Updated March 2026 | Pricing verified, features tested on iOS 26

You've already tried Screen Time limits. You've set app timers, hit "Ignore Limit," and watched your weekly report climb anyway. Built-in tools aren't working, so now you're looking for something that actually does. Opal and Blank Spaces both solve that problem, but they disagree about why you're failing. Opal thinks you need better data: if you can see that you spent 4 hours on Instagram yesterday and your Focus Score dropped 15%, you'll be motivated to do better. Blank Spaces thinks the data is irrelevant because the problem isn't awareness, it's that Instagram is one tap away on your home screen. Opal gives you a dashboard. Blank Spaces gives you a different phone.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Opal	Blank Spaces
Approach	App blocker + screen time tracker	Minimalist launcher (replaces entire home screen)
App Blocking	Screen Time API + local VPN	Screen Time API + launcher replacement
Platform	iOS, Mac, Chrome	iOS only
Free Tier	Yes (basic blocking + Focus Score)	No (free trial available)
Pricing (Annual)	$99.99/year ($8.29/month)	$17.99/year
Pricing (Lifetime)	$399	$23.99
App Store Rating	4.8/5 (69,000+ ratings)	4.6/5 (5,000+ ratings)
Users	4 million+	1 million+
Unique Feature	Focus Score + gamification (gems, leaderboards)	Detox Mode (full phone lockdown) + widget-based UI
Analytics	Detailed tracking, weekly reports, peer comparison	None (by design)

What Is Opal?

Opal is a screen time tracker and app blocker for iPhone, Mac, and Chrome. You set up focus sessions that block specific apps during set hours, and Opal tracks everything: time per app, daily Focus Score, weekly progress, and how you compare to other users. The cross-platform support is Opal's biggest practical advantage. Block Reddit on your Mac during work hours, block TikTok on your phone at dinner, and check one dashboard for all of it. 4 million people use Opal. The 4.8/5 rating from 69,000+ App Store reviews is one of the highest in the productivity category (Opal, App Store, March 2026). Gamification is central to how Opal works. You earn gems for hitting focus milestones, compete with friends on leaderboards, and get weekly reports comparing your progress. Opal borrows from the same behavioral psychology as Duolingo and Strava: streaks, ranks, and social pressure. There's something ironic about earning achievement badges for not using your phone on an app you have to open to check your achievement badges. Whether that loop motivates you or exhausts you probably determines whether Opal is the right choice. Deep Focus is Opal's strongest blocking mode. Once you start a Deep Focus session, you cannot stop it. No snooze, no cancel, no bypass. The timer runs until it finishes. Regular sessions can be paused or ended at any time. Deep Focus removes that option entirely. Pro-only feature. Pricing: the free tier includes basic blocking and today's Focus Score with no history. Pro costs $99.99 per year or $399 lifetime. Students get 50% off annual. Monthly is $19.99, weekly is $4.99. The free tier is generous enough to test whether Opal's approach works for you, but Deep Focus, whitelist blocking, full history, and unlimited recurring sessions all require Pro (Opal pricing, March 2026).

What Is Blank Spaces?

Blank Spaces is a minimalist phone launcher for iPhone that replaces your home screen with widgets. Instead of rows of app icons, you see your calendar, weather, a task list, or a photo. Apps are still installed but hidden from the home screen entirely. To open Instagram, you swipe to the App Library, find the Social folder, and tap the icon. That takes about six seconds, which is enough to break the habit of absent-mindedly tapping an app that's right in front of you. Most people don't bother. The friction is small enough that you can always get to any app, but large enough that you stop opening them out of habit. Blank Spaces also blocks apps through the Screen Time API at the system level, the same mechanism Apple uses natively. Detox Mode goes further: it strips your phone down to calls, texts, and whatever essential apps you whitelist. Your iPhone temporarily becomes a dumb phone. Featured in The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch, with 1 million+ members and a 4.6/5 App Store rating (Blank Spaces, App Store, March 2026). Pricing: $17.99 per year or $23.99 lifetime. No free tier, but a free trial is available.

