Comparison

Spool vs Nope

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Spool

This app helps break phone addiction by requiring users to justify app usage to an AI before opening. It tracks habits, identifies triggers, and uses cognitive behavioral techniques to build healthier screen time habits.

Highlights
  • AI-justified app access
  • Habit trigger identification
  • Dopamine cycle breaking techniques
  • Custom focus sessions
  • Daily AI insights
  • Screen time pattern tracking
Features
Read full description

Less scrolling, more living. Spool blocks doomscrolling, brainrot, and screen addiction at the source — by making you justify yourself before you scroll. Most screen time blockers don't work because they treat phone addiction like a discipline problem. It's not. It's a habit loop your brain is stuck in — a dopamine cycle reinforced every time you reach for your phone without thinking. Spool interrupts the cycle. Before any blocked app opens, you have to state your case to our AI. Use the same excuse too many times and Spool locks you out automatically. Built on cognitive behavioral techniques and behavioral research on attention and habit formation. WHY YOU'LL LOVE SPOOL - Understand your hidden triggers with daily AI insights - Track your phone addiction patterns over time - Discover when you reach for apps most (and why) - Instant app and website blocking that actually works - Schedule blocking windows for your weak hours - Lock in during deep work with custom focus sessions - Reflect on every excuse you've made and spot the loops - CBT-inspired techniques to break the dopamine cycle - Detox from doomscrolling, brainrot, and mindless scroll WHO IT'S FOR Spool is for anyone struggling with phone addiction, doomscrolling, or losing hours to TikTok, Instagram, Reels, YouTube Shorts, or X. Built for people who've tried Screen Time, willpower, and other app blockers — and want something that actually changes the habit, not just the limit. WHAT MAKES SPOOL DIFFERENT Other apps just block. Spool teaches you about yourself. Every excuse you make becomes data. Every reflection makes you more aware. Every blocked attempt strengthens the new habit. Reclaim your focus. Build a more intentional relationship with your phone. ————————————— Spool Full Access — Weekly Length: 1 week, auto-renewing Price: $4.99 USD / week Spool Full Access — Yearly Length: 1 year, auto-renewing Price: $44.99 USD / year Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://thespoolapp.com/#/privacy

About

Nope

This app helps you regain focus by hiding distracting content like Reels and Shorts on Instagram and YouTube. It offers granular control over what you see, allowing you to customize your social media and video browsing experience.

Highlights
  • Hide Instagram Reels
  • Hide YouTube Shorts
  • Disable Explore and Search
  • Hide Stories and suggested content
  • Disable video autoplay
  • Grayscale mode
  • Mindful pause feature
Features
Read full description

Hide Instagram Reels. Hide YouTube Shorts. Reclaim your attention. Nope is a free iOS App that turns off the parts of Instagram and YouTube built to keep you scrolling. One toggle hides Reels. One toggle hides Shorts. One toggle hides Explore, Stories, Suggested, autoplay, recommended videos, whatever pulls you in. Posts, watch pages, search and DMs keep working normally. INSTAGRAM: HIDE WHAT HIJACKS YOU • Disable the Reels page (sidebar, feed shelf, /reels/ URLs redirect home) • Disable the "For you" tab. Following stays pinned • Disable the Explore page • Disable Search • Hide Stories at the top of the feed • Hide "Suggested for you" in the sidebar • Disable video autoplay. Feed videos stay paused, no surprise audio YOUTUBE: A QUIETER FEED • Hide Shorts everywhere (sidebar, home shelf, search chip, channel pages) • Disable autoplay. The next video doesn't queue up • Disable thumbnail hover-previews • Hide comments on the watch page • Hide recommended and up-next videos • Hide the home feed. Opens to Subscriptions instead • Auto-redirect /shorts/ URLs to home EXTRA TOOLS WHEN YOU NEED THEM • Grayscale mode. Drains the color from the feed so it stops pulling at your eye • Mindful pause. A five-second pause asks why you're opening the site before letting you in 17 independent toggles across Instagram and YouTube. Flip on what bothers you, leave the rest. Changes apply immediatly, no reload required. FREE FOREVER. NO ACCOUNT. NO TRACKING. Nope is free. Not "free trial." Actually free. No subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no ads, no premium tier hiding the good features. There is no Nope account, because there is no Nope server. Every setting lives on your device. We never see what you browse, who you follow, or what you watch. Privacy-first isn't a marketing line here. It's the only way the app works. HOW IT WORKS 1. Install Nope from the App Store. 2. Open Settings, then Apps, Safari, Extensions, Nope, and turn it on for instagram.com and youtube.com. 3. Open the Nope app and flip toggles for what you want hidden. That's it. Open Instagram or YouTube in Safari and the distractions are gone. WORKS ON IPHONE AND IPAD Nope is a native Safari Web Extension. Universal app, one download, works on every iPhone and iPad you're signed in on. Same toggles, same look. Same controls are also available as a free Chrome extension for your laptop. Search "Nope" on the Chrome Web Store. WHY NOPE Reels and Shorts aren't a feature you asked for. They're an algorithm trained to keep you on the app one more minute, one more swipe. Nope doesn't lecture you, doesn't lock you out, doesn't slap a guilt-trip screen on the home tab. It just turns the noise off. The feed you came for is still there. Everything else stays hidden until you decide to bring it back. Two minutes to install. A lifetime of focus. Questions, feedback, bug reports: hi@nope-app.com

Screenshots

Spool4 screens
Nope3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Spool at 70% against Nope's 0%. Spool also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.5) and ratings volume (175 vs 4). Nope's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Spool sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Nope asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Spool holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spool has 175 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of Spool's written reviews are positive against 0% of Nope's.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Spool versus Nope: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpoolNope
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (175 ratings) — better2.5 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews70.3% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings175 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 10 days—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size464 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSpooli IncAdrien Blanc

Customer experience

Spool

All ratings175 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral1.7%
Negative11.4%
Written reviews64 reviews
Positive70.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative29.7%

Nope

All ratings2 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Spool

Subscriptions8
  • Spool Features Weekly Subscription$4.997 Days
  • Spool Weekly Subscription$7.997 Days
  • Full Access: Monthly$7.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Spool Premium Annual$25.001 Year
  • Full Access: Limited Time Offer7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Full Access: Yearly$34.991 Year
  • Full Access: Yearly7 Days trial$44.991 Year
  • Full Access: Yearly$44.991 Year
None

Nope

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Spool free?
Spool is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Nope free?
Nope is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Spool or Nope?
Spool is rated higher. Spool averages 4.4 out of 5 from 175 ratings, while Nope averages 2.5 from 4 ratings.
Do Spool or Nope have ads?
Spool shows ads; Nope does not.

Other comparisons