How to Block Apps on Android: Built-in vs an App

To block apps on Android, either use the built-in Digital Wellbeing (App timers and Focus mode) or install a blocker. The built-in tools are easy to undo. For a block you can't talk yourself out of, use Beyond Alarm's Phone Block: free, no root, and Strict mode has no stop button.

The short version:

• Beyond Alarm blocks chosen apps, or the whole phone, for as long as you set. Strict mode has no stop button until the timer ends, and starting it costs one short ad. Calls still come through.
• App timers (Digital Wellbeing) close an app once you hit a daily limit, and reset at midnight.
• Focus mode (Digital Wellbeing) pauses chosen apps, but has a Take a break button.
• App pinning locks the phone to one app, which is useful when you hand it to someone else.
• No root is needed for any of these.

Every way to block apps on Android, compared

The column that matters is the third one. A block you can lift in two taps is a reminder, and a reminder works right up until the moment you most want the app.

Option 1: Beyond Alarm's Phone Block (the one that holds)

We built Phone Block for the moment Digital Wellbeing gives way: when you've already decided to scroll and only a harder wall would stop you.

1. Install Beyond Alarm, open Phone Block and tap Block now.
2. Under What to block, choose Chosen apps and tick the ones you want gone, or choose Whole phone.
3. Pick how long: a quick chip or Custom.
4. Under How strict, choose Regular mode or Strict mode.
5. Tap Block for your chosen time.

The two modes are named in the app exactly as they work:

• Regular mode: "To leave early, watch an ad." Then you hold the button for five seconds. Lift early and it starts again from zero.
• Strict mode: "Watch an ad to start. No stop button until it ends." The running block shows "Runs to the end".

Once a block is running, you can add time but not take it off: the app's own line is "Time only ever gets added, never taken off." On a whole-phone block, calls still come through and there's a Make a call button.

Turn on Prevent app uninstall in Settings as well. While a block is running, the app won't let you switch that guard off, so deleting the blocker isn't a quick way out either.

Option 2: Digital Wellbeing App timers

Good for a daily cap on one app. Google's Digital Wellbeing guide gives the steps:

1. Open Settings → Digital Wellbeing → App timers.
2. Next to the app, tap Set timer, choose a time and tap OK.

"When you run out of time, the app closes and its icon dims," Google says, and "app timers reset at midnight." The catch is in the same guide: to use the app again early, you "delete the app timer", which takes seconds. There is a PIN for app time limits option, but a PIN you set yourself is a PIN you know.

Steps vary by phone; Google notes "some of these steps may vary based on your device". On Samsung, Digital Wellbeing sits under Settings → Digital Wellbeing and parental controls. Why limits like these tend to fail is covered in why screen time limits don't work.

Option 3: Digital Wellbeing Focus mode

Better when you want several apps gone at once, such as during work or revision.

1. Open Settings → Digital Wellbeing → Focus mode.
2. Choose the apps to pause.
3. Tap Turn on now, or Set a schedule for it to start on its own.

Google says "you can't use these apps and won't get notifications from them" while it's on. It also offers Take a break "to temporarily unpause apps", and Turn off now ends it. That button is one tap from the app you wanted.

For a schedule of your own at night, see how to block apps at night automatically.

Option 4: App pinning

App pinning isn't a blocker, but it's the strongest built-in lock. Google's app pinning page says you can "pin an app's screen to keep it in view until you unpin it."

Turn it on under Settings → Security → Advanced → App pinning (the path varies), then pin an app from the Overview screen. With it on, "you need to enter your PIN, pattern, or password before you can unpin." It's ideal for handing a phone to a child with one game open, and of little use against yourself, since you know the PIN.

Which one should you use?

Morning lockout is the one most blockers don't have. You attach it to an alarm, choose the apps, and they stay blocked for the time you set after the alarm rings, every morning that alarm goes off. Blocking social media after your alarm explains why that first half-hour matters.

Before you rely on any blocker

Test it the way you'll actually use it. Start a short block, open a blocked app, and try every exit you know: the Recents screen, Settings, a restart.

Also open the blocker after any big system update, since some phones reset permissions. Why app blockers stop working after an update lists what to recheck. For more free options side by side, see our free app blocker for Android guide.

Sources

Checked on 13 November 2026.

• Android Help: Manage how you spend time on your Android phone with Digital Wellbeing
• Android Help: Pin & unpin apps on your Android device