The cheapest app blocker for iPhone that actually works

There are free ways to limit your phone, and there are paid blockers that run $6 to $20 a month. Here's how to pick one that's cheap and actually stops you.

Free options, and their catch

• Apple Screen Time limits. Built in and free, but one tap on "Ignore Limit" and you're back in.
• A Screen Time passcode someone else sets. Free and strong, but it locks your whole Screen Time settings, and someone has to be next to you to type it in every time.
• Deleting the app. Free, and undone in ten seconds from the App Store.

What to look for in a paid blocker

• You can't turn it off yourself. If there's an off switch you control, you'll use it.
• It blocks the website too. Otherwise you just open tiktok.com in Safari.
• You can't delete it to escape.
• A fair way to get time back when you genuinely need it, without giving up the whole thing.

Brainrot: $1.99 a month

Brainrot: Partner App Blocker checks all four. Someone you trust picks a 4-digit code you never see, apps and their websites are locked, Brainrot can't be deleted while locked, and you can ask your partner for 15 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours from a link. It's 2 weeks free, then $1.99 a month.