The questions parents actually ask.
Brickify is free to download and set up. One payment of $4.99 / £4.99 switches blocking on for good: every profile, every schedule, the PIN and second factor, and new-app alerts. There's no subscription and nothing else to buy.
It covers every phone that uses the same App Store or Google Play account. On another phone, tap "Restore previous purchase" instead of paying again.
Refunds are handled by Apple or Google, from your purchase receipt.
No. Brickify isn't a monitoring app. It doesn't read messages, browsing history or location. It blocks apps on a schedule you set, and that's all.
Profiles switch on your schedule by themselves. To move to a more open profile early, you need your PIN plus a second factor, if you've set one up (an authenticator app). Recovery codes mean you're never locked out for good.
On iPhone, setup has you turn on a Screen Time passcode and turn off app deletion. Without that passcode, deleting Brickify removes the restrictions, so don't skip that step.
On Android with maximum protection (Device Owner), Brickify can't be uninstalled without a factory reset or your PIN-protected deactivation. In standard mode, anyone holding the phone can switch it off in Settings, so use maximum protection for a child's phone. You get an email if protection is removed.
A determined child might, and any app that promises otherwise isn't being straight with you. Brickify uses the phone's own system-level controls: Apple's Family Controls on iPhone, and Android's accessibility service, plus optional Device Owner mode, on Android. Setup walks you through closing the side doors, and you get an email if protection is removed.
Not quite. On iPhone, Brickify is built on the same Apple framework as Screen Time, and on Android it uses Android's accessibility service and optionally Device Owner. These make it hard to get round. What Brickify adds: several profiles that swap themselves through the week, a PIN plus second factor, alerts, a guided setup, and the same app on Android.
Probably not. According to Smartphone Free Childhood, more than 200,000 UK children are now in its Parent Pact, covering over half of UK schools. And a Brickified phone doesn't announce itself. It looks like any other phone; fewer apps work at certain times, that's all.
Screenable is a free, iPhone-only app with a Dumb Phone mode and a bedtime lock, run from the parent's phone. Canopy is a subscription monitoring suite that filters content and shows messages and location. Brickify works on iPhone and Android, doesn't monitor anything, and switches between profiles you build on a schedule, for a one-off price.
A brick phone is calls and texts only, on a second device. Brickify turns the phone you already own into a brick phone on your schedule, and lets you open apps one at a time as your child grows.
Brickify