Ops & productivity
Keyholder
A screen-time lock where a trusted person holds the unlock, so phone and computer limits are harder to bypass.
In plain English
- What category is this?
- Owners and teams buy to run day-to-day work — scheduling, projects, HR, ops. Here the focus is consumer productivity.
- The idea, briefly
Hypothesis: the person you trust holds the key — profiles for study, work and free time allow only the apps you need, across phone and computer, with the keyholder approving any break, no hardware, no ads. This is a social/friction gate, not technically tamper-proof (see sources 10 and 15).
More ▾- What buyers expect
People comparing tools like Opal, Freedom, one sec expect the basics to work without surprise fees or missing pieces. The loud complaints are: HN commenter nkcmr: ScreenTime 'allows bypass with one click' and 'makes it almost non-effective', so the one-tap escape defeats the intent; and hN commenter iLoveOncall: 'I haven't seen any of those apps (or built-in OS features like screen time on iOS) not become useless in a matter of days.'.
More ▾
- Sources
- 15
- Checked
- 15
- Competitors
- 5
- Gaps
- 5
- Page checked
- 15 · 100%
- Snippet only
- 0 · 0%
- Documented
- 12 · 86%
- Interpreted
- 2 · 14%
- complaint7
- pricing5
- market2
- playbook1
Competitors
5Parsed from public pricing blurbs (entry paid tier when available). Max in set: $8.29/mo.
| Competitor | From | Free tier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opal | $8.29/mo | Yes | opal.so✓ |
| Freedom | $3.33/mo | Yes | freedom.to✓ |
| one sec | Free | Yes | one-sec.app✓ |
| Brick | See notes | — | getbrick.com✓ |
| PIM (Please Inconvenience Me) | Free | Yes | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
What customers complain about
5| Gap | Src |
|---|---|
HN commenter nkcmr: ScreenTime 'allows bypass with one click' and 'makes it almost non-effective', so the one-tap escape defeats the intent. | |
HN commenter iLoveOncall: 'I haven't seen any of those apps (or built-in OS features like screen time on iOS) not become useless in a matter of days.'. | |
HN commenter Cider9986 in 2026 says 'none of these apps can really make your distracting phone into a smart dumb phone because of Apple's limitations', finds 'one sec. | |
A DIY workaround is already widespread: HN commenter garyfirestorm says 'Ask your spouse or a friend you trust to set screen time passcode. | |
Explicit willingness to pay (a 2020 comment, older than the other gaps): HN commenter graeme wrote he 'would pay good money for a solid iOS screen time app that. |
Documented Interpreted
How competitors find customers
2| Tactic | Src |
|---|---|
| Lead with third-party proof, then let influencers and press carry it. one sec ran studies with Max Planck Institute and Heidelberg University (published in PNAS), | one-sec.app✓ |
| Make the prop the pitch. Brick's page leads with WSJ, NYT, WaPo and Vogue coverage built on a single object and stacks 55,000+ five-star reviews as proof. | getbrick.com✓ |
Your angle & pricing wedge
| Piece | Claim | Src |
|---|---|---|
| Angle | Hypothesis: the person you trust holds the key — profiles for study, work and free time allow only the apps you need, across phone and computer, | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
| Wedge | Plan: undercut on price with a software-only keyholder sold one-time below Brick's roughly $60 device and below Opal's $99.99/yr or $399 lifetime. | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
How others got traction
3| Move | Why | Src |
|---|---|---|
| Brick sells a roughly $60 one-time physical device and reports 55,000+ five-star reviews, | Company-attributed on Brick's site: limits are beaten because the key is always in reach, so Brick 'creates physical separation'. | getbrick.com✓ |
| One sec reports a peer-reviewed evidence base (its homepage lists the Max Planck/Heidelberg PNAS 20… | Company-attributed: 'Essentials are free. It is not our goal to get rich over your phone addiction.' The PNAS page itself returned HTTP 403… | one-sec.app✓ |
| PIM charges a one-time $14.99 with no subscription and still landed local press coverage. | Founder-attributed on the Show HN post: 'everything was all about getting you to subscribe - but I avoid subscriptions like the plague. | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
Market heat
Brick's own site shows 55,000+ five-star reviews and claims 95%+ of a 3,500+ user survey feel less distracted , showing demand for a hard lock.
One sec shows 100K+ five-star reviews and claims the app saves 3000+ years of scrolling every week (both company-reported, unaudited).
Show HN: Foqos, a free open-source NFC-tag blocker, drew 225 points and 109 comments in Jan 2025, showing demand for a physical-friction blocker independent of any paid product.
More ▾
Revenue signals
7| Signal | Src |
|---|---|
One sec reports 100K+ five-star reviews, '3000 years saved from scrolling every week' and 230,349 years saved; these are self-reported and unaudited. | one-sec.app✓ |
Brick reports 55,000+ five-star reviews and, from a survey of 3,500+ users, '95%+ feel less distracted'; self-reported marketing numbers. | getbrick.com✓ |
Opal prices a $399 one-time lifetime plan alongside $99.99/yr. | opal.so✓ |
Freedom prices a $99.50 one-time 'Forever' plan and $8.99/mo monthly. | freedom.to✓ |
One sec prices a 99.99 EUR lifetime plan and 14.99 EUR/yr. | one-sec.app✓ |
Brick sells a roughly $60 one-time device with no subscription. | getbrick.com✓ |
PIM sells a one-time $14.99 app with no subscription (founder comment on the Show HN post, source 13), establishing a low software-only entry point; | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
Should you build this?
You'd pay for this if you have already installed a blocker, still tapped 'Ignore Limit', and resorted to asking someone else to hold your passcode. The proposed product is a keyholder gate: your phone and laptop show only the apps a profile allows until the person you trust approves a break. It is a crowded, easily copied category and free tools exist; the only candidate edge is the second-person workflow plus a low one-time price, and the cited evidence (sources 10 and 15) shows software-only enforcement is friction, not a tamper-proof lock.
More ▾
All sources
15| Source | Kind | Status | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
Opal Pricing opal.so | pricing | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
Freedom: Premium Pricing freedom.to | pricing | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
one sec FAQ (pricing) one-sec.app | pricing | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
| playbook | page checked | 2026-10-04 | |
Brick product page getbrick.com | pricing | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
| market | page checked | 2026-10-04 | |
PIM (Please Inconvenience Me) homepage pleaseinconvenienceme.com | pricing | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
| complaint | page checked | 2026-10-04 | |
HN comment by nkcmr: ScreenTime 'allows bypass with one click' news.ycombinator.com | complaint | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
HN comment by Cider9986: apps cannot be made un-bypassable; MDM only fix news.ycombinator.com | complaint | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
HN comment by garyfirestorm: have a spouse set the Screen Time passcode news.ycombinator.com | complaint | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
HN comment by iLoveOncall: screen-time apps become useless in days news.ycombinator.com | complaint | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
Show HN: PIM founder comment (pricing $14.99 one-time and subscription stance) news.ycombinator.com | complaint | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
Show HN: Foqos — NFC physical switch app blocker (225 points, 109 comments) news.ycombinator.com | market | page checked | 2026-10-04 |
| complaint | page checked | 2026-10-04 |