Mono blocks distracting apps, silences your phone, and runs a Pomodoro timer – one switch, and the phone is finally on your side. Android launcher. iOS companion.
Mono lives at the OS level. It IS your home screen. When Deep Work flips on, blocking, DND, the timer, and grayscale all activate simultaneously – and the exit path requires deliberate effort.
Deep Work mode is the heart of Mono. Everything below happens the moment you turn it on – no configuration, no juggling apps.
Mono uses Android's Usage Stats API to intercept any blocked app the instant it becomes foreground – not just hide it from the drawer. Open Instagram and you're yanked back immediately. Every dodged attempt is counted.
Total silence, or Priority mode – starred contacts and repeat callers still reach you. No manual toggling. No forgetting to re-enable.
Roll a 6: sixty minutes of work, six of rest. Unpredictability breaks the habituation that kills every other focus system.
Minutes per day, sessions completed, interruptions dodged, and a 7-day bar chart. Fourteen-day streak means fourteen consecutive days you chose your work over your feed.
Every notification that arrived while you focused is stored and replayed as a digest when the session ends. Silence now – fully caught up later. No FOMO, no exceptions.
A running session cannot be ended early – unless you enter the PIN you set before it started. Commitment, not willpower.
Set weekday hours once. Sessions start themselves. Monday at 9:00 is always a focused morning – whether you remember or not.
The screen drains to monochrome the moment your session starts. Color is a dopamine lever. Remove it.
The home screen holds three tasks and refuses a fourth. Backlogs are a tomorrow problem. Today has three jobs.
Write what this session is for before it starts. It stays on screen during the timer. Vague sessions produce vague results.
The 3–5 apps you actually need sit on your home screen in greyscale, each with its own notification kill-switch.
Brown noise, rain, or lo-fi plays during work phases and pauses automatically on breaks. Pairs with strict mode for zero exits, zero distractions.
Mono IS your launcher. No feed, no app grid, no rabbit holes – just the timer, your intention, and a minimal dock. App blocking works system-wide via overlay, even outside the app.
iOS doesn't allow third-party home screen replacements – so Mono works differently here. It uses Apple's Family Controls API to apply kernel-level app shields during sessions. A custom block screen appears the moment you try to open a shielded app. Pair with a Shortcuts Focus mode for full system silence.
The focus app market has one structural flaw: every competitor solves one layer. Mono is the only tool that does all five simultaneously.
| Feature | Mono | Opal | Forest | One Sec | Digital Wellbeing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard app blocking (not just hiding) | ✓ Yes | iOS only | ✗ No | ✗ No | Bypassable |
| Built-in Pomodoro timer | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | Session only | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Automatic DND + call silencing | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No | Separate setting |
| Grayscale tied to session | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No | Manual only |
| Notification digest ("while you focused") | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Android & iOS native | ✓ Both | iOS only | Both | Both | Built-in |
| Scheduled auto-start sessions | ✓ Pro | Paid only | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Price | Free + 30d trial | $99/year | $2.99 | $19.99/year | Free |
| Zero data collection | ✓ Yes | Analytics | Limited | Limited | Google data |
Opal is the gold standard on iOS — beautiful, hard-blocking, $99/year. But Opal is iOS-only. Android users have had no equivalent. Mono fills that gap: system-level app blocking, a Pomodoro timer, and automatic DND built into a launcher that becomes your home screen. Free to start, 30-day Pro trial then $3.49/year.
Forest grows a tree while your phone sits idle. The problem: it cannot prevent you from opening Instagram. A determined mind sacrifices the tree every time. Mono intercepts blocked apps before they load using Android's Usage Stats API — there is no loophole. You cannot open what you blocked.
One Sec adds a 1-second breathing pause before you open a distracting app — clever, but friction habituates. By week 3 your thumb taps through the pause on autopilot. Mono removes the option entirely for the session duration. You can't tap through a block that doesn't let you in at all.
Digital Wellbeing app timers are bypassable in two taps: just extend the limit or turn it off. Mono's session blocking lives at the launcher level — below the Settings menu that would let you bypass it. With Strict Mode on, even ending a session early requires the PIN you set before you started.
