Freedom: Screen Time Control 4+

I’ve used this app for a little over a year now and it has absolutely changed my life. Tech addiction is one of the biggest problems today and I tell all of my friends to get this app. I’m currently attending law school and this has really helped me stay productive.

One suggestion for improvement that would really take this to next level: tie the app-blocker timer to how much time you ACTUALLY spend doing something productive. With the current features, you can often just wait off the clock by distracting yourself in other ways until the app-blocking has turned off. But, what if the timer only counted down when you have your device on? For example, if I blocked all distracting websites on my laptop, and the timer only counts while I keep my laptop on, I have to spend that time doing non-distracting stuff on my laptop like, say, writing the essay I have due this Monday. This way, the Freedom App could have a reward feature to it (e.g. when I spend 3 hours doing something productive, I am rewarded with access to social media).

I would really love to see this in the app if it doesn’t already exist. If this is already a feature, let me know how to turn it on!

Thanks for your amazing review! It means a lot to know we’re helping you study and be more productive. We know how hard it can be to avoid distractions – in fact, that’s why we started Freedom! We love to hear our users’ feedback as it helps us to keep being the #1 productivity app! Thank you 🙂

Had trouble getting app to work, and emailed with tech support. Was surprised to discover that tech support person, who had no info about me except my email address, was able to tell me what settings I had used in the app, *even though when I emailed tech support I had uninstalled Freedom.* Want a company to have a permanent record of the sites you have trouble staying away from? Then Freedom’s the app for you.

Also, I apparently made big errors setting up the app. After I got it running, set I thought to block Twitter and nothing else, it blocked the entire internet. I could not even send emails. While I don’t work in tech I’m pretty competent with my electronics, and have never made the kind of a boneheaded errors in setting up an app that I apparently did with Freedom. According to tech support, though, I really screwed it up. If all the problems were really from my errors, seems to me the info for new users is not clear enough.

Also, after installing and setting up, and deleting Freedom TWICE after it paralyzed my iPhone, I asked to have my money refunded — this was after I had had app for about 2 days. Tech support said there was no possible way for them to get me a refund (and of course there are multiple possible ways), and told me I had to go to Apple and ask for a refund on my Apple account. Apple account does not show the $40 payment I made. Payment was withdrawn from my bank acct though. So I’m also out $40.

Hi there and thanks for your feedback. We're sorry to hear that the app didn't work out for you! At Freedom, unlike many other anti-distraction apps, we don't collect or sell your data. Freedom synchronizes your blocklists all your devices, which is what you are referring to. This is a feature of our product and not for data collection. Anyway, we are still very sorry you didn't have a great experience, but we wanted to add some explanation to your claims.

I’ve only had Freedom for a week or so, but I already love it. It gives me the self control I never had on my own and I have multiple recurring sessions set up, to make sure I have a time to do certain work, to get a good night’s sleep, etc. I think “Freedom” is a pretty fitting name for it by the way. :) However I also have a couple of suggestions that could make it better:

1- have a “limit” mode in addition to the current “block” ability. What I mean is, adding sites and apps to a “limit” list for a certain time period, where Freedom will let you access it for a set amount of time (like 5 minutes), but then start blocking it. I understand there is a browser extension Freedom supports for limiting websites, but it would be nice to also have it for apps and just incorporate it better into the main thing.

2-have a toggle-able “random reminders” mode. What that means is, if the user turns this mode on, then during times where a block session is not active, sending reminders at random time intervals asking if the user is currently distracted by something time wasting. The random nature of the reminders could help the user to snap out of a distracted trance.

Thanks for your amazing review and great feedback! We're so happy to help you find focus & be more productive. We're always working on improvements & new features so you can trust that we'll keep being the original & best web & app blocker out there :)