Blocky
Blocky vs ยท Unpluq
The Unpluq alternative where the key is the habit, not a tag
Unpluq blocks your apps until you pass a barrier, or tap a tag on your keychain. Blocky is a habit tracker: the apps you pick wait for the habit, read from Apple Health.
If you're looking for an Unpluq alternative, you already like the idea of a key you have to go and get. Unpluq blocks the apps you choose, and to open one you pass what it calls a distraction barrier: shake the phone for a while, tap a random pattern of buttons, scroll through blank space, scan a QR code, or hold the Unpluq Tag, an NFC tag on your keychain, to the phone.
Its own words: your Tag is your key. Without it, your chosen apps stay locked. You choose how hard each barrier is, block different apps on different schedules, and the app shows you the screen time you saved. It's on iPhone and Android. The free plan blocks two apps with two barriers; Unpluq Premium brings the Tag, the QR code and up to fifty apps a schedule.
But a key can't answer one question: did you do the thing you were putting off?
The key's the scale, not a keychain.
A barrier is a chore, not a habit
Shaking a phone for a while is annoying enough to stop a reflex, which is the point. But it's a chore with nothing behind it. The tag works whether you went for the run or not.
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
Weigh-in first, Instagram 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 you find the tag.
- Step on a smart scale in the morning. When the weight reaches Apple Health, Instagram is unblocked.
- Running, water, fasting, sleep and meditation work the same way.
- There's nothing to carry or lose. It all lives on your phone.
- 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. | Unpluq | |
|---|---|---|
| Blocks apps | Yes | Yesuntil you pass a barrier or tap the Tag |
| Unblocks when you do the habit | Yes | No |
| How you get around it | A gem buys 15 minutes, and it's on the record | Shake, tap, scroll, scan or hold the Tag to the phone |
| What it tracks | Exercise, sleep, water, fasting, weight, meditation, meals, medication and your own habits | The screen time you saved |
Which one is for you
If a physical key is what makes a block real for you, Unpluq is the thoughtful version of it, and it's on Android, where we aren't.
If the habit is what you're after, pick the habit tracker that makes the habit the key.
Seven days free, on iPhone.