# Barrier: Screen Time For Focus — user reviews > 66 indexed App Store user reviews of Barrier by Haplo, LLC, rated 4.70/5 from 308 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/barrier-screen-time-for-focus/id6448244443/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/barrier-screen-time-for-focus/id6448244443.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 256 · 4★ 26 · 3★ 11 · 2★ 5 · 1★ 10 ## Newest reviews (15 of 66) ### 4/5 — 使いやすいが *2026-07-29* 非常にシンプルでわかりやすい操作。 だが、ゴブリンモードが簡単に解除できてしまうのと、たまに時間帯ブロックがうまくいかないのは不満。 ### 5/5 — cute funny and effective!! *2026-06-07* i downloaded it from positive reviews and the app really did improve to decrease my screentime. goblin mode is so funny especially seeing a picture of my crying face every time i open tiktok haha. edit after a week: i have found a loophole where after you watch an ad for a 10 minute screentime, the limit does not end unless you click on the app again. an update where shutting the app off after 10 minutes ends would be great. **Developer response:** Super happy to hear you’re enjoying the app! Please reach out to us at support@haploapp.com if you have any suggestions or issues in the future. ### 5/5 — Great app *2026-06-06* Really helps you stay in Check and if you slip up goblin mode can roast you and make you think about your decisions ### 4/5 — Good app *2026-05-30* Good but these adds take the piss mate **Developer response:** Not sure if “these adds take the piss” is a good thing or a bad thing😅 The intention is for the ads to be annoying. We hate ads as much as the next person, just makes our users want to open their addictive apps even less! Hopefully they are serving their purpose for you! ### 5/5 — AMAZING *2026-05-21* this is helping me to stop scrolling calm down, and study,also do more activities!🫶 **Developer response:** Amazing!! We’re really happy to hear barrier is working for you! If you encounter any issues or have any suggestions, please reach out to us at support@haploapp.con. ### 5/5 — 依存症を直すのに効くよ！ *2026-05-14* スマホ依存症の人は、まずやってみよ！ ### 5/5 — App Controversy and Irony *2026-05-13* I find it ironic that an app, mainly created to prevent doomscrolling, allows ads from TikTok. If this app really cared about helping people's phones addiction, it would not put ads in-between the unlock time, instead simply just a countdown. These admins are just money hungry. This is my only problem the rest of the apps's features work great. **Developer response:** Totally fair criticism! We actually like the “just a countdown” idea too. The reason we use ads is honestly simple: we wanted Barrier to stay free, and the ads help keep the lights on while we keep building the app. There’s also a bit of intentional irony to it. A countdown is already annoying, but having to watch an ad before opening TikTok makes it an even bigger deterrent from doomscrolling. Weirdly enough, that extra friction actually helps a lot of people. And to be fully upfront: yes, the ads make money. We’re okay with that as long as the app is genuinely helping people while staying free to use. Also, a secret that might make this better for you: if you turn on airplane mode before opening a blocked app, the ads can’t load, so you’ll just get the 30 second countdown. ### 4/5 — Worked for a while then it just broke randomly *2026-05-07, version 3.23* Reinstalled and it works now so ### 5/5 — The best app I’ve used *2026-04-26, version 3.22* This is the best app I’ve used so far. It really helped reduce my screen time. Thank you for making it free ### 4/5 — My streak keeps breaking for no reason *2026-04-18* It’s a good app and it’s working but for some reason my streak will just randomly break? I’m not sure why. Other than that really good nice job. ### 5/5 — Perfekt *2026-04-11* Erste App, die mal richtig gut funktioniert. Hab schon viele Flora oder andere ausprobiert aber da musste man immer zahlen und es hat nur gebuckt ### 5/5 — Sehr geiles Konzept *2026-04-01* Die App kann zwar noch ein wenig Feinschliff vertragen aber sie ist 10 mal besser als die normale Apple-Bildschirmzeit, lustig und GRATIS. Finde es eine Frechheit dass man für solche Apps Geld verlangt das ist hier viel besser ### 5/5 — Best blocker app *2026-03-12* Best blocker app for reducing screen time ### 5/5 — Ads *2026-03-03* You should always put ads but only for 30 sec. We have to wait anyway! ### 4/5 — This app is awesome *2026-02-25* This app is great but if definitely needs the ability to have a certain amount of time per day and when you run out of time you can’t use the apps anymore. