// Compare · Opal
Looking for an Opal alternative?
You set Opal up, and some nights you still end up in the app you blocked. This page puts Opal and Aegin side by side, with sources, so you can pick the one that fits how you actually slip.
Opal and Aegin at a glance
- Platforms
- Opal: iPhone, Android, Mac
- Aegin: iPhone (in App Review), Android, Windows, Mac
- Getting back in early
- Opal: Depends on the session. Pro’s Hard Mode is sold as “No way out”
- Aegin: Plead your case to the Judge, which can say no
- Setup
- Opal: You write the rules: schedules, time limits, open limits
- Aegin: No rules to write. A published schedule that tightens over weeks
- Free plan
- Opal: One rule
- Aegin: The full schedule and the Judge, with smaller daily allowances
- Paid (US)
- Opal: Pro $99.99 a year or $19.99 a month, $399 lifetime
- Aegin: Pro $99.99 a year or $12.99 a month
| Opal | Aegin | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone, Android, Mac | iPhone (in App Review), Android, Windows, Mac |
| Getting back in early | Depends on the session. Pro’s Hard Mode is sold as “No way out” | Plead your case to the Judge, which can say no |
| Setup | You write the rules: schedules, time limits, open limits | No rules to write. A published schedule that tightens over weeks |
| Free plan | One rule | The full schedule and the Judge, with smaller daily allowances |
| Paid (US) | Pro $99.99 a year or $19.99 a month, $399 lifetime | Pro $99.99 a year or $12.99 a month |
What Opal does well
Opal blocks apps on iPhone, Android and Mac with schedules, time limits and open limits, and it looks good doing it. The free plan gives you one rule. Pro adds unlimited rules and Hard Mode, which Opal describes as “No way out. You can’t turn Opal off.” Pro is $99.99 a year or $19.99 a month in the US, with a $399 lifetime option.
Where people report it slips
Opal enforces through iOS Screen Time access. On Opal’s own forum, users report removing that access in Settings in the middle of a session to get their apps back, and others report that scheduling a second Deep Focus session on top of a running one snoozed it. These are user reports about particular versions, and Opal may have fixed them since.
Opal community forum: request to lock Screen Time access behind a passcodeOpal community forum: “Bypass to Deep Focus FOUND”
How Aegin works instead
There is no Ignore button. The way in early is to plead your case. You type what you want to open and why, and the Judge, an AI that reads your reason against your own record, answers yes, not yet, or no. It can refuse.
You also don’t write rules. Aegin sorts your apps into three groups: Feeds (short video and social), Pull (games and long video) and Protected (anything you need, never locked). Feeds open in short windows and then rest. In the first week the rest is 15 minutes, about the length of one urge. After that it grows a step every few days, and a step only comes once you held two of your last three days. Nothing jumps, and nothing steps back on a bad day.
What Aegin can’t stop
On iPhone, Aegin runs on Apple’s Screen Time access, like every app blocker there. That access can be removed in Settings, and no app on the App Store can prevent it. On Android, Aegin leads with an Accessibility service, and Safe Mode sits below anything an app can reach. A second phone or a factory reset beats every consumer blocker, ours included. The bypass ledger lists each of these with sources.
Price
Aegin is free to start, and the limits work on the free plan. Pro is $12.99 a month or $99.99 a year in the US, and prices differ by country.
Try the Judge first
Tell it what you want to open and why, in your browser, with no account. Then decide.
Who wrote this. Aegin makes a competing product, so read this as information from an interested party. Every claim about another product links to its source, and prices are the US prices we read on the date below.
Names. Opal, Apple, Screen Time are the trademarks of their owners and are used only to identify the products discussed. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Right of reply. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Last reviewed 12 October 2026.