Blocky
Blocky vs · Light Phone
The Light Phone alternative that lets you keep your phone
The Light Phone is a different phone with no feeds on it. Blocky is a habit tracker on the iPhone you have: the apps you pick wait until the run, the sleep or the fast is done.
If you're looking at a Light Phone, you want your phone to do less of something. The question is whether the answer is a second phone.
The Light Phone III is a phone built to never have social media, a browser, email, news or ads. Its own words: there are simply no infinite feeds. It has a camera, a wheel for the flashlight, and a menu of tools: alarm, calendar, directions, music, podcasts, rideshare, an authenticator. It costs $899 unlocked, or from $59 a month on a two-year Light Service plan.
Most Light Phone owners use it as their main phone. Some swap a SIM between it and the phone they already had.
Keep the phone. Run first.
A phone with less on it
The Light Phone's bet is a device with no feeds at all. That works, for the person who can live without WhatsApp, Spotify, a map that knows the traffic and a camera roll, or who's happy carrying two phones.
It's also an honest company. They say their business is selling you a phone, not your data, and they mean it.
But it asks you to give up the most capable thing you own.
The same phone, with a habit on it
Run first, Instagram second.
Blocky is a habit tracker on the iPhone you have. You pick the habit you keep skipping, then the apps that wait for it. It's blocked until the habit is done and unblocked the moment it is.
- Record the run with Strava or your watch. When it lands in Apple Health, Instagram is unblocked.
- Water, fasting, sleep, weigh-ins and meditation work the same way.
- A workout can't be ticked off by hand. The run has to be in Apple Health.
- Set a milestone if you like: halfway there unblocks some of your apps, and done unblocks the rest.
Maps still work. The camera still works. Your friends are still a message away. Phone, Settings and the apps you choose are never blocked. Only the apps you picked wait, and they wait for the habit, not a timer.
Side by side
| Blocky. | Light Phone | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An app on the iPhone you have | A second phone, or a replacement |
| The feeds | Blocked until the habit is done, then unblocked | Never there |
| Maps, music, messages, camera | Your iPhone's, as always | Its own tools, in black and white |
| What it costs | $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, after seven days free | $899 unlocked, or from $59 a month on a two-year plan |
| How you get around it | A gem buys 15 minutes, and it's on the record | Carry your old phone too |
Which one is for you
If you want a phone that can't scroll, ever, and you're ready to live without the apps that aren't on it, the Light Phone is a serious, well-made answer.
If what you want is a habit that sticks, on the phone you already have, get Blocky.
Seven days free, on iPhone.