Opal alternative: a quiz instead of a lockout
Opal is a powerful app blocker: you set rules, and your apps stay blocked, with a waiting period, or no way out at all in its strictest modes. BrainTok takes the opposite approach. It never locks you out; it asks a few quick questions first, so opening an app becomes a moment of learning.
We make BrainTok, so read this knowing that. We’ve tried to be fair: every fact about the other app comes from its own website or App Store page, linked at the bottom.
The short version
- Choose Opal if you want hard blocks you can’t get around, focus sessions and detailed focus reports.
- Choose BrainTok if hard blocks keep failing you and you’d rather turn the habit into learning: quiz questions before your apps, with explanations.
Side by side
| BrainTok | Opal | |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | A quiz before the app opens | Hard blocks by schedule, limit or session |
| Getting in | Answer the questions; the app opens right or wrong | Wait it out; Deep Focus and Hard Mode can’t be bypassed |
| Teaches you something | Yes: a library of reviewed quizzes and AI quizzes from your notes | No (mini-games in the waiting room) |
| Platforms | iPhone (iOS 17+) | iPhone (iOS 18+), plus Android and Mac apps |
| Price | $7.99/month or $69.99/year, 3-day free trial | $19.99/month or $99.99/year (7-day trial), $399 lifetime |
Prices are US App Store or official-site prices as of October 19, 2026, and change often.
Where Opal is better
If you need to be kept out, Opal does it. Its strictest modes can’t be cancelled, it has uninstall protection, focus sessions with soundscapes, and a focus score with reports. It also runs on Android and Mac.
Where BrainTok is different
BrainTok assumes you’ll open the app anyway, and makes that moment useful. A few questions on a topic you chose, a short explanation, and you’re in. Over weeks that’s hundreds of answers on things you wanted to learn, without the cat-and-mouse of a block. It also costs less: $69.99 a year against Opal’s $99.99.
Questions
Can BrainTok block apps completely?
No. That’s on purpose: BrainTok always lets you in after the quiz. If you don’t want a quiz right now, “Not now” keeps the app closed.
Is BrainTok cheaper than Opal?
Per year, yes: $69.99 against $99.99 for Opal’s yearly plan on its website, as of October 2026.