Two different theories of the problem
Covenant Eyes is accountability software. Its centre of gravity is the ally: a person you name who receives reports about your device activity. The idea is that being seen changes behaviour. Blocking exists in the product, but the report is the point. Features and prices change, so check their site for the current details — the model, though, has been stable for years.
SELFCNTRL starts from the opposite observation: you don't relapse because nobody's watching. You relapse because at two in the morning the door is open, and you're not the person who shut it this morning. So the product is the door — a filter that can't be taken off on impulse — and there is no witness in it at all.
Where the accountability model fits
It's honest to say where it works. If you already have a person you trust with this, if being seen genuinely steadies you, and if you're comfortable with your activity being analysed to produce reports, accountability software can carry you. Many people have quit with an ally. This isn't a piece that pretends otherwise.
Where it doesn't
- You'd have to tell someone. For a lot of people that conversation is the wall, and the install never happens. See quitting without an accountability partner.
- A person is a key. Whatever the ally has to approve — an uninstall, a change — is one message away, on a night you'll send it.
- Reports need data. Something has to read your activity to write them. If the promise "nobody reads my history" matters to you, the two models are incompatible by design.
- The report arrives after. A report documents a relapse; it doesn't prevent one. The block has to be what prevents it, and a block that leans on the ally to stay installed leans on the weakest hour.
What the lock model does instead
- Category filtering at DNS level, on every device you own — iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows — covering every app, every browser and private mode.
- A supervised profile on iPhone and iPad that can't be removed from the phone and forbids adding a VPN. No Remove Profile button, no passcode, no person to ask. Coming off is a deliberate request from your account with a cooling-off delay.
- A lock that only tightens. Tightening applies at once, loosening waits twenty-four hours, the floor never drops.
- Night curfews that cut the internet entirely on a schedule — the hours where it happens.
- No history, no reports, no partner. Filtering is by category; there's nothing to read and nothing to send. Nothing explicit on the bank statement.
- $100 if you beat it. Strip the filter off a device we locked, and we pay you on top of a refund — conditions here.
Side by side
| Question | Accountability model | SELFCNTRL |
|---|---|---|
| What holds you | A person who sees reports | A profile that can't come off |
| Have to tell someone | Yes, by design | No |
| Your activity is read | Yes, to make reports | No — category filter, no history |
| Removing it at 2am | Depends on the ally / the platform | Not possible from the phone (supervised) |
| Adding a VPN to get around it | Depends on the platform | Forbidden by the profile on iPhone / iPad |
| Loosening the block | — | Waits 24 h; floor never drops |
| Price | See their site | 3 days free, then $16/mo, or $80 for life |
Choosing
If you want to be seen, choose accountability. If you want the door shut and no one in the loop, choose the lock — the mechanism, in full, is in what makes a blocker immovable, and the ten-minute setup is in the iPhone guide. Either way, the thing to avoid is the third option: a blocker you can turn off yourself.
Questions
Is there a cheaper alternative to Covenant Eyes?
Prices change, so compare both sites on the day. SELFCNTRL is three days free, then $16 a month or $80 once for life, and the price buys a lock rather than a monitoring service: no second person, no reports, nothing read.
Is there something like Covenant Eyes that is free?
Free options exist at the filter level: Screen Time on Apple devices and public filtering DNS resolvers. They filter; they don't hold, because you can switch them off. What you pay for, with Covenant Eyes or with us, is the part that makes the block stay.
Is SELFCNTRL an accountability app like Covenant Eyes?
No. There is no ally, no report and nothing that reads your activity. SELFCNTRL holds through a supervised, non-removable profile and a cooling-off delay — a lock, not a witness.
Can I use both?
Technically yes; they don't conflict. But they answer different needs — if the lock is on, there's nothing left for a report to document.
Does SELFCNTRL work on Android?
Not today. It covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Windows. The immovable lock relies on Apple's supervision, which is why iPhone and iPad are where it started.