one sec alternatives: free, Android and iPhone

What one sec does, and the study behind it

one sec puts a short pause in front of the apps you choose. In the version that was studied, opening a chosen app meant a 10-second delay with a moving screen, then a choice: go in or close it. It's free for one app; one sec pro costs $19.99 a year, $6.99 a month or $99.99 for life. It has 23,739 App Store ratings averaging 4.8.

It's also the only app here with a peer-reviewed study. Grüning, Riedel and Lorenz-Spreen (PNAS, 2023) followed 280 people for six weeks:

• 36% of the time someone tried to open a target app, they closed it again after the pause.
• 37% fewer attempts to open those apps by week six than in week one.
• 57% fewer actual opens after six weeks. That's the figure one sec quotes; it counts opens, not minutes spent.

One of the authors, Frederik Riedel, makes one sec. The study supports the idea every app on this page builds on: a moment of friction at the instant you open an app changes what you do next.

Why people look for an alternative

Searches for one sec alternatives mostly add "free" or "Android": the free version covers one app, and people want the same thing on their Android phone. The third reason is in the study itself: about two times in three, people still went in after the pause. Some want the pause to ask more of them. The table covers all three.

How we compared

Every fact comes from each app's own App Store page, Google Play page or website, checked on 23 October 2026. Where an app doesn't say something, the table says not stated instead of guessing. We make Sorry Scroll, so it's listed with the same columns as the others.

Which to choose

• The same pause, free, on every app: ScreenZen.
• A pause with challenges and accountability: ClearSpace.
• A pause that adds up to something (a language, or moving more): Sorry Scroll.
• Your own habits should pay for scrolling: Habit Doom.
• A pause isn't enough, you need the app closed: Opal, or Brick for a physical lock.
• You're happy with one sec and only use one app: stay on one sec's free version.

Each alternative in a few lines

ScreenZen

The closest thing to one sec, and free. You set a wait before each distracting app opens, and the wait can get longer each time you open the same app. It also does short check-ins, daily open limits and schedules by day and time.

Best if you like one sec's pause and want it on every app for free. Watch out: No research of its own to point to, and it doesn't ask anything of you beyond waiting.

ClearSpace

Before a chosen app opens, you take a deep breath and decide whether to go in. It adds time limits and screen-time challenges, plus a Chrome extension.

Best if you want a pause with challenges and accountability around it. Watch out: Its listing doesn't say which features are free, so check before you count on it.

Sorry Scroll

The pause becomes a 30-second step toward a goal you pick: two new words of English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese or Korean, or a guided move like a plank or box breathing. Do it and the app unlocks for 15 to 60 minutes; skip it up to 3 times a day, or close the app.

Best if you want the moment you'd spend waiting to add up to something. Watch out: New, with no App Store ratings yet, and no published study like one sec's.

Habit Doom

Locks apps until you check in a habit you set yourself, like the gym or reading, with an optional photo check.

Best if your own routine should pay for scrolling. Watch out: You set up and prove each habit yourself.

Intentional

Instead of a pause, an AI asks why you want the app; a good reason buys a few minutes.

Best if what stops you is having to say the reason out loud. Watch out: iPhone only; very new (7 ratings).

Opal

A strict blocker rather than a pause: sessions, schedules and limits that keep apps closed until they end. Hard Mode stops you ending a session early.

Best if a pause isn't enough and you need the app closed. Watch out: The free plan is 1 rule; Hard Mode is Pro.

Brick

A physical device: tap your phone on the Brick to lock apps, and tap it again to unlock. If the Brick is at home, the apps stay locked.

Best if you want a block you can't talk yourself out of. Watch out: You have to buy and carry (or deliberately not carry) the device.

What's already on your phone

iPhone Screen Time and Android's Digital Wellbeing app timers are free and set a daily limit per app. They don't pause you at the moment you open the app, which is the part one sec's study measured.

More apps that ask for a task instead of a pause: app blockers that make you do something first. Mostly about Instagram? See apps that make you pause before Instagram, including what each does to your messages.