<aside>
Third-party screen time blockers like Opal, Freedom, and Clearspace promise to help take back control of your Screen Time, but they don’t work, because they can easily be disabled in settings.
</aside>
Opening the Settings app and going to the Screen Time section, you’re presented with this view, where you can instantly turn off Screen Time API access to all of these apps, which will disable all of their functionality. They won’t be able to block apps or gather Screen Time statistics.
These apps, especially Opal, charge dramatically expensive subscriptions/one-time-payments—up to $100 per year or $400 for life—on the grounds that they don’t have “Ignore Limit” buttons—so that you don’t have to rely on willpower to stick to your screen usage goals, but their limits are just as easy to ignore with this workaround.
Want a better alternative? Try Shutout, the app that removes the “Ignore Limit” button from iOS’s built-in Screen Time, so there are absolutely no workarounds.
Take back your time—and your money.