Brick alternative: remove the apps instead of locking them
If you're looking for a Brick alternative, the main choice is whether to block distracting apps or remove them. Brick keeps every app on your phone and locks them behind a physical key. Anti Browser takes the opposite approach: delete the distracting apps, block the App Store so they can't come back, and replace Safari with a browser that only opens the links you need.
One keeps the temptation on the phone and puts a lock on it. The other takes it off the phone completely.
How Brick works
Brick is a small NFC device plus a companion app. You choose which apps to block, then tap your phone to the Brick to lock them. They stay blocked until you tap the Brick again. Brick sells the device for $59, and it works on iPhone and Android.
The idea is physical distance. Leave the Brick on the fridge and you can't open Instagram from bed without getting up.
If you lose the Brick or need your apps back, the app includes five Emergency Unbricks that unblock everything.
The apps are still there
With Brick, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube stay installed. Their icons stay on your phone. Your accounts stay logged in, and the apps keep collecting everything you'd scroll through as soon as you unlock them.
That means every Brick session has an end. When you tap the phone back to the Brick, everything returns at once, and the evening or weekend you were protecting is over.
It also means the lock is doing all the work. The only barrier between you and the feed is walking to wherever the Brick is. On a bad night, that's not very far. And if the Brick travels with you, unlocking is one tap away.
Removing the apps instead
The alternative is to stop keeping the temptation on your phone at all. Anti Browser walks you through it during onboarding on iPhone:
- Block Downloads. Turn off app installs in Screen Time, so nothing you delete can come back.
- Block Safari. Turn off the browser that has a search bar and an address bar.
- Delete. Remove the social apps, video apps, games, and spare browsers. Your accounts stay intact. The apps just aren't on the phone anymore.
- Lock. Protect those Screen Time settings with a passcode. Anti can generate one and store it in its vault in case you ever need it.
There's no session to start and none to end. There's no key to keep across the room. You just don't have the apps.
The dumbphone guide covers each step in detail.
Keep what you need from the internet
Removing apps is easy. The hard part is that you still need parts of the internet: the restaurant menu behind a QR code, the article a friend sent, the tracking link in a confirmation email.
That's why Safari gets replaced, not just removed. Anti is a link only browser. When another app sends it a link, it opens that page, and you can follow links within it. It has no URL bar, no general web search, and no tabs. Without a link, the only tools available are Wikipedia and AI.
So you can reach the things you need, and nothing on the phone starts a browsing session for you.
What you keep
Removing distracting apps doesn't mean removing everything. Calls, Messages, the camera, Maps, banking, payments, ride share, and music all stay. You decide what's useful before you lock the App Store, and install anything you're missing first.
Brick keeps all of that too. The difference is what else remains on the phone alongside it.
Brick vs Anti Browser
| Brick | Anti Browser | |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Block distracting apps | Remove distracting apps |
| Distracting apps | Installed, locked during a session | Deleted |
| App Store | Unchanged | Blocked in Screen Time |
| Web access | Safari blocked or open, all or nothing | Links open; no address bar or general web search |
| How long it lasts | Until you tap the Brick again | Until you change Screen Time settings with the passcode |
| Hardware | $59 NFC device that has to stay out of reach | None |
| Platforms | iPhone and Android | iPhone, iPad, and Mac |
| Price | $59 device | 3 day trial, then $15 a year or $45 lifetime |
What you give up by removing apps
Be honest about the trade-offs:
- No part-time access. If you want Instagram on Saturday and never on weeknights, removing it doesn't allow that. Brick or a blocker like Opal does.
- Some things move to a computer. Group invites, marketplace listings, and account settings can wait until you're at a laptop. For most people that's the point, but plan for it.
- It can be undone. The Screen Time passcode unlocks everything. Have someone you trust set it, or use Anti's generator and vault so it's there when you truly need it.
Which should you pick?
Pick Brick if you want your apps most of the time and a hard stop for set stretches, like evenings or a weekend away.
Pick removal if you keep unlocking early, or you notice that knowing the apps are still there is the problem. Delete them, block the App Store, and keep link only access to the internet for the things you need. The minimalist iPhone setup shows what the finished phone looks like, and the Anti Phone System adds pacing for the apps you keep and a calmer Mac.