Why blocking BeReal specifically
BeReal sits in an unusual category. It is not a high-total-time app the way TikTok or YouTube is. Most users spend a relatively small number of minutes per day inside it. The problem it creates is different: compulsive interruption. The "Time to BeReal" notification fires at a random moment and creates genuine urgency -- you have a two-minute window to take a photo before your post is flagged as late, and you may feel social pressure to post before your friends do.
That urgency breaks flow states. If it fires during a meeting, a workout, a deep-work block, or while you are trying to sleep, you have either surrendered the moment to post or spent the rest of the day with background anxiety about posting late. Then there is the secondary loop: checking whether friends have posted yet, how many retakes they took, and what they were doing. These checking sessions are short but frequent, and they add up across the day as a consistent source of mental interruption even when the total logged screen time looks modest.
This framing matters for which method you pick. If the core issue is the notification-driven interruption, the solution is Method 1 -- not a hard app block. If the issue is compulsive checking behavior that persists even without the notification, you need a harder intervention. Identify which problem you actually have before reaching for the heaviest tool.
Method 1: Turn off BeReal notifications
How: Settings > Notifications > BeReal > toggle Allow Notifications off. Alternatively, keep notifications on but use a Focus Mode: Settings > Focus > (your work or sleep Focus) > Apps > add BeReal to the silenced list. This lets the notification arrive at a time you choose rather than when BeReal fires it.
Strength: 7/10 for the specific problem of notification-driven interruption. 1/10 for compulsive checking. Silencing the notification removes the urgency trigger entirely. You can still open BeReal whenever you choose; you just will not be pulled in by the alert.
When to use: this is the first thing to try, and many users will not need to go further. If the "Time to BeReal" notification is the source of your frustration -- the broken focus states, the mid-meal anxiety -- turning it off often resolves the problem while still letting you post on your own schedule. If you notice you are opening BeReal repeatedly anyway just to check what friends have posted, the habit loop is deeper and Method 2 or 3 is the appropriate escalation.
Method 2: App Limit with Screen Time passcode
How: First, set a Screen Time passcode: Settings > Screen Time > Use Screen Time Passcode. Ask a partner, sibling, or close friend to set this code for you without telling you what it is -- they hold the override. Then add an App Limit: Settings > Screen Time > App Limits > Add Limit > expand Social > check BeReal > Next > set time (1 minute, or whatever represents "one intentional check per day") > Add.
Strength: 4/10 with a passcode you know; 8/10 with a passcode held by someone else. Without the passcode in someone else's hands, "Ignore Limit For Today" defeats the block in two taps. The relationship is the mechanism -- this only works if the keyholder will not give you the code in a low-willpower moment.
When to use: after notifications-off alone has not stopped the compulsive checking. The App Limit set to one minute effectively means one brief opening per day -- enough to post your BeReal if you want to, not enough to fall into the checking loop. Combined with an unknown passcode, this is the cheapest hard commitment device available without buying any additional software or hardware.
Method 3: Delete the app
How: Hold the BeReal icon > Remove App > Delete App. BeReal has no meaningful web experience -- bereal.com prompts you to download the app and does not let you browse friends' posts through a mobile browser. So deleting the app is a near-complete block, not just a soft friction increase.
Strength: 4/10 as a permanent solution; 8/10 as a 7-14 day experiment. Re-download takes under a minute. The friction is not meaningful against a strong urge. The value is the data it gives you: do you actually miss it, or do you feel fine?
When to use: if you are genuinely unsure whether BeReal is adding anything positive to your life or whether you are on it purely from social inertia. Delete it for two weeks. You will lose the habit of checking without any willpower required, because there is nothing to open. If your friends ask where you went, that social friction will clarify whether the app is worth keeping. Many users who delete BeReal for a fortnight find they do not bother reinstalling. For those who do reinstall, the deletion has at least reset the compulsive-check frequency back to a baseline they can manage.
Method 4: Content Restrictions (block install)
How: Delete the app first (Method 3). Then: Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > turn on > iTunes & App Store Purchases > Installing Apps > Don't Allow. Lock this behind the Screen Time passcode held by someone else. BeReal cannot be reinstalled and -- because bereal.com does not function as a usable fallback on mobile -- you are effectively blocked from the service entirely.
Strength: 8/10 with your own passcode; 10/10 with a passcode you do not know. The one side effect: this blocks ALL app installation, so set it up after you have everything else you need. Disabling it briefly for a legitimate new app requires asking the keyholder to enter the code.
When to use: when you have decided you want BeReal off your phone for an extended period -- a month, a semester, indefinitely -- and you do not trust yourself not to reinstall it. This is also the right escalation if you deleted the app but reinstalled it within a few days. The install block adds a social cost to reinstallation: you have to ask another person to unlock it, which is a genuine friction that survives low-willpower moments better than a password you know.
Method 5: Add a verified-exercise consequence
How: Set a daily phone-time limit in iOS Screen Time that is lower than your current average -- not zero, just tighter than the status quo. Install ScreenFine ($1/week subscription). When your total daily screen time crosses your limit, ScreenFine logs an overage block and requires 25 pushups to clear it. BeReal time counts toward the total, as does everything else.
Strength: 8/10. The consequence is real and inconvenient, but the user can pause the jar at any time -- the pause is a deliberate choice, not a tap-through bypass, so it carries more weight than an "Ignore Limit" button. The method works on the total phone-time budget rather than singling out BeReal, which is appropriate when the compulsive-checking problem has spread beyond one app.
When to use: when Methods 1 through 4 have not held, or when the checking behavior has generalized -- BeReal sparked the habit but now you are also compulsively checking Instagram Stories to see who has posted their BeReal there, and the pattern is no longer app-specific. A total-phone-time limit with a real consequence is the right tool when the compulsion is diffuse. It is also the method to use if you do not want to involve another person as a passcode holder and do not want a hardware solution. Loss aversion -- the tendency to feel losses more acutely than equivalent gains -- is the mechanism that makes it work when pure willpower does not. See the loss aversion guide for the underlying research.
Which method should you pick?
- Problem is the random notification interrupting your day: Method 1 (turn off notifications or use Focus Mode). Try this first -- it solves more cases than people expect.
- Checking habit persists without the notification: Method 2 (App Limit to one minute, Screen Time passcode held by someone else). Cheapest escalation after Method 1 fails.
- Unsure whether BeReal is worth keeping at all: Method 3 (delete, 14-day experiment). Let the experiment answer the question rather than trying to manage an ambivalent relationship with willpower.
- Decided you want it gone for an extended period: Method 4 (Content Restrictions, install blocked, passcode held by someone else). Hard removal with a social cost to undo.
- Methods 1-4 have not held, or the checking pattern has spread beyond BeReal: Method 5 (total-phone-time budget with verified-exercise consequence). Hard commitment device for when the habit is diffuse.
One honest note: BeReal is not in the same weight class as TikTok or YouTube when it comes to total time consumed. If your screen-time report shows BeReal as the dominant source of lost hours, something unusual is going on and it is worth investigating what that loop actually is. For most people, the notification is the primary lever and Method 1 is both sufficient and proportionate. Reaching for a hard block before trying the softer intervention is a waste of effort -- and it means you have no escalation path left if the softer intervention turns out not to be enough.