Forest vs Opal
Forest vs Opal: a focus timer or an app blocker?
Forest grows a tree while you focus. Opal manages your screen time all day. Here's which one fits whom, side by side, and a third option if neither does.
The short answer
- Pick Forest if a growing tree keeps you at your desk, and you'd like apps blocked during a session or on a schedule.
- Pick Opal if you want your screen time managed all day: schedules, daily limits, a score, and a mode you can't cancel.
- Pick neither if you want a timer that blocks apps and websites for the session you start, free, with somewhere for the minutes to go. That's Quiet Orbit, which we make.
Forest and Opal, side by side
| Forest | Opal | |
|---|---|---|
| Price to start | Free | Free |
| What paying costs (US) | Forest Plus, listed at $5.99 a month or $32.49 to $35.99 a year, plus coin packs | Plans listed from $4.99 a week to $99.99 a year; $49.99 a year on its student page |
| Blocks the apps you pick | Yes, with an Allow List (iOS 16 or later) | Yes, apps and websites, on a schedule, with app limits and a mode you can't cancel |
| If you stop early | "Leave early and it withers," says its listing | Depends on the difficulty you set |
| Focus with friends | Plant trees together with friends and family | Leaderboards against other members |
| Runs on | iPhone and iPad | iPhone and iPad |
Where they differ
What they're for
Forest is a focus timer: you start a session and a tree grows while you stay off your phone. Opal is a screen-time manager: it decides when apps open across the whole day, and sessions are one part of it.
How they block
Forest blocks during a session with Allow Lists for what stays open, and its Time Guard blocks on a schedule. Opal blocks apps and websites on schedules, sets daily limits per app, and has a Deep Focus mode its listing says "won't let you cancel or bypass at all".
What they cost
Both are free to download. Forest Plus is listed at $5.99 a month or $32.49 to $35.99 a year, plus coin packs. Opal's plans are listed from $4.99 a week to $99.99 a year, and $49.99 a year on its student page.
Friends and devices
Forest lets friends and family plant trees together; Opal has leaderboards against other members. Both run on iPhone and iPad, and Forest syncs your focus time with Apple Health.
A third option
Quiet Orbit is a focus timer that blocks the apps and websites you pick for as long as a session runs, through Apple's own Screen Time. Every minute flies your ship toward the next world, and a session you finish can turn up a finding from the world you reached: an object, a record or a sound. Blocking is free at every length, and Premium is $19.99 a year or $39.99 once.
More on each: Forest alternatives, Opal alternatives, or every app side by side.
Zeus Apps B.V. makes Quiet Orbit. What this page says about other apps is from their US App Store listings (Forest and Opal), checked on 16 October 2026, and can change; Forest's pricing history is from Wikipedia. Prices differ by country. Every app named here is a trademark of its owner; Quiet Orbit isn't affiliated with any of them.