A free alternative to Opal, depending on what you need it for

What Opal does, and why it is a subscription

Opal is a general-purpose focus app for iPhone. You choose apps to block, run timed sessions or schedules, and the stricter modes make the block hard to override. It also reports on your screen time and syncs across devices. Those features need servers and an account, which is why the full product is a paid plan; the free tier is limited, and the current price and limits are on its App Store listing.

None of that is a criticism. For someone whose whole day leaks away to the phone, a paid general blocker can be worth it. The question is whether that is your problem.

Free option one: the Screen Time you already have

Open Settings, then Screen Time. App Limits caps an app or a category per day; Downtime blocks everything except your allow-list between two times; a Screen Time passcode held by someone else makes it bite. It costs nothing and covers most of what a paid blocker does for the afternoon and evening.

Its weakness is the Ignore Limit button, and the fact that every limit is a timer you have to resist. If your problem is the morning reflex, a timer rarely holds.

Free option two: a lock whose key is a verse

The Doorpost is built for one thing: the first minutes of the day. You choose the apps that pull at you, usually two or three feeds. Each morning they stay closed until you open your own Bible and write out a verse into the app. It checks your words against the verse you named, accepts ESV, NIV, NKJV, CSB and NASB wording, rejects half a verse, and then opens the day. There is no timer to wait out and no ignore button, because the unlock is something you would choose to do anyway.

It is free to download and free to use for that lock, in every translation it carries. The full version, with unlimited apps, whole categories, websites and a custom daily reset time, is $2.99 a month with a 7-day trial, $19.99 a year, or $19.99 once. No account, no ads, no analytics, no network requests.

Which one replaces Opal for you

If you used Opal mainly for all-day sessions and reports, Screen Time limits are the free replacement, and you may miss the reports. If you used it to stop the morning scroll, The Doorpost is the closer fit and a better one, because it replaces the timer with Scripture. Many people run both: the verse gate for the morning, Screen Time limits for the rest of the day. They coexist because both use Apple's Screen Time permission.