Brick Alternative in Europe: The Honest Options

We make Monk, so treat this page accordingly. What we can do is not waste your time. Every list of Brick alternatives written for a European reader repeats the same claim: buy from the US, pay customs, wait three weeks. We checked, and it is wrong. Below is what Brick actually costs and how it actually reaches Europe, where a Spanish-made disc genuinely helps, and the one place where we cannot compete yet. Prices checked in August 2026.

Does Brick ship to Europe?

Yes, and it handles it better than most people expect. Brick fulfils orders locally from warehouses in the Netherlands, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. Duties and import taxes are calculated and prepaid in the cart for most countries, with a partner acting as importer of record. There is no courier at your door asking for forty euros before they hand over the box.

That kills the main argument this page was originally built on, so we are retiring it. If someone tells you a Brick will get stuck in customs, they either have not checked since the early days or they are selling you something. Brick's own international shipping policy lists the EU, the UK, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

What is left is smaller and more boring. The price is set in dollars, so the euro number moves with the exchange rate. Shipping is added at the end of the order rather than shown on the product page. Support is in English. Those are mild annoyances, not reasons to avoid a good product.

What Brick costs

Brick lists at $59, one payment, with the app free for life on both iOS and Android. No subscription. Discounts run often enough that you may see a lower number on the day you look. Shipping is calculated at checkout and varies by country, which is why we are not going to quote you a euro total we cannot stand behind.

Monk is €54.95 including VAT, one payment, app and updates included, no subscription. Two discs are €89, three are €119, which matters if you want one at your desk and one by the bed.

The two prices are close enough that cost should not decide this for you. Decide on the mechanism and on whether the thing can reach your address.

Is there a European alternative to Brick?

Monk is the one we know, because we build it. It is a physical NFC disc about the size of an AirTag, with a magnet and no battery, designed and shipped from Spain. Same underlying idea as Brick: put an object between you and the app, so opening Instagram costs you a walk instead of a thumb movement.

Here is the part a competitor page would bury. Monk currently ships within Spain only. We are working on the rest of Europe and the UK, and there is a waiting list you can join, but we are not going to pretend a box turns up in Dublin next Tuesday. If you are outside Spain and you want a physical blocker on your desk this month, buy the Brick. We would rather tell you that than sell you a wait.

If you want the mechanism compared feature by feature, we wrote a full Monk vs Brick comparison, and a longer Brick review.

Where Brick beats Monk

Four places, and none of them are small.

Android. Brick runs on Android 12 and later as well as iPhone. Monk is iPhone only, iOS 16.2 and up, and we have no Android date to give you. If anyone in your house is on a Pixel or a Galaxy, this comparison is already over.

Delivery. Covered above. Brick reaches twenty-odd European countries today. We reach one.

Track record. Brick has been at this longer, with a far larger customer base and a review count Monk is nowhere near. When you are buying a habit device, other people's experience is worth something.

The escape hatch. Brick gives you five emergency unlocks in the app, with a form to request more. Monk gives you three, they are finite, and there is no form to ask for more and no soft unlock to fall back on. We think that is the better design, but "better" depends on you. If you travel for work and the thought of being locked out of a boarding pass makes you anxious, Brick's looser hand is the safer buy.

Where Monk holds up: it runs on iOS 16.2, so older iPhones that Brick's iOS 17 requirement leaves out are still covered. The price is in euros with VAT already inside it. Support answers in Spanish and English. And the mechanism is stricter, which is the next section.

Can you bypass a physical app blocker?

On iOS, yes. Every app blocker on the platform has cracks, Safari being the obvious one, and any brand claiming a sealed box is overselling. We say this in our own FAQ because pretending otherwise makes you distrust everything else on the page.

Expect the first three days to be unpleasant. Your hand will go to the phone before your brain catches up, several times an hour. That settles. Anyone promising you a frictionless transition has not used one.

Monk vs Brick for a European buyer

Checked August 2026. Brick's euro total appears at checkout and depends on your country, so we list the dollar price it advertises rather than guess at a conversion.

The short version. Outside Spain, or on Android, or if you want it delivered this week: Brick, without hesitation. Inside Spain, on an iPhone, wanting a euro price with the tax already in it and a stricter mechanism: Monk. Elsewhere in Europe on an iPhone: join our list if you can wait, buy the Brick if you cannot.

If you go with Monk, it works in three steps

Setup takes an afternoon, not a weekend.

1. Put the disc somewhere inconvenient. The magnet holds it on the fridge, a shelf, the far end of the flat. The distance is not a side effect, it is the mechanism. Ten steps beats one metre.
2. Choose what closes and when. Block and Allow modes pick the apps. Scheduled sessions and Strict Mode set the hours: mornings without social, dinner without work email. Remote scanning lets a parent manage a child's limits without reading their messages.
3. Scan to reopen. Want a blocked app? Walk over, tap the disc. That gesture is the entire product. The three emergencies stay parked for the day you left the disc at home and need your banking app.

FAQ