Blocky
Blocky vs ยท Forest
The Forest alternative that opens your apps when the habit is done
Forest grows a tree while you stay off your phone. Blocky is a habit tracker: the apps you pick wait until the run, the water or the sleep shows up in Apple Health.
If you're looking for a Forest alternative, you probably planted a lot of trees first. Forest's idea is lovely: set a focus length, plant a tree, and in its own words, stay off your phone and a tree grows. Leave early and it withers.
It's a good focus timer and a kind one. Deep Focus blocks the apps you choose during a session and pulls you back if you switch. Giving up kills the tree, and Forest doesn't hide failed sessions. Time Guard blocks apps on a schedule outside a session. Coins from your sessions can plant real trees through Trees for the Future on Forest Plus. Friends can plant together, and if anyone gives up, the whole group's tree dies. It's on iPhone, iPad and Android, with a browser extension.
But a tree can't answer one question: did you do the thing you were putting off?
Eight hours in Health. Good morning.
A tree grows while you sit still
Forest is built for the hour you're at the desk. The tree grows because you didn't pick up the phone, not because you went for the run or got to bed on time. Once the session ends, the apps are back, whatever the rest of the day looked like.
That's a good way to use an app less. But if the goal is the habit, the app is only the leverage, and nothing here checks the habit.
Blocky starts with the habit
Sleep first, YouTube second.
Blocky is a habit tracker. You pick the habit you keep skipping, then the apps that wait for it. It stays blocked until the habit is done, not until a session runs out.
- Sleep seven hours with your watch on. When it reaches Apple Health, YouTube is unblocked in the morning.
- Running, water, fasting, weigh-ins and meditation work the same way.
- A workout can't be ticked off by hand. Apple Health has to show it.
- It bends for real life. Halfway there can unblock some apps early, and Phone, Settings and the apps you choose are never blocked.
Side by side
| Blocky. | Forest | |
|---|---|---|
| Blocks apps | Yes | Yesduring a focus session, and on a schedule with Time Guard |
| Unblocks when you do the habit | Yes | No |
| How you get around it | A gem buys 15 minutes, and it's on the record | Tap Give Up and the tree dies |
| What it tracks | Exercise, sleep, water, fasting, weight, meditation, meals, medication and your own habits | Your focused time, as trees |
Which one is for you
If you need an hour of focus at a desk and like seeing it add up, Forest is the gentlest timer there is, and the trees are real. It's on Android and in your browser, where we aren't.
If the habit you want is the run, the water or the early night, pick the habit tracker that knows whether you did it.
Seven days free, on iPhone.