Beyond Alarm vs Opal

Opal and Beyond Alarm both put a shield over the apps you lose time to. Beyond Alarm adds two things Opal's listings don't describe: an alarm that gets you up, and a block that starts the moment you are.

The short answer

• Strict mode is free in Beyond Alarm after one short ad. No stop button until the timer ends.
• Morning Lockout starts when you beat your alarm, not at a fixed clock time.
• Whole-phone blocking on Android, with calls still allowed.
• Wake-up missions in the same app, including camera-counted push-ups, squats and jumping jacks — all free right now.

Side by side

Opal's column comes from its own Play listing, App Store listing and website at the time of writing (27 October 2026). "—" means its listing doesn't mention it.

Where Beyond Alarm pulls ahead

No subscription for the strict setting

In Beyond Alarm, Strict mode removes the stop button until the timer ends. A free user turns it on by watching one short ad; Pro users get it with no ad. Blocks run from 5 minutes to 8 hours.

Your alarm and your blocker agree

A schedule has to guess when your morning starts. Beyond Alarm's Morning Lockout begins the moment you finish your wake-up mission, so the apps you chose stay shut through the minutes when scrolling usually starts.

The whole phone, on Android

On Android, Beyond Alarm can block every app at once, with calls still coming through. That includes the browser, so there is no back door through a website. On iPhone it blocks the apps and categories you pick through Screen Time — tick Social once and next month's new app is covered too.

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 Opal offers

At the time of writing, Opal's listings describe focus sessions for a set length, recurring schedules, daily app limits, a Pomodoro timer, weekly reports, focus streaks and parental controls. Its App Store listing describes Deep Focus as a level you can't bypass or cancel, and lists a Hard Mode for timers. Its website says it runs on iPhone, Mac and Android. The App Store listing requires iOS 18 or later and shows several paid plans.

Switching from Opal

1. Install Beyond Alarm and allow Screen Time access on iPhone, or Accessibility on Android.
2. Rebuild your block list. On iPhone, tick whole categories in Apple's picker; on Android you can choose the whole phone instead.
3. Start a Phone Block for your next focus session and try Strict mode once.
4. Set your morning alarm, add a mission such as ten squats, and turn on Morning Lockout.
5. Once you're happy, end any Opal sessions still running so the two apps aren't shielding the same apps.

Sources

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

• Opal on Google Play
• Opal on the App Store
• Opal website