Beyond Alarm vs Digital Wellbeing

Digital Wellbeing ships with Android and costs nothing, which makes it a sensible first try. Beyond Alarm is what you install when you want a block that doesn't end the moment you ask it to.

The short answer

• Beyond Alarm's Strict mode has no stop button, and is free after one short ad. Focus mode has "Turn off now".
• Whole-phone blocking, with calls still allowed.
• Morning Lockout starts when you beat your alarm.
• An alarm with eleven missions, including camera-counted push-ups, all free right now.

Side by side

Digital Wellbeing's column comes from Google's own help page and Play listing at the time of writing (27 October 2026). "—" means neither mentions it.

Where Beyond Alarm pulls ahead

A block with no "turn off now"

Google's help page says Focus mode can be paused with "Take a break" or ended with "Turn off now". Beyond Alarm gives you two firmer options. Regular mode lets you leave only after a short ad and a continuous five-second hold — long enough to turn a reflex into a decision. Strict mode has no stop button at all. Free users unlock Strict mode with one short ad.

The whole phone, not just a list

Pick the whole phone and every app is shut except calls — the browser included. During a whole-phone block, Android's Settings app is sent back to the block screen, which closes the usual way out. Beyond Alarm can also stop itself being uninstalled, and blocks carry on after a restart.

Your mornings

Beyond Alarm is an alarm too. You stop it by finishing a mission — maths, a photo, a barcode, or ten squats counted by the camera — and Morning Lockout starts straight away, keeping the apps you chose shut while you get going.

Beyond Alarm

Beyond Alarm does this part for you: the alarm will not switch off until you have actually moved, and the apps you pick stay locked afterwards.

What Digital Wellbeing offers

According to Google's help page and its Play listing at the time of writing, Digital Wellbeing shows a dashboard of screen time, app opens and notifications. App timers set a daily limit per app; when time runs out the app closes and its icon dims until midnight, unless you delete the timer. Bedtime mode can turn the screen to greyscale and silence notifications on a schedule or while charging. Focus mode pauses chosen apps and their notifications, and can run on a schedule. It is found in your phone's Settings.

Switching from Digital Wellbeing

1. Install Beyond Alarm and allow Accessibility when it asks — that is what lets it block apps on Android.
2. Open the reliability screen and follow its battery and autostart steps, especially on Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO or realme phones.
3. Make a block list from the apps you had in Focus mode.
4. Start a Phone Block for your next focus session and try Strict mode once.
5. Set your morning alarm with a mission and turn on Morning Lockout.
6. Keep Digital Wellbeing's dashboard if you like the numbers; turn off Focus mode schedules that overlap your Beyond Alarm blocks.

Sources

Checked on 27 October 2026. Google updates Android often, so check the help page for your version. Beyond Alarm's details are checked against its own code.

• Google: Manage how you spend time on your Android phone with Digital Wellbeing
• Digital Wellbeing on Google Play