An Opal alternative for iPhone and iPad

Cloister for iPhone and iPad blocks apps, whole app categories and websites through Apple’s Screen Time, with no account. Opal is “Available on iPhone, Mac and Android”. The difference that matters most is how a strict block ends.

How a strict block ends

What stays the same

• Screen Time. Both block apps and websites on an iPhone through Apple’s Screen Time. Opal’s App Store page: “Instantly Block apps and websites you choose”.
• Settings can switch either off. Opal’s help centre: “You may enable or disable Opal’s access to Screen Time at any time from your device Settings.” Cloister’s can be switched off there too, which ends its blocks, Strict ones included.
• A choice of how strict. In each Opal session’s “Hard Mode” section, “no unblocks allowed” is off (“Take short breaks or cancel”) or on (“Can’t unblock or leave early”). Each Cloister rule ends the way you chose for it: a Flexible block with one tap, a Cooldown block early after a 5-minute wait, and a Strict block not from inside Cloister.
• No deleting apps mid-block. Opal’s help centre: “You may only toggle off App Uninstall Protection if your Rules allow resets or unblocks.” A Cloister block can also stop apps from being deleted while it runs.
• Schedules. Opal’s App Store page: “Calendar: Set daily working hours, sleep and routines, block apps automatically, so you don’t have to remember.” A Cloister schedule starts on its own too, such as weekdays from 9 to 5.
• Support can’t end a session. Opal: “If you’ve already used your ‘Emergency Pass’ this week, our Support team is unable to force end a Session, Schedule, Time Limit, Open Limit, or Timer for you.” Nothing outside your iPhone can end a Cloister block: there is no account and no server to ask.
• A one-time Lifetime. Opal’s Lifetime is bought on its website after signing in (“Let’s start by signing in to your Opal account”): “Keep using Opal forever. All updates included.” Opal Pro “gives you access to Pro features on our iOS app and Mac App” (its help centre), and Lifetime lets you “Share your membership with up to 5 family members living in the same household”, which its support turns on (“Contact our Support team directly to enable”). Cloister’s Lifetime is bought in the App Store with no account, for Cloister on any iPhone or iPad signed in to the Apple Account you bought with.
• Nothing syncs. Opal: “your Sessions will not sync or transfer between your devices regardless of you being logged into your account, as all Opal data remains on your individual device for privacy reasons.” Cloister’s rules and lists stay on the device you made them on, with no iCloud sync.

What Cloister adds

• No weekly exit. Opal’s Hard Mode, with “no unblocks allowed”, comes with “one emergency pass per week”; a Cloister Strict block has none inside the app (above).
• No account for anything. Buying on Opal’s website, Pro on more than one device (“first ensure that you’ve signed up for an Opal account”) and its Mac app (“input that information in the login prompt”) need an Opal account. Cloister has no account: the App Store handles the purchase, and Restore purchases, in Cloister’s Settings, brings Pro back on your other iPhones and iPads.
• Apple’s privacy label, as each developer declared it. Opal’s App Store page: Data Used to Track You: Identifiers. Data Linked to You: Purchases, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data. Data Not Linked to You: Diagnostics. Beside it, Opal says: “Unlike most apps, Opal works entirely on your phone and personal browsing data never leaves your device.” Cloister’s App Store page: Data Not Linked to You: Purchases. Apple shows each label as the developer declared it, and hasn’t verified either.

What you give up

• Android, and a Mac app on the same plan. Opal is “Available on iPhone, Mac and Android”, and Opal Pro covers its iOS and Mac apps. Cloister for Mac is a separate app and a separate purchase, and the two don’t share lists or sessions.
• Reports, a score and streaks. Opal’s Opal Score combines a Sleep, a Focus and a Rest Score: “The Focus Score tracks distractions and shows how your habits shape your ability to do deep work.” Its Streak builds “if you have an active Session, Schedule, Time Limit, and/or Open Limit every single day of the week.” Cloister has no reports, score or streaks.
• Time and open limits. Opal’s App Store page: “App Limits: Set daily usage limits on apps and websites to automatically block them and prevent overuse.” Cloister has no daily usage limits: a block runs on a schedule or when you tap Start.
• Older iPhones. The App Store lists Opal as “Only for iPhone” and “Requires iOS 18.0 or later”, and Cloister for iPhone and iPad, on iOS or iPadOS 26 or later.
• Languages. Opal’s App Store page lists English and 9 more; Cloister’s, English.
• Ratings. Opal’s App Store page shows 4.7 from 90K ratings, and Editors’ Choice. Cloister has been on the App Store since 15 October 2026, and its page shows no rating yet.
• A free tier. Opal has a free tier (see its pricing page). Cloister is free to download, and making lists and rules is free, but running blocks needs Cloister Pro.

The iPhone and iPad page has the rest, and the support page keeps Cloister’s known limits current.

How does Opal’s Hard Mode end early?

Opal’s help centre: “you must wait until the Session ends or use your Emergency Pass.” Its steps for the pass: in the app, Profile, then Settings, then “Emergency Pass”, and “Hold to Redeem”. The pass “is strictly available once per week”, and once it is used, “our Support team is unable to force end a Session, Schedule, Time Limit, Open Limit, or Timer for you.”

Does Cloister have a pass like Opal’s?

No. A Strict block has no exit inside Cloister, and there is no account or server that could end it. iOS still keeps a way out that no app can remove: turning off Cloister’s Screen Time access in Settings ends its blocks, and Cloister records that it happened. A Flexible block ends with one tap, and a Cooldown block after a 5-minute wait.

Moving from Opal

1. Let a running Opal session end.
2. Install Cloister for iPhone and iPad from the App Store.
3. Make your lists. Opal’s don’t carry over, so pick the apps, app categories and websites again in Cloister.
4. Make a Cloister schedule for each Opal schedule, and choose how each block ends. Strict is the closest to Hard Mode with “no unblocks allowed” on, without the pass; Flexible and Cooldown are the closest to it off.

And on a Mac

Cloister for Mac is a separate website blocker, paid once, whose sessions have no exit in the app. It blocks the whole Mac, below the browsers, tested in Safari, Chrome and Firefox. Opal’s Mac app “Requires macOS 13.0+”, and its help centre says: “Currently, our Mac app supports Chrome, Safari, Opera, Edge, Brave, and Arc”. The Mac page has Cloister for Mac, and the comparison sets it beside SelfControl, Cold Turkey and Freedom.

How this page was made

Everything here about Opal comes from its own website, help centre and App Store page, read on 26 October 2026, and linked below. We have not tested Opal. What it says about Cloister comes from Cloister’s App Store page, the iPhone and iPad page, and Cloister’s Terms and Privacy. If anything here is wrong or out of date, write to support@getcloister.app and it will be corrected.