Compared
DetoxDroid vs Freedom
Freedom's trick is the one no phone-only app can do: you start a session and it blocks the same sites and apps on your laptop, your tablet and your phone at the same time, the whole internet if you ask. It is really a desktop product that also has an Android app, and it is priced like one, with a free plan that lets you try sessions and a subscription for scheduling, recurring sessions and Locked Mode. DetoxDroid lives on one Android phone and never leaves it. It also never starts a session; it just makes the phone boring and stays that way.
The short version
Freedom is a session you start, or schedule if you pay, that blocks a list on every device you own; DetoxDroid is a state one phone stays in. Freedom's listing has nothing about colour, scrolling or a wait before an app opens, and no daily budget per app: a session is on or off. DetoxDroid grays, dims and blurs per app, interrupts a scroll that goes on too long, makes you wait, and tightens a budget before it locks. Freedom needs an account, collects personal info and app activity, and costs $39.99 a year for the parts that matter. DetoxDroid needs no account, collects nothing, and is free.
Where Freedom is better
- One session on every device: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Chromebook. DetoxDroid is one Android phone.
- Block the whole internet, not just a list.
- Preset blocklists and your own, synced.
- Locked Mode, scheduling and recurring sessions, once you pay.
- Focus sounds, and human support in the app.
Where DetoxDroid is better
- Gray, dim and blur for the apps you name, from the first minute. Freedom changes nothing about how an app looks.
- A doomscroll interrupt by how you scroll, in any app.
- A wait before each open, and a budget per day or per clock hour that tightens as it runs out. Freedom's listing has no per-app limit at all.
- Schedules for free. Freedom's are Premium.
- Do Not Disturb while it runs, an emergency brake, a text-only launcher.
- No account, nothing collected, open source, free.
Side by side
| DetoxDroid | Freedom | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A boring phone by default, paused on purpose | Blocking sessions across all your devices |
| Gray, dim, blur | Per app, from install | Not listed |
| Breaks doomscrolling | By how you scroll, in any app | Not listed |
| Wait before an app opens | A few seconds, per app | Not listed |
| Daily time budget | Per day or per clock hour; stricter as it runs out | Sessions, not limits |
| Schedules | Always, nights, nine to five | ~Scheduled and recurring sessions on Premium |
| Blocks websites | Paths and ready-made lists | Blocklists, or the whole internet; exceptions on desktop only |
| Other devices | Android only | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Chromebook, one session |
| Do Not Disturb | On while the app runs | Not listed |
| How you get out | A pause with a minimum gap; a password; a brake | End the session, unless Locked Mode is on (Premium) |
| Open source | GPL-3.0, since 2020 | Closed source |
| Account | None | An account with your email |
| Data it collects | Nothing, per the Play listing | Personal info, app activity and two other types, per the Play listing |
| Price | Free, donations | Free plan; Premium $39.99 a year on Play, $8.99 a month or $99.50 once on its site |
| Runs on | Android 8 and newer | Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Chromebook |
Every Freedom cell comes from its own listing, website, docs or code as they read on 27 October 2026. "Not listed" means I couldn't find it there. German law asks a comparison to be objective and checkable, which is also simply the honest way to do it. If a cell has gone stale, tell me.
Which one
If the problem is on your laptop as much as on your phone, Freedom, and nothing on this list replaces it there. If the problem is the phone in your hand between tasks, DetoxDroid does more to it for nothing. The two overlap so little that running Freedom's sessions on the laptop and DetoxDroid on the phone is a reasonable setup, not a compromise.
Get DetoxDroid Try it on the page first
Sources
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=to.freedom.android2: Freedom on Google Play, the description with the Premium list and the $39.99 a year line, and the data safety section, read on 27 October 2026.
- freedom.to/features: Freedom's feature page and its pricing page, for the free plan, the monthly and Forever prices, the 7-day trial and the platform table, read the same day.
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flx_apps.digitaldetox: DetoxDroid on Google Play, for its own data safety section. The rest of the DetoxDroid column is the app itself.
The other comparisons: Curbox · Reef · Digital Wellbeing · one sec · ScreenZen · AppBlock · Stay Focused · Lock Me Out · Digital Detox