I’ve been using the free version of Cold Turkey blocker on my Mac for a while now, but it doesn’t offer an iOS/iPad app, so there’s nothing to stop me from just picking up my phone to fuck about online when I should be working, so I’m not keen on spending £30 on the full app.
There are other alternatives like Freedom.to, but they want £3 a month / £25 a year, and there’s a bit of me that rejects the idea of having to pay a recurring fee for the maintenance of what is essentially just a glorified IP block list. It feels kinda predatory, like those of us with ADHD have been fucked over by apps and sites being designed to be little dopamine boxes, and they have the only solution, but we have to pay for it.
So, do any of you use a similar app? If so, what, and how much does it cost?
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I use "Focus Plant: Pomodoro timer" on Android, but there is an iPhone version too. It's free, with ads, but there is a subscription that removes them. I can only speak to how it works on Android, but in addition to blocking other apps (or at least adding a barrier to get to them) it gamifies things by letting you earn "raindrops" for focusing. Those are used to water little plant monsters, which there are a ton of. You can set a specific timer, regular or pomodoro, or just a count up, and it will show you a little icon for other people who are also currently focusing, which is kind of nice. It's a bit silly, but the added layers of game and very light social aspect add a little that help me personally. It's very usable with ads if you want to try it without committing money. I personally subscribe because it makes some of the game bits (sort of loot crates) more fun, but that's definitely optional. (Good grief this sounds like I'm astroturfing for the company. I'm not, I just tried a bunch of other apps too, and this one has a combination of features that helped my dumpster fire of a brain.)
That reminds me of an app I used to use called Forest, that would kill a tree I was growing if I dared to leave the app for more than 30 seconds. The only trouble was that I couldn't set any exceptions, so if I took a phone call, or opened Messages to reply to a text, my tree would die.
Might take another look, see if they've added that since.
The paid version of Forest lets you block certain apps, if you just need to stop yourself from opening some apps on your phone. Doesn't solve allowing you to open some sites, but not others, or for anything on your PC, but might still be useful.
Yeah, it's been a while since I used Forest, so either that was there all along, but I wasn't willing to pay, or they've added it since.
Everyone here is providing some great suggestions, but if I may, I'd like to challenge you to think of it a different way…
How can you set up your life so that work becomes a distraction from your phone?
Anytime I'm distracted it's usually because I'm not engaged enough. This might mean asking my employer for more challenging work, switching jobs, or creating a side hustle to become my new job.
You should sign up and install the free service NextDNS (https://nextdns.io). Not only does it block ads and trackers on apps and websites, but it also has a feature called “parental control” which lets you block specific apps, games or websites and you can choose specific time intervals. You should give it a go.
Also, download this free app: https://one-sec.app
“Delay distracting apps and websites
one sec forces you to take a deep breath whenever you open social media apps. It’s as simple as effective: Friction removes instant gratification and makes distracting apps less appealing.”
Thanks for those links!
No problemo. We’re here to help each other.
I had some luck with Focused Work, which is on Mac/iPad/iPhone, but I was using it more for the pomodoro features than the blocking.
What I liked about it was that I could add Shortcuts to do things like activate a Focus Mode when I was in a pomodoro, or play some focus music.
Cheers! I'll look into that.
