6 Physical App Blockers Tested and Ranked (2026)

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Posted on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xEhw_81hB08

TL;DR

For many of you, this article might be somewhat overstimulating and hard to read because I may have added too much fluff (and by that I mean there are a lot of images and GIFs). But the takeaway consensus I want you to have is that I believe everyone should have some sort of device like this to help with screen time.

Disclosure: Some of the following products were provided for the purpose of this video and review; however, all thoughts and opinions are my own, and no money was exchanged during the making of this video.

Tool	Account Required	Price	Available Platforms	Emergency Unblock	My Rating
Brick	✅	$59	iOS / Android	Yes	4 / 5
PauseBox	❌	$24.95	iOS (Android coming soon)	Yes	5 / 5
Locked	❌	$44	iOS	Yes	5 / 5
Unpluq	✅	$66/yr	iOS / Android	Yes	3 / 5
Bloom	✅	$39	iOS / Android	Yes	3 / 5
Foqos	❌	Free	iOS	Yes	4 / 5

GMKtec NucBox5 Benchmarks

Sat, 27 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Posted on YouTube (1-year update): https://youtu.be/3xebrmU7vVk

Tip
Update (Apr 2026): It's now been over two years, and it's still running reliably. Power efficiency remains excellent, but the Celeron N5105 is starting to show its age for heavier workloads.

Basic Information:

Mfr. URL (official): https://www.gmktec.com/
PC purchased from: Amazon
PC purchase date: October 22, 2023
PC specs (as tested): 8GB RAM + 128GB SSD
PC price (as tested): $127.19

Linux/System Information:

# output of `screenfetch`
 _,met$$$$$gg. ryderhutchings@gmktec-nucbox5
 ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P. OS: Debian 13 trixie
 ,g$$P"" """Y$$.". Kernel: x86_64 Linux 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64
 ,$$P' `$$$. Uptime: 57m
 ',$$P ,ggs. `$$b: Packages: 1411
 `d$$' ,$P"' . $$$ Shell: bash 5.2.37
 $$P d$' , $$P Disk: 4.1G / 115G (4%)
 $$: $$. - ,d$$' CPU: Intel Celeron N5105 @ 4x 2.9GHz [35.0°C]
 $$\; Y$b._ _,d$P' GPU: UHD Graphics
 Y$$. `.`"Y$$$$P"' RAM: 680MiB / 7725MiB
 `$$b "-.__ 
 `Y$$ 
 `Y$$. 
 `$$b. 
 `Y$$b. 
 `"Y$b._ 
 `"""" 

# output of `uname -a`
Linux gmktec-nucbox5 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.74-2 (2026-03-08) x86_64 GNU/Linux

System Topology:

Note: lstopo results may be missing some information on new and strange SoCs.

Blog on Ryder Hutchings

6 Physical App Blockers Tested and Ranked (2026)

TL;DR

GMKtec NucBox5 Benchmarks

Basic Information:

Linux/System Information:

System Topology: