BRICK

BRICK blocks distracting apps on an iPhone and unlocks them only when you scan a physical NFC card. It is built entirely from the free Shortcuts app. No developer account, no App Store, no sideloading.

Working inside the constraints

iOS sandboxes apps: no third-party app can block or monitor another without Apple’s Family Controls entitlement, which needs a paid developer account. BRICK doesn’t have one, so a native blocker was off the table. Instead it’s assembled from Shortcuts and automations, which makes it a friction and commitment device, not a security boundary. A determined person can turn it off in Settings. The landing page states that honestly rather than overselling it.

One source of truth

A single small JSON file in iCloud Drive holds the state: locked or unlocked, and until when. Opening a blocked app triggers an automation that runs BRICK Guard, which reads the file and either lets the app open or drops you at the lock screen. Scanning the NFC card runs BRICK Unlock, which writes an unlocked state with a timed expiry. Every part reads and writes the same file, so there is only ever one answer to “am I locked right now.”