Add Mono as your home screen. Add the 3–5 apps that pull you out of work (WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube). Set your working hours.
One toggle. Blocked apps vanish, phone goes silent, Pomodoro timer starts, screen drains to grey. You are now unreachable by distraction.
Session ends. Your notification digest appears – everything that arrived while you were working. Stats update. Streak continues. Ship.
"The goal isn't a blocker that makes Instagram harder to open. It's a phone that makes deep work structurally easier than distraction."
"Your attention is the only truly nonrenewable resource. Every app on your phone was built by a team whose sole job is to harvest it. Mono is the only thing fighting back."
No ads. No analytics. No data collection. Mono Pro is free for 30 days – then $3.49/year, less than a coffee. The core app is free forever.
All data – sessions, stats, tasks, blocklist, notification digest – lives in private storage on your device. Uninstall and it's gone. No servers, no cloud, no accounts.
The core app is free. Mono Pro – focus audio, scheduled sessions, strict mode PIN – starts with a 30-day free trial, then $3.49/year (₹179/year in India). Cancel before the trial ends and you won't be charged.
An anti-distraction launcher that shows ads would be a joke. This is a focus tool. The entire product is built on the premise that your attention is yours.
Everything people search before they install.
Yes — Mono is the closest Android equivalent to Opal. Opal is iOS-only and costs $99/year. Mono brings the same hard app blocking philosophy to Android using the Usage Stats API: blocked apps are intercepted the instant they become foreground — not just hidden. Add a built-in Pomodoro timer, automatic Do Not Disturb, grayscale mode, and a notification digest, and you get more than Opal — with a 30-day free trial, then $3.49/year.
No. Forest grows a virtual tree while your phone sits idle, but it cannot prevent you from opening Instagram or YouTube. A motivated person sacrifices the tree and opens the app. Mono blocks at the Android system level via an overlay service — blocked apps cannot be opened during a session, even if you actively try.
One Sec adds a 1-second breathing pause before you open a distracting app. It creates friction, which helps — for a while. By week 3 most users tap through the pause on autopilot. Mono removes the option entirely for the session duration: blocked apps cannot be opened at all, and there is no pause to habituate to. Mono also adds a Pomodoro timer, automatic DND, and grayscale mode.
A deep work launcher replaces your standard Android home screen with one designed for output rather than consumption. Instead of an app grid, infinite scroll, and notification widgets, you get a focus timer, a session intention field, and hard-blocked distracting apps. Mono is built around the principle that blocking should happen at the lowest possible level — the home screen — not in an overlay you can close.
Significantly. Digital Wellbeing's app timers can be bypassed in two taps: open Settings, extend the limit, done. Mono's session blocking lives at the launcher level — not in a Settings menu. With Strict Mode and a PIN enabled, you cannot end a running session without the code you set before it started. You'd have to fully reboot the device to escape.
Install Mono and set it as your default Android launcher. Add the apps you want to block (Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Reddit) to your blocklist. Tap the Deep Work toggle. Blocked apps are intercepted immediately — any attempt to open them redirects back to Mono. The blocking persists until you end the session or it times out naturally.
Four permissions: Usage Access (detects when you try to open a blocked app), Display Over Other Apps (shows the block overlay), Notification Listener (stores your notification digest during focus), and Do Not Disturb Access (silences calls and alerts). No network, no location, no contacts. Everything stays on your device — Mono has no servers.
Core Mono — hard app blocking, Pomodoro timer, auto DND, grayscale, notification digest, session streaks — is free forever. Mono Pro starts with a 30-day free trial, then $3.49/year (₹179/year in India). Cancel any time before the trial ends and you won't be charged. Pro adds three things: focus audio (brown noise, rain, or lo-fi that plays during work and pauses on breaks), scheduled sessions that start automatically on your chosen days and times, and strict mode with an exit PIN.
Install Mono and experience a phone that works for you instead of against you. Free to start. No account required. Android 8+ and iOS 16+.