Opal vs Jomo

Opal and Jomo are the two blockers most often compared on iPhone, and they are alike enough that the choice comes down to three details: what reopens the app, how far strict mode goes, and whether you want to earn screen time by moving. This page sells neither — it says which to pick for what you’re after, and what neither of them does.

In two sentences

Opal blocks in focus sessions, with adjustable difficulty up to a mode with no unblocking at all, a daily score, and the same blocking on iPhone, Mac and Android. It is the tool for a work morning without Slack or Instagram, and it is years ahead on execution.

Jomo blocks with five rule types — duration, schedule, daily limit, continuous lock, everything-except-a-list — on iPhone and Mac, with an unusually fine Strict Mode and Routines that earn time by walking or closing your Apple Watch rings. It is the tool for someone who wants every case handled.

What Opal does better

• The session that holds. You pick the apps, the duration, and the timer runs to the end. The highest difficulty level leaves no exit during the session — no joker.
• Three platforms. iPhone, Mac and Android, with scheduled rules that resume every day at the same hours. Jomo has no Android app.
• Simplicity. A score, milestones, a community: Opal is set up in five minutes and doesn’t ask you to understand five rule types.

What Jomo does better

• Strict Mode. Four protections (no deleting the rule, no editing it, no uninstalling Jomo, no changing date and time) combined with four windows, up to a permanent lock that asks for a random code or a password. No competitor goes that far in the detail.
• Routines. An adjustable step goal, or Apple Watch rings, unlock screen time in tiers, read from Apple Health. Opal has nothing equivalent.
• The Mac, in depth. A separate app blocks apps, websites, keywords, categories, with an allowlist. Rules don’t sync with the iPhone yet, which Jomo says itself.
• Honesty about Screen Time. Jomo documents the limits of Apple’s API instead of hiding them. Few blockers do.

What people hold against them

Against Opal, mostly the subscription price next to what Screen Time does for free, and session-based blocking that suits someone wanting a permanent lock rather than a morning poorly. Against Jomo, a pushy paywall, a setup that asks for Screen Time access several times over, blocks that don’t always fall on time according to some reviews, and streaks that create their own pressure. And against Jomo again, Emergency Mode: two exits a week that can’t be fully disabled, which is precisely the door a strict mode is supposed to close.

Which one to choose

• You want distraction-free work mornings, on an iPhone and a Mac, with nothing to configure: Opal.
• You’re on Android: Opal, Jomo isn’t there.
• You want a permanent lock, tuned case by case, and you accept learning the rules: Jomo.
• You want walking to count, on top of the other rules: Jomo, with its Routines.

Frequently asked questions

Opal or Jomo for Android?

Opal: it has an Android app, Jomo doesn’t to date. Jomo covers iPhone and Mac.

Which one blocks websites?

Both, on iPhone, through the Screen Time picker, which applies in every browser. On Mac, Jomo has a separate app for apps, websites and keywords; Opal blocks on Mac too.

Which one actually stops you from unlocking?

Both have a strict mode. Opal’s goes up to a level with no unblocking at all during the session. Jomo’s is finer — four protections, four windows — but its Emergency Mode keeps two exits a week that can’t be fully disabled.

Which one lets you earn screen time by moving?

Jomo, with its Routines: a step goal or Apple Watch rings unlock time. Opal has no equivalent. In Jomo it is one rule type out of five; if you want movement to be the only key, that is Tempo’s mechanism.