Spool vs ReelBlock

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

Free. No account, no sign-up, no subscription, no server. You sign in to Instagram itself, inside Apple's own web view, exactly as you would in Safari. ReelBlock never sees your password. Your settings, your timer and your statistics are stored on this phone and are never uploaded anywhere, because there is nowhere to upload them to. Nothing is collected and nothing is sold. WHAT IT DOES ReelBlock opens Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook with the endless bits removed. Your friends, your DMs and your stories stay. The Reels tab, the For You page, Explore and the suggested posts do not. FIVE WAYS TO USE IT Most people know the scroll is bad for them and enjoy it anyway, so ReelBlock is a dial, not a light switch. - Full block. No reels. None. Anywhere. - Friends only. Posts from people you follow, nothing the algorithm picked. - Friends and interests. Plus a few posts a day on things you chose. - Capped. Reels allowed up to a number you set, then they stop. - Aware. Reels stay, and a card tells you what you have spent. A TIME BUDGET THAT STOPS YOU Set a daily budget. You get a nudge partway through, and at the limit the screen goes dark and asks if you are done. Time is counted only while you are actually looking, never while the app sits in your pocket. Keep one budget for each app, or one shared between all of them. THE AWARENESS CARD Every so often, between scrolls, ReelBlock states the number. "Forty reels, twenty-eight minutes." No lecture, no shame. Carry on, or stop. THE LONG VIEW Two hours a day, from twenty-one to eighty, is nearly five years of your life. ReelBlock does that sum with your own numbers. STUDY MODE Set a date. ReelBlock locks itself until you pass it, with a countdown on the screen. No breaks, no toggles, no talking yourself round at 1am the night before an exam. A COMMITMENT LOCK Lock your settings for an hour, a day or a week. PARENT MODE A PIN over the parent controls, approved topics, and bedtime and school-hour windows. Set up on the device, stored on the device. Free, like everything else. ONE REEL, THAT'S THE DEAL When a friend sends you a reel, you watch it. Try to scroll past it and ReelBlock says no. ALSO IN SAFARI ReelBlock ships a Safari extension, so the same rules apply when you browse these sites in Safari. Turn it on in Settings, Apps, Safari, Extensions. WHAT STAYS Posts from people you follow. Stories, unless you turn them off. Direct messages, in full. Search, profiles, saved posts and notifications. EVERY FEATURE IS FREE There is no paid tier. Hiding the home feed, hiding suggested posts, parent mode, study mode and the time budget are all included, because a focus tool that holds your focus to ransom is not a focus tool. ReelBlock is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Instagram, Meta, TikTok, YouTube or Google.