DetoxLock describes itself as an “extreme” app blocker — a cold-turkey shield for social media and other distractions, free to start with premium controls on top. Paused is a different shape of app, so this is a comparison rather than a pitch — the table starts with what DetoxLock does better.
| DetoxLock | Paused | |
|---|---|---|
| Known for | DetoxLock describes itself as an “extreme” app blocker — a cold-turkey shield for social media and other distractions, free to start with premium controls on top. | Block Schedules that switch your chosen apps off at set times and back on afterwards, one-tap Focus sessions for right now, and a streak that counts the days you kept the block. |
| Genuinely better at | Severity. DetoxLock is pitched at people who want the strictest possible block when willpower is not enough. | Paused is the calmer version of the same idea: a schedule you set once, a Focus session for now, and a streak instead of a lock-out. |
| Day to day it feels like | You pick apps and rules — times, sessions, sometimes a daily allowance — and the app shields them. The differences are in how strict the rules can be made and how hard they are to undo. | A small, boring wall. You pick the apps, pick the hours, and they stop opening — no coins, no plants, no hardware, no reasons to type. A calm Paused screen where the app used to be. |
…you want the hardest lock you can find and nothing gentler will do.
We would rather you kept an app that fits than switched and quietly turned it off after a fortnight. A blocker you have disabled is not a blocker.
Said up front, because this is the part comparison pages usually leave out.
Get Paused — free on the App StoreGet →