Cold Turkey Blocker: Free vs Pro, and Phone Alternatives

Cold Turkey Blocker is a Windows and Mac program: the free version blocks websites for a set time, and the one-off Pro licence adds app blocking, schedules and locks. It does not run on phones. For your phone, the Cold Turkey-style alternative is Beyond Alarm, whose Strict mode has no stop button and is free after one short ad.

The short version:

• For your phone: Beyond Alarm. Android and iPhone. Strict mode means no stop button until the timer ends, free after one short ad. On Android it can block the whole phone.
• Cold Turkey Free: website blocks for a set time, exceptions and statistics, on Windows and macOS.
• Cold Turkey Pro: adds app blocking, schedules, breaks and every lock. Pay once, for all the computers you personally use.
• Not supported by Cold Turkey: Android, iOS, ChromeOS and Linux.

Beyond Alarm is our app, and it is a phone app, not a desktop blocker. If your problem is the laptop, Cold Turkey is built for that. If it is the phone, read on.

Cold Turkey Blocker free vs Pro

Everything in this table comes from Cold Turkey's pricing page and homepage at the time of writing, 9 November 2026. Plans change, so check before you buy.

The page showed no price in its text when we checked; it sits behind the Purchase button. One purchase covers all the computers you personally use, and the FAQ says a full refund can be given within 30 days.

The homepage adds the features people mean when they say "Cold Turkey": blocking the entire internet or the whole computer, locking a block so it cannot be changed, weekly schedules and uninstall prevention ("No, you can't just uninstall it."). It works through browser extensions plus a desktop app.

Why Cold Turkey has no phone version

The pricing page is direct about it: Linux, ChromeOS, Android and iOS are not supported. That is a design choice, not an oversight. A desktop blocker can sit in every browser and watch every program; a phone app has to work through what Android and Apple allow.

So people who like Cold Turkey on the laptop end up searching for "Cold Turkey for Android" or "Cold Turkey for iPhone". What they want is the same feeling: a block that does not care how much you want it to stop.

The phone alternatives, compared

Freedom's plan details come from its Premium page on 9 November 2026. Beyond Alarm's are checked against its own code.

1. Beyond Alarm: the Cold Turkey feeling on your phone

Beyond Alarm's Phone Block is the on-demand block. Pick a preset (15 minutes up to 2 hours) or a custom length from 5 minutes to 8 hours, then choose what it blocks.

• On Android: the apps you choose, a saved list, or the whole phone. Calls still come through.
• On iPhone: the apps and categories you pick through Apple's Screen Time. iOS does not let any app block the whole phone, so we don't offer it there.

Then pick how hard it is to leave:

• Regular mode: stopping early takes a deliberate five-second hold, plus a short ad on the free version.
• Strict mode: there is no stop button at all. The timer is the only way out.

This is the closest thing to Cold Turkey's locked block on a phone, and it is free. You watch one short ad to the end and Strict mode is on; Pro users get it with no ad. Cold Turkey keeps its locks in Pro, and Freedom lists Locked Mode under Premium.

On Android, Beyond Alarm can also stop itself being uninstalled while you have that switched on, so deleting the app is not a back door.

The morning, too. Beyond Alarm started as an alarm. Its wake-up missions make you get up to stop it, and Morning Lockout keeps your chosen apps shut for 15 to 60 minutes once the mission is done, so the first scroll of the day never starts. Our free app blockers guide compares what each blocker really gives you for nothing.

2. Freedom

Freedom is the other name people pair with Cold Turkey, and the one of the two that does run on phones. At the time of writing its Premium page lists macOS, Windows, iOS, Android and Chromebook.

Its free plan blocks apps, websites or the entire internet and syncs sessions across devices. Scheduling, recurring sessions, Locked Mode and sessions over two hours are Premium, listed at $8.99 a month with a yearly plan and a one-off Forever plan as well. Our Freedom vs Cold Turkey comparison goes through both in detail.

3. The free built-in tools

Digital Wellbeing on Android and Screen Time on iPhone cost nothing and are already on your phone. They are a reasonable first test of whether you need a lock at all.

Their weak point is the one Cold Turkey was built to remove: the person being blocked can switch the limit off. That is why Screen Time limits stop working for so many people within a week.

Using both: Cold Turkey on the laptop, Beyond Alarm on the phone

The two do not overlap, which makes them easy to run together:

1. Laptop: a Cold Turkey block on the sites that eat your work hours.
2. Phone: a Beyond Alarm Phone Block in Strict mode for the same window, so the phone does not become the way round the laptop block.
3. Morning: a Beyond Alarm mission plus Morning Lockout, so the day starts upright instead of in a feed.

The second step is the one people skip. A blocked laptop with an unblocked phone beside it just moves the scrolling six inches to the left.

What we found building a phone blocker

We built Phone Block into our own app, so this point comes from our code rather than a feature page. What decides whether a block holds is the cost of stopping it at the moment you reach for the phone. One tap costs nothing. A five-second hold costs a decision. Strict mode costs the rest of the timer.

That is why Strict mode is free after one ad rather than locked behind a subscription: the setting that works should be the one anyone can use. For more phone-side options, see our comparison of the best app blockers for Android.

Sources

Cold Turkey and Freedom details are from each maker's own pages at the time of writing, 9 November 2026, and will change. Beyond Alarm's details are checked against its own code as of November 2026.

• Cold Turkey Blocker and its pricing page — platforms, Free vs Pro, licence, trial, refund.
• Freedom Premium — platforms, plans, price.