FREEDOM.TO App review (kill bad habits in 2025)
If I had to recommend one app to help you get control over your bad habits and improve your mental health as a result, it would be Freedom.
Basically, if you have any kind of bad habit that involves the internet – and let’s face it, most bad habits these days do - Freedom is the easiest, quickest way to get control over it.
I’m talking about:
Doomscrolling
Overspending
Social media addiction
Gaming addiction
Procrastination
And anything else that involves the web. (Yes, I’m including, shall we say, ‘adult material’.)
In combination with Caveday, Freedom is the best 1-2 combination I’ve found to help me get more work done, spend less money, waste less time on social media and generally procrastinate a lot less.
The other thing you should bear in mind is that Freedom takes willpower completely out of the equation.
Despite what TEH HUSTLEZ online people might say, you don’t need to use willpower to kill your bad online habits.
You just need Freedom.
What does the Freedom app do?
Freedom is, essentially, a ‘blocking app’.
You can use it to block either:
Individual pages and sites on a web browesr, or;
Individual apps, or;
Literally the whole internet
You can use Freedom on all devices (smartphones, tablets, computers) and on both Apple and Android.
Basically, if you have an internet enabled device, you can install Freedom on it and start killing your bad habits in a few minutes.
HOW DOES FREEDOM WORK?
Every bad habit you have online involves websites or an app.
Doomscrolling? You’re probably reading a news site.
Some influencer making you feel worthless? You’re probably on Instagram, YouTube, Tik-Tok, or whatever.
Spending a bit too much time watching adult entertainment?
Well… you get the idea.
Freedom is exactly what the name suggests: it’ FREEDOM from websites like this, that are designed to pull you into an addictive cycle.
You can use it to block any site or app on any device, for any amount of time.
Once you’ve blocked your chosen site or app, it’s blocked for as long as you want to block it. (Anything from 5 minutes to a week or more.)
What do you mean, block?
I mean, if once you’ve blocked a website, you try to go on it, you get a nice screen like this:
If you’ve blocked an app on your phone, it looks like this:
(As you can see, I’ve blocked iTunes so I don’t spend as much on the music store as I used to.)
But I need websites! I have, you know, a job. And I have people who might need to message me in an emergency. I can’t just turn the internet off.
Here’s the good news:
Freedom doesn’t control you, you control it
Welcome to the most beautiful feature of Freedom: blocklists.
A blocklist is, as you’ve probably worked out, a list of sites that you want to block at any one time.
And you can create as many of these blocklists as you like.
Let’s say you’re sick of social media, for whatever (of the many) reasons you might be sick of it.
Just create a ‘social media’ blocklist, and add all social media apps and browser websites to it.
(Blocking both means you can’t get around a blocked app by accessing it through a browser.)
Or maybe you spend too much money buying albums on Apple music (me, as you saw earlier.).
You can create a blocklist solely dedicated to blocking the iTunes store on your phone:
And here’s the thing that really matters if the idea of blocking things worries you:
You control how long you want to block for
Want to spend 9am-11am studying every morning? Or spend 4pm-5pm reading without distraction?
You can set freedom to turn on and turn off during those hours.
You can also choose to block apps or websites on certain days, if that’s what’ll work best for you.
Let’s say you want to avoid wasting time on YouTube Monday-Friday, but you’re fine watching at the weekend.
You can set up a block session to do that.
(I personally block Amazon every day of the week except Saturday to avoid over-spending on Kindle books.)
Just as importantly; you don’t have to block anything you don’t want to block. You are in control.
So, if you’re a busy parent who talks to their kids through Whatsapp, you can block everything else on your phone, but leave Whatsapp open.
Same goes for if you work at home, and want to block social media, but need your email to stay open in case your boss tries to get hold of you.
Easy.
Freedom is total Freedom from the sites and apps that hurt your life, but the Freedom to keep what you really need.
It’s entirely up to you what your new Freedom looks like.
That all sounds really complicated.
I agree, it does.
But I’ve got good news for you…
You can ‘set and forget’ Freedom
by automating your sessions
It’s no good saving time by blocking apps and websites if you have to spend all your time turning blocks on and off!
