Beyond Alarm vs Freedom

Freedom and Beyond Alarm both stop you opening distracting apps on your phone. The question is what the "no way out" setting costs, and whether your blocker knows when your morning starts.

The short answer

• Strict mode is free in Beyond Alarm after one short ad. Freedom's Locked Mode is Premium at the time of writing.
• Long blocks for free. Beyond Alarm's Phone Block runs from 5 minutes to 8 hours with no subscription.
• Alarm and blocker in one app. Morning Lockout starts when you beat your alarm.
• Whole-phone blocking on Android, calls still allowed.

Side by side

Freedom's column comes from its own Premium page and Play listing at the time of writing (27 October 2026). "—" means its listing doesn't mention it.

Where Beyond Alarm pulls ahead

The strict setting doesn't need a subscription

Beyond Alarm gives you two strengths. Regular mode lets you leave early only after a short ad and a continuous five-second hold. Strict mode has no stop button: the timer is the only way out. Free users turn Strict mode on by watching one short ad, and Pro users get it with no ad at all.

A block that starts when you wake up

Freedom's scheduled sessions run at clock times. Beyond Alarm's Morning Lockout starts the moment you finish your wake-up mission, so the apps you lose mornings to stay shut through the minutes that matter, whatever time you actually got up.

Built for the phone

On Android, a whole-phone block shuts every app, including the browser, with calls still coming through, and blocks carry on after a restart. On iPhone, Beyond Alarm shields the apps and whole Screen Time categories you pick.

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 Freedom offers

At the time of writing, Freedom's Premium page lists a free plan that blocks apps, websites or the whole internet, syncs sessions across unlimited devices, and includes custom blocklists and focus sounds. Premium adds scheduled, recurring and advance sessions, Locked Mode, which it says "prevents quitting", and sessions longer than two hours. It lists Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Chromebook. Prices shown were $8.99 a month, $3.33 a month on the yearly plan with a 7-day free trial, and a one-off Forever plan at $99.50, shown as half of $199.

Switching from Freedom

1. Install Beyond Alarm and give it Accessibility access on Android, or Screen Time access on iPhone.
2. Recreate your phone blocklist as a saved block list. On iPhone, tick whole categories so new apps are covered too.
3. Start a Phone Block for your next focus session and choose Strict mode.
4. Set your morning alarm, add a mission, and turn on Morning Lockout.
5. If you use Freedom on a computer, you can keep it there — Beyond Alarm looks after the phone.

Sources

Checked on 27 October 2026. Plans and prices change, so check them before relying on any detail. Beyond Alarm's details are checked against its own code.

• Freedom Premium — plans, Locked Mode, prices, platforms
• Freedom on Google Play