Monk vs Brick: Which NFC App Blocker Fits You
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Blog · Comparison · 7 min read
Monk vs Brick: which NFC app blocker fits you
Brick and Monk are the same kind of answer: a physical NFC disc that blocks apps on your phone and makes you walk over and scan it to get them back. Brick has the head start, the bigger community, Android support and shipping across most of Europe and North America. Monk has a stricter mechanism, a euro price with the tax inside it, and support in two languages — but it only ships within Spain today. We make Monk, so the useful thing we can do is tell you exactly when to buy theirs.
Search for "Monk or Brick" and you mostly find pages where the seller wins every row. That is not a comparison, it is an advert with a table in it. So here are both, judged on things you can check: price, what happens at checkout, the unlock mechanism, which phones they run on, which countries they reach, support language and returns. Checked August 2026 against both companies' own sites.
What is Brick and what is Monk?
Both are physical barriers: an NFC object that decides whether an app opens. Brick is the American pioneer. Monk is a Spanish-made disc built on the same principle with a tighter mechanism.
Brick got there early and it paid off. It is the leader in the US, with a review count and a community neither we nor anyone else in this category comes close to. It is an NFC tile you stick wherever you like, tap with your phone to block a set of apps, and tap again to bring them back. No battery, no subscription, and it runs on both iPhone and Android. That last point matters and we will repeat it: Brick is the only one of the two that works on Android.
Monk does the same job from a different starting point. It is an NFC disc about the size of an AirTag, magnetic, no battery, designed and made in Spain. Two modes decide what is blocked and what is allowed, and to reopen a blocked app you scan the disc. The mechanism difference, which we get into below, is that Monk has no soft unlock on the phone: no button to skip the block, no code to type. You either scan, or you spend one of the three finite emergency unlocks in the app.
If you want the longer view, we wrote a full Brick review and a ranking of app blockers for iPhone.
What does each one cost?
Brick lists at $59, one payment, with shipping calculated at checkout. Monk is €54.95 including VAT, one payment, with two discs at €89 and three at €119. Neither charges a subscription, and both include the app for life.
We are not going to convert Brick's dollars into euros for you. The rate moves, our own older pages quoted two different conversions months apart, and a number we cannot stand behind is worse than no number. What you should know is that the two prices sit close enough together that cost is not the deciding factor here.
One correction we owe Brick, because we used to get this wrong ourselves. There is a myth that ordering a Brick anywhere in Europe means a customs bill at the door. Inside the EU it does not: Brick fulfils EU orders from a warehouse in the Netherlands, with a partner acting as importer of record, and duties and taxes are calculated and prepaid in the cart. Outside the EU it is a different story. Their published shipping policy lists the United States, the EU from the Netherlands, Australia and Canada. There is no UK warehouse, so a British order crosses a border and can be charged duty and import VAT on arrival. Their own policy tells you to check that the duties line appears at checkout, which is fair advice. The real friction left is that you pay in dollars and the shipping cost only shows up at the end.
Monk is €54.95 flat, VAT included, one payment, app and lifetime updates included. What you see is what you pay — inside Spain, which brings us to the row that matters most for a lot of readers.
Where Brick wins
Three rows, and they are not decoration.
Android. Brick runs on Android 12 and later as well as iPhone. Monk is iPhone only. There is no Android version, and we are not going to sell you a promise. If there is an Android phone in the equation, buy the Brick and stop reading.
Delivery. Brick's published shipping policy covers the United States, the EU (fulfilled from the Netherlands), Australia and Canada. Monk currently ships within Spain only, with a waiting list open for the EU and the UK. If you are outside Spain and you want a physical blocker this month, we cannot serve you and Brick can.
A gentler escape hatch. Brick gives you five emergency unlocks and a form to request more. We think a stricter design works better, but that is a preference, not a fact. If you travel constantly and being locked out of a boarding pass at an airport sounds like a genuine problem, Brick's flexibility is the safer purchase.
Where Monk holds its ground: it runs on iOS 16.2 and up, from the iPhone XS, while Brick requires iOS 17 — so a few older phones are covered by us and not by them. The price is in euros with VAT already inside. Support answers in Spanish and English. And the unlock is stricter.
Can you get around either of them?
Both use the same physical barrier, so neither is an unbreakable lock on iOS. The difference is in how easy each one makes it to quit early: Brick hands you five emergency unlocks, Monk makes you scan every time and keeps three finite ones for real emergencies.
Let us be plain, because this is where the category oversells itself. On iOS, no app blocker is impossible to bypass. Safari and a few system gaps always leave a crack, and anyone telling you otherwise wants your money. What a good physical blocker does is not seal every door — it kills the automatic gesture, turning "open Instagram without thinking" into "walk to the disc and scan it". That second of friction is the entire product.
