Comparison
A Brick alternative for people who only want the feed gone
Brick and snowscroll are barely the same kind of product. One is an object you buy once and keep on a shelf. The other is software you open on a phone. People still choose between them, usually after a year of blockers that got switched off. Here is what Brick does, when it is the better purchase, and the narrower thing we do.
The short version: Brick takes whole apps off your phone until you go back and tap the tile again. snowscroll takes the endless surface out of six social apps and leaves the apps alone. One is a hard stop. The other is quieter and still open.
What Brick actually is
Brick is a small physical device with a companion app. You choose the apps you want gone, tap your phone against the Brick, and they leave the phone for the length of the session. Its App Store listing describes a tool that "temporarily removes distracting apps and their notifications from your iPhone". Tapping the Brick again ends it.
That second tap is the entire product. Ending a session means being wherever the Brick is. Leave it at home and the phone stays bricked until you get back, which is the design working rather than an inconvenience. Its site states that Brick works with Android devices running 12.0 or later and iPhones on iOS 17.0 or later.
Pricing, checked 30 August 2026 on getbrick.com. The device is $59.00, one time. Its listing states "No subscriptions and no monthly fees" and that the purchase "includes the physical Brick and full lifetime access to the companion app". Shipping is free on two or more, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Buying an object to govern software sounds eccentric until you see how normal it has become. In our census of 692 iOS attention apps, pulled the same day, 3.3% used a physical object as the unlock. That branch exists because software you can disable from the sofa keeps getting disabled from the sofa.
Why a physical object works when software does not
Several of these end the comparison on their own.
- You are finished with subscriptions. $59.00 once, no monthly fee, lifetime access to the app. We charge after the trial. If getting off recurring payments is part of the point, that answers it.
- Your failure mode is turning the tool off. Every software block has an off switch within reach of the hand already holding the phone. Brick's sits in another room, and that is literal rather than figurative.
- Notifications are half your problem. Brick's listing says the apps and their notifications both go. snowscroll is a browser, so anything installed keeps buzzing as before. We are no help there whatsoever.
- What costs you time is not social. A game, a news app, a work tool. Brick acts on whole apps, so it reaches those. We reach six social services and nothing else on the device.
- You are on Android. Brick lists Android 12 and later. We have no Android build and our waitlist carries no date.
- You want a ritual. For some people the act itself, tapping the phone against something, walking to another room to undo it, is what shifts their attention. We offer none.
The cost of carrying a key
None of the following is a defect. Each is the direct price of the mechanism that makes Brick work.
An object has to be where you left it. The tile that makes the block real is the same tile that has to travel with you or stay behind. Carry it and the friction disappears, since the unlock is in your pocket. Leave it and you are locked out until you are home.
What leaves the phone is an icon, and an icon is never one thing. The tap that removes an endless video surface also removes the conversation you were halfway through. No version of removing an app keeps its inbox.
A session is something you decide to start. Deliberate blocks protect the hours you predicted would be risky. The scrolling that costs most people the most was never on the schedule. It turns up in the ninety seconds before a meeting, or while the kettle boils, and nobody crosses a flat to tap a tile for that.
$59.00 up front is a real decision. You pay before knowing whether the ritual is one you will keep. The 30-day money-back guarantee exists for exactly that and is worth using if the habit does not take.
Software that leaves the door open on purpose
We act on a different layer, and it is worth being exact about which. Brick decides which apps exist on your phone right now. snowscroll does not decide that at all. It is a browser: sign into Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, TikTok and LinkedIn through it and the surfaces designed to run forever are simply not loaded. No Reels, no Shorts, no Explore, no For You. Messages, search, the notifications tab, your profile and the accounts you follow keep working.
Nothing is blocked, so nothing needs unblocking, and there is no session to begin or end. There is also nothing stopping you closing snowscroll and opening the app on your home screen. If you have already proved to yourself that you need a lock, you need a lock. Everything runs on the device, with no account and no server that sees your logins or messages.
Our prices, checked 30 August 2026. The free tier covers two apps, greyscale, trends and one limit across everything. Pro is $4.99 a month, $29.99 for a year, or $69.99 once, and everyone gets seven days of Pro first without handing over a card.
Brick and snowscroll, side by side
| Brick | snowscroll | |
|---|---|---|
| What it acts on | Whole apps, taken off the phone with their notifications for the length of a session | Feed surfaces inside six social services, in its own browser |
| What stops you | A physical tile you have to stand next to. Brick wins this row, and it is the reason to buy one. | Nothing. No lock, no session, no barrier |
| Keeps your messages | Not during a session, since the whole app goes | Yes. Conversations, search and the people you follow stay put |
| Notifications | Removed along with the app, per its listing | Untouched. Your phone goes on notifying you |
| Platforms | iPhone on iOS 17 or later, Android 12 or later | iPhone only, Android on a waitlist |
| Cost | $59.00 once, no subscription, lifetime access to the app | Free tier, then Pro at $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $69.99 once, after seven days with no card |
Prices and platform requirements here were checked on 30 August 2026 against getbrick.com, both App Store listings and our own pricing page. Hardware prices and shipping terms vary by country, so confirm on the day you order.
Buy the Brick instead if this is your situation
- You have already disabled three pieces of software meant to stop you.
- Notifications, rather than feeds, are what keep pulling you back.
- Half the problem is a game, a news app or a shopping app.
- You want to pay once and never see a renewal again.
- The walk to another room is the part that has ever worked.
Any two of those and buying us instead would solve a smaller problem than the one you have. If you want the feed gone with nothing locked, weigh us against the most-rated feed-level app in our census. If you would rather spend nothing while working out which shape suits you, there is a pause funded by donations rather than subscriptions.
Common questions
Is snowscroll a replacement for Brick?
No. Brick is a physical lock over whole apps and snowscroll is a browser that removes a feed. If you bought Brick because software blocks kept getting switched off, note that we are software and do not even have a block to switch off. The two are not competing for the same job.
Can I use Brick and snowscroll together?
Yes, and it is a sensible pairing. Brick can take the apps away for the hours you want properly protected, and snowscroll can make the hours in between less magnetic. Leave snowscroll off your Brick list if you want it reachable while a session runs.
Which one costs less?
Brick is $59.00 once, with no subscription, checked 30 August 2026. snowscroll Pro is $4.99 monthly, $29.99 yearly or $69.99 once. On our yearly plan you pass Brick's one-time price partway through the second year. That arithmetic is real but should not decide this: one is hardware that locks apps, the other software that removes a feed.
Does snowscroll stop notifications?
No. It is a browser, so the apps installed on your phone go on notifying you exactly as before. If notifications are what pulls you back in, we are not the fix, and Brick's listing says removing them is part of what it does.
If the app can stay and only the feed should go
snowscroll opens your social apps with the endless part missing and nothing removed from your phone. Nothing to carry, nothing to unlock. Two apps free.
Keep going
For the vocabulary, here is what this category calls a feed blocker. Before spending on anything, try the free controls already sitting on your iPhone, or read eighteen tools grouped by how they intervene. Ours are set out in our subscription terms in full, next to what we already know is missing.
We have no connection to Brick. This comparison was written independently, with no involvement from Brick LLC, and nobody there saw it beforehand. Product names on this page belong to the companies that own them.