HardStop alternative: same idea, a system-level lock — and what to compare before you pay

The model both products share

HardStop describes itself as blocking you can't turn off: the block is installed at the level of the device, so it isn't an app you delete or a passcode you know. SELFCNTRL works the same way on iPhone and iPad: the device is supervised, a configuration profile filters pornography by category at DNS level for every app, forbids adding a VPN, and cannot be removed from the phone. If you want the mechanics, they're in supervised iPhone explained.

We only describe HardStop by what its own site says. Check it for current features, devices and pricing; anything more specific belongs to them, not to us.

Seven questions to ask any system-level blocker

1. Which devices get the real lock? On iPhone and iPad, supervision makes a profile unremovable. On Mac and Windows, no equivalent exists for a personal computer; anyone claiming otherwise is describing a lock you administer. Our answer: iPhone and iPad are the immovable ones; Mac and Windows get the filter, curfews and the delay, honestly labelled.
2. How do I get out, and how long does it take? A lock you can never leave is a trap; a lock you can leave instantly is a toggle. Our answer: a request from your account, effective after twenty-four hours.
3. Can I make it stricter without waiting? If tightening waits too, you'll never tighten. Our answer: tightening is immediate, loosening waits, the floor never drops. Why that asymmetry is the whole design: the 24-hour rule.
4. What does it see? A category filter needs no history. Our answer: nothing is read or stored, no screenshots, no report to anyone. It's in the privacy policy, with the processors we use.
5. Do I need to involve someone? Our answer: no. No accountability partner, no support ticket to unlock. Why.
6. What happens to the phone's data during setup? Supervision can involve a reset. Our answer: back up first, restore after, about ten minutes, and the supervisor walks you through it. Any tool that promises "no erase" — back up anyway.
7. What's the guarantee, exactly? Read the conditions of any guarantee before relying on it. Ours: on a device we locked, strip the filter off by your own means and we send $100 on top of a full refund; plus thirty days refunded without justification. The conditions are one page: refund policy.

Where SELFCNTRL is different

• The one-way delay. Tighten now, loosen in twenty-four hours, with a floor that never drops. It turns every good day into a chance to raise the bar and every bad night into a wait.
• A pace you choose once. Straight cut, or a taper that climbs from four locked days to seven on its own.
• Night curfews. The internet cut entirely in the hours relapses happen, per weekday, to the minute.
• Getting paid to hold. CNTRL points every month the block stays on; 1,000 CNTRL buy a $5 gift card.
• The rest of the app. Day counter, goals across five areas reset weekly, a short Sunday check-in. No sermon, no badges.

Where the honest answer is "it depends"

If another product covers a device we don't (we don't lock Android), or blocks something inside an app that we can only block at the domain level, that's a real reason to choose it. DNS filtering works on domains, not on individual posts, and we say so on every guide that touches Reddit or X. Pick the tool that shuts your actual door.

Side by side, on the model