Key Differences

Approach to Screen Time

This is the core disagreement between the two apps, and it matters more than any feature comparison. Opal's model is measurement and accountability. You see exactly how much time you spent on each app, get a daily score, and compare yourself to other users. The assumption: if you know the numbers, you'll change your behavior. Opal says their users save an average of 1 hour 23 minutes per day, and the platform has collectively saved 120 million hours (Opal, 2024). Blank Spaces skips the measurement step entirely. There's no Focus Score, no weekly report, no data about how many times you opened Twitter. Instead, it changes the default state of your phone so the triggers for scrolling aren't visible. You can't absent-mindedly tap an app that isn't on your home screen. These represent two competing theories about how behavior change works. Opal assumes awareness drives change: see the problem, fix the problem. Blank Spaces assumes willpower is the wrong tool and that changing your environment is more reliable than changing your mind. In practice, Opal requires ongoing engagement: reviewing reports, scheduling sessions, checking scores. Blank Spaces requires a one-time setup and then stays out of the way.

Blocking Effectiveness

Both apps use Apple's Screen Time API for the actual blocking mechanism. Opal adds a local on-device VPN for traffic analysis and real-time usage insights, not for blocking (Opal Screen Time Framework). Opal blocks through scheduled sessions. You pick the apps, set the hours, and blocked apps show a restriction screen during that window. Deep Focus mode (Pro) makes sessions unbypassable once started. Regular sessions can be paused or cancelled. Blank Spaces blocks by removing apps from your home screen. You interact with widgets instead of app icons. Reaching a hidden app requires navigating to the App Library or using Spotlight search. Apps aren't locked behind a timer; they're just not where you expect them to be. Both share a limitation: any app using the Screen Time API can be disabled through iOS Settings with a few taps. No third-party app can prevent this on an unmanaged device. The difference is friction type. Opal requires you to actively end a session and take the Focus Score hit. Blank Spaces requires you to navigate to the App Library and find the app manually. Deep Focus is the exception: once started, it genuinely cannot be bypassed until time expires.

Pricing and Value

Blank Spaces costs 82% less annually than Opal. $17.99 per year vs $99.99. Lifetime pricing makes the gap wider: $23.99 vs $399. Opal's higher price reflects a broader feature set: cross-platform support for Mac, iPhone, and Chrome; analytics infrastructure for tracking and scoring; gamification with leaderboards, gems, and social features; a free tier that needs to be subsidized by paying users; and ongoing server-side components. Blank Spaces is iOS-only, doesn't track usage data, has no social features, and runs entirely on-device. Simpler product, lower overhead, lower price. $399 for a lifetime app blocker license is genuinely hard to justify unless you're using Opal across Mac, iPhone, and Chrome every day. The cross-platform analytics are real value if you use them. If you'd set up your phone once and never look at a dashboard, Blank Spaces does what you need at a fraction of the cost.

Platform Support

Opal works on iPhone, Mac, and Chrome. If you need to block apps on your laptop while also blocking them on your phone, Opal handles both from one app. The Chrome extension catches browser-based distractions. The Mac app covers desktop applications. Blank Spaces works on iPhone only. No Mac, no Android, no browser extension. If your screen time problem is your phone, this doesn't matter. Research consistently shows smartphones are the primary source of problematic screen time for most people. But if your laptop or browser tabs are an equal part of the problem, Blank Spaces won't help with those.

User Experience

Opal keeps your phone looking like a normal iPhone. Same home screen, same app grid. During active focus sessions, blocked apps show Opal's restriction screen. When the session ends, everything goes back to normal. Blank Spaces changes what your phone looks like all the time. The home screen shows widgets instead of app icons. You pick up your phone, see your calendar and the weather, and put it back down. There's no app grid pulling you toward TikTok or Instagram.

Opal Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Cross-platform blocking across iPhone, Mac, and Chrome
• Free tier to test before paying
• Detailed analytics: Focus Score, weekly reports, historical data, peer comparison
• Gamification with leaderboards, achievement gems, and streaks
• Deep Focus mode is genuinely unbypassable once started (Pro)
• 4 million users and 4.8/5 App Store rating
• 50% student discount on annual plan
• Calendar integration for automatic session scheduling

Cons:

• $99.99/year or $399 lifetime is expensive for an app blocker
• Gamification adds another thing competing for attention
• Requires ongoing session management: scheduling, starting, stopping, reviewing
• Bypassable via iOS Settings outside Deep Focus mode
• Local VPN may concern privacy-focused users
• Free tier locks the most useful features behind Pro

