Brick Device Locks Chosen Apps to Curb Screen Time

Q: What happens if you lock your apps for deep work but accidentally lose the physical device you need to unlock them?

If you lose the Brick while your apps are locked, you are not necessarily stuck, but your options narrow. Brick includes five emergency “unbricks” per phone, which let you restore access without the physical device. Those are meant for exactly this kind of situation, such as leaving the puck at home or misplacing it. Reports about the product say those emergency unbricks do not automatically refresh over time. If you have already used all five, users can request additional unbricks from Brick through a support form, with requests reportedly handled in about 48 hours. That means losing the device could leave you locked out of selected apps until support responds. There are also important caveats. Some coverage says deleting the Brick app can restore access to blocked apps, but if Strict Mode is enabled, deleting the app is designed to be blocked, making bypassing harder. Strict Mode is specifically meant to prevent easy workarounds through settings changes or app deletion. In practice, the risk of losing the device is real but partly mitigated by those built-in emergency unbricks and support options. For anyone relying on Brick for deep work, the safest approach is to keep track of how many emergency unbricks remain, avoid turning on the most restrictive settings without a backup plan, and consider using more than one Brick or sharing one across a household so another device is available if one goes missing.

1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 7

Wirecutter staffers said the Brick helped them cut mindless scrolling by physically blocking access to selected phone apps.
Elissa Sanci said the device worked where other tactics failed because it created real distance from distracting apps and broke her doom-scrolling cycle.
Scheduled bricking can shield mornings and work hours, she said, while one device can also be shared across families or roommates.
The recommendation targets a common problem for phone users who check screen-time reports yet still struggle to reduce daily app use.