on fit rather than review count.
Price: Free 7-day program + $49.99/yr Complete (source)
Platforms: iPhone
This is the one we make. enough. starts from where your screen time actually happens: specific places and specific hours. Set up your locations and schedules once, and the apps you chose are blocked when you're there, without a session to remember to start. Driving Protection blocks apps when you drive, and Insights shows you what changed. The honest limits: iPhone only, and we're the newest name on this page by a distance. The full 7-day program is free; Complete is $49.99 a year.
Best for: screen time with a pattern, the after-dinner couch, the workday, the hour before sleep.
5. BePresent
App Store rating 4.8 from 58,545 ratings on the US App Store, as of 20 July 2026.
Price: Free tier + $79/yr (source)
Platforms: iPhone
BePresent bets that you'll reduce screen time for other people before you'll do it for yourself. Streaks, daily goals, leaderboards, and group challenges put your numbers where friends can see them, and Beast Mode adds a hard lock for the hours that need it. With 58,000+ ratings at 4.8, the accountability model clearly holds for a lot of people. If it slips, it tends to slip all at once, when the streak breaks and the game loses its grip.
Best for: people who show up when someone's counting on them.
How to pick your app and actually reduce screen time
Name the shape of your problem first. Big lost blocks: Opal. Laptop and phone both leaking: Freedom. A hundred tiny opens: one sec. The same place, the same hour, every day: that's what we built enough. for. A need for witnesses: BePresent.
Then give one app two honest weeks before you judge it. The number doesn't drop the day you install; it drops when the setup matches the habit.
Ratings and prices checked on the US App Store, 20 July 2026.