(Especially if you’re like me, and your ADHD means you’re likely to forget to do it half the time.)
Well, Freedom has you covered, with auto-scheduling.
Once you’ve set a blocklist up (which won’t take you anymore than 2 minutes or so), you can set it to turn on and off automatically forever.
(Or until you decide to adjust it.)
Basically, spend half an hour with Freedom on day one, and you won’t need to touch it ever again.
Your bad habits will be gone, forever if you choose.
No willpower required.
To be honest, the first time I showed my partner and a couple of friends Freedom, I got the same question:
‘Why the hell doesn’t everyone know this app exists?’
The obvious answer is that we live in a world full of apps and websites that are engineered to be as addictive as possible.
I suppose if everyone knew about Freedom, those businesses might make less money.
frequently asked questions about Freedom.to
Can you run multiple blocklists at the same time?
Yes! This is what I do.
If you’re like me, you’re probably going to want to block different apps and sites on different days.
You can set up as many blocklists as you need to meet your own personal goals.
I have three automatically running, all year round:
Money saver: Blocks all money-spending apps and websites. Runs Sunday-Friday, all day. Only turns off on Saturday. If during the week, I’ve remembered I need something, I order it on Saturday.
Time Waster: Blocks all websites I waste time on (mostly blogs, some forums, all social media) and runs 7 days a week between midnight and 8pm. (I can live with a bit of timewasting just before bed.)
Mental health. Blocks all news apps, 24 hours a day, all week. I believe the news is bad for your mental health, so I avoid it at all costs.
I set these blocklists up about 18 months ago (as of 2025), and they still run automatically all year round, without me having to do anything.
If I really want to block the internet altogether, I will occasionally start a new sessions to do this manually.
(Doing this doesn’t interfere with my regular blocklists, though. When my internet turns back on, those sites are still blocked.)
But I’ll just turn the blocks off when I’m bored, I know what I’m like.
Good on you for being honest with yourself. Not everyone is! And you’re just like me.
Freedom has you covered.
Basically, when you start using Freedom, you will have the option to cancel up to 10 sessions.
After you use up those sessions, you will have to contact Freedom support to get more.
(Freedom are sensible, and know who their customers are!)
But, if you want to be honest with yourself and accept that if the cancellations are there, you’ll probably use them…
You have the option of removing the cancellations the first time you use them.
Which, needless to say, I did and I recommend you do, too 😊
What are the downsides to Freedom?
I’m aware this review has been a bit gushing, and that’s with good reason: I really believe Freedom is a godsend to anyone who wants to kill bad habits online.
For people with ADHD like me, who are naturally inclined towards addictive behaviour, it’s particularly life changing.
But nothing (apart from David Gilmour’s first solo in Comfortably Numb) is perfect, so let’s go through the few reasons you might decide Freedom isn’t for you.
What are the downsides of the Freedom app?
If you’re going to use Freedom, you’ll have to kill your ego. Which is uncomfortable.
Getting to the point of acceptance with yourself where you think ‘I am struggling to do this on my own’ is not easy.
If you’ve got any kind of ego – and most people do! – then the first time you use Freedom, you might find yourself thinking ‘I don’t need to do that’ or, worse, ‘I shouldn’t need to use this.’
Listen, I get it. I used Freedom for about six years before I was diagnosed with ADHD, and it annoyed the hell out of me that I needed it.
I’m a man, raised in an age where men’s mental health wasn’t really something anyone talked about.
Having to admit that I sometimes struggled to do basic stuff that was well within my abilities - like avoiding wasting money or procrastinating on work - Was. Not. Easy.
So, if you’re still at that stage, I get it. If you want to try and rely on willpower…
Well, I respect that. And good luck to you.
But if you’re at the stage where you are ready to accept that you might need a bit of help getting more done, or kicking a bad habit, Freedom is the best solution I know.
And remember, you don’t have to tell anybody you use it. I might be writing this to raise awareness, but it’s not something I broadcast in my day to day life.
For certain tasks, you may need to do a bit of planning before you turn Freedom on.
If you’re doing a task for work, and you want to turn off the web to help you focus, you’ll need to gather any research, materials or whatever else you need and save them locally before you start your session.
