Comparison

Silk vs IBlock

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

Head to head
About

Silk

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Silk blocks the apps you choose and gives you one daily budget of minutes to open the ones you name. To open a blocked app, type or dictate a whole sentence naming the app and the minutes, for example "unlock Instagram for 10 min." Silk shows a short wait, a few seconds that grow with the minutes you asked for, then subtracts the minutes from the day's budget, opens the app, and shows the time it locks again. It never locks early. If you stop using the app, a grant under 15 minutes can stay open for about 16 minutes. When the budget is used up, Silk refuses the request. During your down hours it refuses and shows the time they end. HOW IT WORKS โ€ข One block list. Pick the apps you want blocked, once. They stay blocked until you spend minutes on one of them, and they lock again after the minutes run out. โ€ข Named apps. Choose up to six you expect to ask for, from Silk's list of popular apps (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, X and more). The name is what you type or say, and it is the app Silk opens. Any other app you block stays shut. โ€ข One budget. One number of minutes for all of them, for the whole day. โ€ข An optional ceiling. If one app tends to take the whole budget, cap how much of it that app may use, for example 50 minutes a day with at most 20 on TikTok. A ceiling limits one app's share of the budget and does not add minutes. โ€ข Down hours. Set one nightly window. During it no unlock is granted, and Silk switches to its night colours. โ€ข You type a sentence or use the keyboard's dictation key. Both spend from the same budget. โ€ข Tightening a rule takes effect immediately. Loosening one (a bigger budget, a shorter night, a removed ceiling) is held until the next day. The held rule carries a button that applies it today. The blocked app's own screen does not offer that button. Removing an app from Silk takes it off the block list at once, at any hour. NOW AND MIRROR Now shows the minutes left today, drawn as a circle whose length is the budget. Spent time is blank. Mirror shows the score for the last completed day under that day's name, with the past week as six shades of one colour, darker for a better day. Silk does not estimate time saved, because it has no way to measure it. WHAT SILK DOES NOT DO โ€ข It sends no notifications and does not ask for notification permission. โ€ข It keeps no streaks and has no leaderboard and no mascot. โ€ข During down hours a blocked app's screen shows the time down hours end; with the budget spent it says Open Silk. Either way there is one OK button and no chat and no coach. Silk only takes a number of minutes. โ€ข It is free, and the blocking does not depend on payment. PRIVACY Silk records what it granted and when a blocked app's screen appeared. It does not read your usage. Apple keeps per-app usage data away from third-party apps. To lock an app again, Silk asks iOS to signal when the app has been used for the minutes granted; iOS keeps the count, and Silk never sees it. The numbers Silk shows are computed from that record, kept on this iPhone. Nothing leaves the device. Silk has no server and no accounts. WHAT SILK DOES NOT INCLUDE There is one block list. There are no location rules, no per-app schedules, no habit tracker, no meditation timer, and no feed. Silk is not a rule engine. A per-app ceiling is the one extra limit. It is still one budget: the ceiling limits what a single app may draw from it and adds no minutes of its own. iPhone only. Screen Time blocking does not extend to an iPad or a computer. English only at launch. Requires iOS 26.5 or later and Screen Time permission.

About

IBlock

Features
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IBlock is a moment of calm for your phone. Choose the apps that can wait, slide the bar down, and the noise stops. Work, read, or do what you came to do. Choose the apps you want to block. Set how long. Slide the right bar down and your session starts. Those apps stay locked until the time is up. UNINTERRUPTED There is no stop button, so a pause stays a pause. If something truly can't wait, Emergency Mode ends a session early, twice in any seven days. YOUR CHOICE OF APPS You pick exactly what gets blocked with Apple's Screen Time app picker. Everything else, like calls and messages, stays available. ROUTINE Block the same apps on the days and hours you choose, automatically. REPORTS See the focused time you completed over the last seven days. ON YOUR IPHONE Your choices and history stay on your iPhone. IBlock has no account. IBlock uses Apple's Screen Time. You'll be asked to allow it once. PLANS IBlock is free to download. Sessions, routines and reports need a plan: - Yearly: $29.99 per year, starting with a 3-day free trial - Monthly: $5.99 per month - Lifetime: $79.99, paid once Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase, or when the free trial ends. The yearly and monthly plans renew automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; the renewal is charged within the 24 hours before that period ends. You can cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Cancel at least 24 hours before the free trial ends and you pay nothing. Prices are shown in US dollars and vary by country and currency. Terms of Use: https://iblock-brm.web.app/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://iblock-brm.web.app/privacy/

Screenshots

Silk4 screens
IBlock4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Silk at none against IBlock's 3. Silk also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. IBlock sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Silk asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Silk versus IBlock: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSilkIBlock
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyโ€”Every 6 days
AdsNo โ€” betterYes
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS26.526.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size4 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSanil DesaiBrm Studios

In-app purchases

None

Silk

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

IBlock

Subscriptions2
  • IBlock Monthly$5.991 Month
  • IBlock Yearly3 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • IBlock Lifetime$79.99

Questions

Is Silk free?
Silk is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is IBlock free?
IBlock is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Silk or IBlock have ads?
IBlock shows ads; Silk does not.

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