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Often does not work *2026-06-25, version 4.0* When the app works it's fantastic but so often it does not block at the correct times or remains blocked at incorrect times. ### 1/5 — Horrible *2026-03-22, version 3.22* the custom schedule doesn’t unlock when it’s supposed to. Annoying, time-wasting design ### 1/5 — Not blocking all the apps *2025-10-14* It is not blocking all the apps I chose for it to block especially Instagram and TikTok ### 1/5 — Warning *2025-01-17* This App allows gambling ads to be shown. This sort of App may be chosen by people with addiction issues. **Developer response:** Hi FromNewcastleNSW, We’re so sorry you encountered gambling ads while using our app. Obviously not a good experience for our users considering our mission is to mitigate the addictive nature of certain apps. Our ad suppliers are instructed to restrict this type of content, so thank you for bringing it to our attention. We take the well-being of our users seriously and will follow up immediately to ensure this doesn’t happen again. If you have any further concerns, please feel free to reach out directly (support@haploapp.com). Thank you, Barrier Support Team ### 1/5 — Very Glitchy *2025-01-03* Not only can you not make edits to the timer or the length of time it takes to unlock the access to your apps, when you do wait for the 30 - 45 second ad to finish, Barrier doesn’t unlock the apps half the time, so you have to start over. Also, don’t delete the app before unlocking your other apps. Fun little tidbit that brought me to this review page because I have to reinstall it to unlock my apps. ### 2/5 — Blocking *2026-06-17* I put a blockiing after 6 Sonja don't doom scroll all night but after a while it stopped blocking me. Idk why. When I go into the app if says its blocked but when I click on an app it isint blocked. ### 3/5 — Not locking *2026-04-25, version 3.22* Hasn’t been locking after time is up I have to lock it myself ### 3/5 — Violent ads *2026-03-08* Unfortunately many of the ads that block your use are for very violent games. I just can’t. ### 3/5 — Great app when it works *2025-12-04* Very helpful and I loved it initially. But if you unlock your apps for any reason, those apps have a nasty tendency to stay unlocked. Which of course defeats the purpose of this. I still use it and go into troubleshooting mode whenever that happens, but the app could be more reliable **Developer response:** Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback and for continuing to use the app even when it’s frustrating. We are currently investigating this exact issue and are actively working on a fix that we hope to ship in the next release. If you’re willing, we would really appreciate it if you could email us more details about when this happens at support@haploapp.com. Your feedback directly helps us make the app more reliable for everyone. ### 3/5 — Was good *2025-11-06* This app was great and did what it said. However since the last IOS release it has not been working for me. I raised a support request but no response. It works as per the scheduler but once unlocked for the 10mins it no longer locks back up again. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great app *2026-07-30* Barrier is overall better and more valuable than other app blockers. Barrier isnt just a hollow app that gives you nothing unless you pay. It has helped my sleep, productivity, and anxiety. This is the best app blocker on the market. ### 5/5 — Goblin-Modus 🤣🔥 *2026-07-22* Einfach top! ### 5/5 — Best app ever *2026-07-21* I have tried so many screen time app and this one by farrrr and it’s free. I have been so much more productive and happier. You can customize what hours of the day you want certain apps off of and it I love the methods to keep you off the app I think it’s so funny and smart. Literally recommending this to everyone I know. 100% try it out!!!! ### 5/5 — Awesome *2026-07-14* Cut my screen time in half and it was so much better than the last one I had ### 5/5 — Does what I need it to do ! *2026-07-10* Gives me time to think twice and not mindlessly scroll my life away. ### 5/5 — Me *2026-07-06* It’s incredibly helpful when it comes to reducing our daily screentime **Developer response:** Thanks so much for your kind words! We're thrilled to hear that our app is helping you reduce your daily screen time. Your feedback motivates us to keep improving. Enjoy your time away from the screen! ### 5/5 — Super App, gute Funktionsweise *2026-07-05* Die App funktioniert sehr gut. Ich konnte meine Bildschirmzeit von 4,5h täglich auf 2h senken. Besonders im Kobold-Modus ist die App sinnvoll, da man dort teilweise 2-3 Minuten Werbung schauen muss und man es sich in dieser Zeit häufig anders überlegt. **Developer response:** Vielen Dank für das tolle Feedback! Es freut uns sehr zu hören, dass die App dir geholfen hat, deine Bildschirmzeit so erfolgreich zu reduzieren. Der Kobold-Modus ist wirklich ein praktisches Feature, und wir freuen uns, dass er dir so gut gefällt. Viel Spaß weiterhin beim Nutzen der App! ### 5/5 — This is so funny and amazing! *2026-07-02, version 4.1* ITS FREE AND YOU HAVE TO TRY GOBLIN MODE COME ON! ### 5/5 — Worth it *2026-06-22* The exact app I was looking for. Creates resistance when opening a blocked app and has a timer when you open the app to prevent doomscrolling. And it’s free. **Developer response:** Thank you so much for the kind words! 😊 We're so happy Barrier is doing exactly what you were looking for. Hearing that it's helping create just enough resistance to cut down on doomscrolling is exactly why we built it. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review—it really means a lot to our small team and helps more people discover the app. We hope Barrier keeps helping you stay focused! 💙 ### 5/5 — THIS IS SO GOOD *2026-06-08, version 4.0* this app is so good, it blocks you out and makes you wait if your trying to doomscroll so good --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-07.*