I had every intention of reading when I got into bed, but my e-reader wouldn’t power up. Instead, I launched Instagram because I’m Gen X and that’s where we watch TikTok. After 20 minutes, I was nearly done, except the last video wasn’t funny enough, so I needed one more.
By the time my gaze shifted two centimeters up to check the itty-bitty clock on my screen, a full 65 minutes had passed. Like everyone else on the planet, I was deeply disappointed in my lack of restraint against ye mighty smartphone and pledged to leave it in another room every night thereafter, which I did precisely zero times.
A few weeks later, a little white puck arrived in the mail. A representative from ScreenZen had sent me Halo, a $49 app-blocking device that creates a geofence (or “halo”) around any space you choose. Halo is the device, and ScreenZen is the app used to manage it, as well as the name of the company. The app is free with no upsells and no subscription required, and you can use the app without a Halo, though you’d miss out on the geo-fence feature.
My expectations were low because other app blockers I’ve tested (Brick, Unpluq Tag, Opal) didn’t work in a way that matched my lifestyle, or they were too easy to defeat. The costs are not trivial either, particularly for app blockers that don’t do much unless you also pay an annual subscription fee. Honestly, some of the things you can buy to stop you from using a device you spent hundreds of dollars on are truly bizarre.
Halo is different, not only in how it works but also how it framed my mindset.
Go the Frigg to Sleep
Courtesy of ScreenZen
Halo works by creating a geo-fence that blocks apps on your phone once you cross into the designated space around the device. You can set it to block apps 24/7 or during certain hours only, and you can choose which apps it blocks or allows. The radius of the geo-fence is adjustable, so it works for large and small bedrooms alike. You can even set it up to work across multiple rooms, as long as your walls aren’t solid concrete. I found one YouTuber who put a Halo in his car.
The marketing angle is part of Halo’s brilliance. Blocking apps in the bedroom when you should be sleeping (or doing other bedroom activities) gets at a specific problem people have when it comes to exercising temperance with their devices. Brick, which I’d argue is the most well-known app blocker, promises to block your most distracting apps until you physically go to your Brick and tap your phone to it—a fine idea, and one that many people have found valuable, but it doesn’t hit the same nerve.