Blank Spaces Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Transforms entire phone experience instead of just blocking individual apps
• $17.99/year or $23.99 lifetime (82-94% cheaper than Opal)
• Set-and-forget: minimal ongoing management
• Detox Mode creates a temporary dumb phone
• No usage tracking or data collection
• Clean, minimal home screen reduces visual triggers
• System-level blocking through Screen Time API

Cons:

• iOS only. No Mac, Android, or browser support.
• No free tier (free trial available)
• No analytics for users who want to see their screen time data
• Requires commitment: changes your entire home screen
• Smaller user base (1 million+ vs 4 million) and fewer reviews
• Apps still accessible through App Library and Spotlight search

Which Should You Choose?

Choose Opal if you want data and cross-platform coverage. You like dashboards, you're motivated by competition, and you need blocking on your Mac and Chrome as well as your phone. The free tier lets you test without spending anything. You're willing to pay more for analytics, gamification, and multi-device support. Choose Blank Spaces if you don't want to think about screen time at all. You want to set up your phone once, get a clean home screen, and move on. You don't need cross-platform blocking because your phone is the problem. You want the cheapest option that changes the default experience rather than adding restrictions on top of it. Most people searching for "Opal vs Blank Spaces" are trying to use their phone less, not optimize a productivity system across three devices. If that's you, Blank Spaces solves the problem for $23.99 once and gets out of the way. Choose both if you want Blank Spaces as your permanent home screen setup plus Opal's Deep Focus sessions during work or study blocks. The apps don't conflict. One changes how your phone looks. The other adds scheduled, unbypassable blocking on top.

FAQ

Can I use Opal and Blank Spaces together?

Yes. They address different things and don't conflict. Blank Spaces replaces your home screen with widgets and hides app icons, working as a minimalist phone launcher. Opal blocks specific apps during scheduled focus sessions and tracks usage. Running both gives you the always-on visual simplicity of Blank Spaces plus Opal's timed Deep Focus blocking for work or study sessions.

Is Blank Spaces an app blocker like Opal?

Not exactly. Opal is a dedicated app blocker and screen time tracker. Blank Spaces is a minimalist launcher that replaces your home screen. It does block apps through the Screen Time API, but blocking is one feature within a broader phone transformation. Opal keeps your phone looking the same and blocks apps on a timer. Blank Spaces changes what your phone looks like permanently, making apps harder to reach by default.

Which is better for ADHD?

Opal works for ADHD users who respond to external structure: Focus Score, leaderboards, scheduled sessions. The gamification provides motivation and clear boundaries. Blank Spaces works for ADHD users overwhelmed by visual clutter and choice. Fewer icons on the home screen means fewer impulse decisions. Some ADHD users find Opal's notifications and gamification add stimulation they don't need; others find them essential. Try Opal's free tier and Blank Spaces' free trial to see which matches your brain.

Can I still access my apps with Blank Spaces?

Yes. Every app stays installed. You get to them through the App Library (swipe left past your last home screen page) or Spotlight search (swipe down from middle of the home screen). Blank Spaces hides apps from the home screen, not from the phone. The design is intentional: you can always open anything, but you have to look for it instead of tapping an icon that's already in front of you.

Why is Opal so much more expensive?

Opal's pricing reflects cross-platform support (iPhone, Mac, Chrome), a local VPN for usage tracking, Focus Score analytics with historical data, gamification infrastructure (leaderboards, gems, social features), a free tier subsidized by paying users, and server-side components. Blank Spaces is iOS-only with no tracking, no social features, and minimal infrastructure. Whether the extra features justify $99.99/year vs $17.99 depends on whether you'll actually use cross-platform blocking and analytics dashboards regularly.

Does Opal's VPN affect battery life or privacy?

Opal runs a local VPN for traffic analysis and usage insights. "Local" means data processing happens on your phone; nothing routes through external servers. Battery impact is minimal according to user reports, though any VPN adds some background processing. The VPN handles tracking, not blocking. Blocking uses the Screen Time API separately. Blank Spaces doesn't use a VPN at all.

Sources: Opal App Store listing, Opal pricing, Opal Screen Time Framework, Blank Spaces App Store listing. All verified March 2026.