The difference between the two is how much easy exit they leave you. That is where each mechanism shows its character.
Brick runs on unbricks: five emergency unlocks for when you genuinely need access, plus a Strict Mode that stops you uninstalling the app to end a session early. Monk takes that one step further and removes the manual unlock entirely. To reopen a blocked app, you scan the disc. Every time.
Monk's three emergency unlocks are finite on purpose, meant for the actual edge case — you left the disc at home and need your banking app — rather than for daily cheating. We wrote more about this in whether you can get around a physical app blocker.
Neither one blocks calls or texts, for the record. Both work offline: the barrier is the object, not the connection.
And whichever you choose, expect the first three days to be unpleasant. Your hand goes to the phone before your brain catches up, several times an hour. That fades, but nobody should sell you a smooth start.
Monk vs Brick: the table
Checked August 2026 against both companies' published information. Brick's final total depends on your country and appears at checkout.
| Criterion | Brick | Monk |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $59 list + shipping at checkout | €54.95 incl. VAT · 2 for €89 · 3 for €119 |
| Model | One-off, app free for life | One-off, app and updates included for life |
| Ships to | Per their published policy: US, EU (from the Netherlands), Australia, Canada | Spain only today · EU and UK waiting list open |
| Import taxes | Prepaid in cart for the countries their policy covers · a UK order can still be charged at the door | Included in the price |
| Platforms | iPhone (iOS 17+) and Android 12+ | iPhone only, iOS 16.2+, from iPhone XS |
| Mechanism | Tap to block and unblock · 5 emergency unbricks, more on request · Strict Mode | Scan every time to reopen · no soft override · 3 finite emergency unlocks in the app · Strict Mode |
| Support language | English | Spanish and English |
| Returns | Per their published policy | 30-day returns + 14 legal days |
| Track record | Longer, with a far larger review base | Younger and smaller · Okendo 4.8 · Trustpilot 4.8 |
What the table says without spin: Brick has the community, the track record, Android, and an address list that includes yours. Monk has a euro price with the tax inside it, older iPhone support, a second support language and a tighter mechanism. If you are on an iPhone in Spain and you want the version with no soft exit, Monk. In most other situations, buy the Brick without a second thought.
There is no universal winner. There is the one that fits you.
If you go with Monk, it works in three steps
No endless setup. You are running by the afternoon:
- Put the disc somewhere inconvenient. The magnet holds on the fridge, the desk, the far end of the flat — wherever "worth walking over there" is true. The distance is not a side effect, it is the mechanism.
- 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. For a child's phone, remote scanning lets you manage limits without reading their messages.
- Scan to reopen. Want a blocked app? Walk over and tap the disc. That gesture is the whole system: it turns an impulse into a decision. The three emergencies stay parked for the real edge case.
Frequently asked questions
Monk or Brick — which should I buy?
Buy Brick if you are on Android, if you live outside Spain, or if you want the product with the longest track record and the biggest community. Buy Monk if you are on an iPhone in Spain, you want a euro price with VAT included and support in Spanish, and you specifically want a mechanism with no soft unlock. There is no single answer; it depends on your phone and your address.
Does a Brick order get charged customs in Europe?
Inside the EU, generally no: Brick fulfils EU orders from a warehouse in the Netherlands and duties and taxes are calculated and prepaid in the cart. The UK is not the EU and there is no UK warehouse — their published policy covers the US, the EU, Australia and Canada — so a British order can be charged duty and import VAT on arrival. Their policy notes that if you do not see duties listed at checkout you may owe something on arrival, so check that line. You do pay in dollars, and the shipping cost only appears at the end of the order.
Can both be bypassed?
Both are physical barriers, and on iOS no barrier is completely bypass-proof — Safari always leaves a crack. What both do well is kill the automatic gesture. The difference is the mechanism: Brick gives you five emergency unlocks and lets you request more, while Monk has no soft unlock at all and makes you scan the disc every time, with only three finite emergency unlocks in the app. Monk is stricter in practice, which suits some people and frustrates others.
Which one works on Android?
Brick, on Android 12 and later, as well as iPhone. Monk is iPhone only, iOS 16.2 or later from the iPhone XS; there is no Android version, and no date we are willing to promise. If you need Android, the honest answer is Brick.
If it is an iPhone, and you want no soft exit
Monk is €54.95 including VAT, paid once, with the app and lifetime updates included and 30-day returns on top of the 14 legal days. No subscription, no fine print, and no soft unlock — you scan the disc, or you spend one of three finite emergency unlocks. Monk currently ships within Spain — join the list for the EU and UK and we will write when your country opens, not before. If you need one sooner, or you are on Android, Brick is a good product and we would rather you bought theirs.
See MonkOne-time €54.95 · Ships within Spain today · EU and UK waiting list · 30-day returns + 14 legal days