I’m a writer, so I’ll often save PDFs of web pages, and any spreadsheets I need locally to my computer first.
Then I can work without worrying that I’m going to get 10 minutes in and realise I need something online :)
(This does still happen from time to time. Usually I’ll just make a note in my work and carry on with the work I can do until the session finishes.)
If you want to block the internet altogether while working you’ll need to check your software works offline (or use an alternative)
First, good news: virtually all software programmes will function fine with no internet connection. (Even if you need to authorise the software online first and then block the web.)
Some, though, will need a constant web connection. Either in the app or through a website.
Here, you have two options, and I’ve done both:
Use an alternate software that does work offline. (I.e. rather than Google Docs, use Excel or Numbers). In most cases, you’ll be able to copy your work across to your online software when you’re done.
Block everything except for the website your software needs to connect to. (I.e. you can block the rest of the web, but keep Microsoft exempt to use with MS Teams.)
Both of these options work fine.
If this sounds fiddly, remember:
The extra 5-30 minutes you spend planning and setting your offline sessions up will be nothing compared to how fast you will get your work done when you’re not wasting time online.
Honestly, if you’ve never actually done it before, you’ll be amazed how productive you are offline.
To the extent that you won’t ever want to go back to working online regularly.
You probably can’t install Freedom on your work computer
Most companies won’t give you admin access on your work laptop for you to install Freedom.
(You can ask, sure, but when I’ve done this before I’ve usually just gotten blank or confused looks from people.)
When I’ve had a work laptop, I’ve usually just worked on my own laptop/computer at home, and then transferred the work across when I’m done working offline and my internet is back on.
I’ve never had any complaints, because I get more work done in way less time. Using Freedom works in everyone’s best interest.
BUT, Freedom is more suited to working at home
Let’s call a spade a spade: if you’re in the office five days a week, and you’re on a work laptop you can’t install anything on…
Freedom will be trickier to use.
But remember, though most FAQs are usually around using this for work, Freedom isn’t just there for productivity.
It’s for killing bad habits.
So, even if you’re limited to a work laptop, you can still install Freedom on your smartphone and use it to kill bad habits there.
I personally use Freedom on all my devices. But it’s flexible, and you can use it in the way you see fit.
Does the freedom app cost money?
Is Freedom worth it?
There are 3 basic pricing tiers as I write this in 2025:
· Monthly premium (which is $9 a month)
· Yearly premium ($39.99 a year)
· Forever ($99.50 for a permanent license)
I pay the yearly $40. (I do keep meaning to pay for the lifetime, but procrastinators will procrastinate.)
So, let’s be serious.
If you’re the sort of person who thinks no-one should charge for anything, you’ve probably just stopped reading anyway.
To me, $40 a year is a bargain for the ability to:
Get more done (which means I earn more money anyway)
Feel better (you don’t realise how much doomscrolling and social media are messing with your head until you stop)
Literally spend less money on stuff I don’t need (which would be WAY more than $40 anyway)
Freedom has repaid me many, many, many, times over. To be honest, if anything I think it might be a bit underpriced.
You’re talking about the ability to click a few buttons, and kill even the worst habits with no willpower involved.
It’s no mystery that addictive behaviours make people miserable.
When you take into account just how harmful gambling, overspending, procrastination and the rest can be, $40 a year seems worth it to me.
But obviously, you might be unsure.
So, good news:
Obviously, you don’t have to take my word for any of this.
Freedom comes complete with a free trial, will allows you to do 7 block sessions.
I suggest you try it, once a day, for a week. Block whatever you think is damaging your ability to live as you want to.
Then, at the end of the week, see how differently you feel.
I think you’ll be very happy at the difference. But if I’m wrong, who cares?
You can just cancel your trial and not pay anything.
I think you’ll be very, very pleasantly surprised. But obviously, If I’m wrong, you can cancel your trial and not pay a penny.
Is the Freedom app safe to use?
I’ve been using it for a decade and – touch wood – never had any problems with it.
In Summary
If you struggle with procrastination, poor mental health or addiction, and your problems are related to the internet in some capacity, Freedom is a must try.