Brick has released a new device aimed at curbing bedtime phone use. The $129 Brick Night is a location-based app blocker that activates automatically through Bluetooth when a user enters a bedroom or another designated room, the company said. It follows Brick’s $59 original gadget, which blocks apps on a phone.
Unlike the original Brick, which requires users to tap their phone against the device, the Brick Night uses Bluetooth to trigger blocking without a tap. It runs on two CR2477 batteries and supports a location zone of up to 25 feet by 25 feet. Brick says the automatic activation is meant to keep blocking from adding steps to a user’s normal bedtime routine.
Both the Brick Night and the original Brick let users choose specific apps to block rather than making the entire phone inaccessible. The difference with the Night version is that blocking happens in the background as soon as the user enters the room. That design is pitched at people who want to cut back on doomscrolling in bed.
Brick’s night version also supports multiple users. Each user can separately configure their own settings, modes, blocked app selection, time windows, and spaces.
The Brick Night costs more than twice as much as the original Brick. Because it lacks NFC capabilities, it cannot perform both location-based and tap-based blocking, so it cannot replace the original Brick for users who want both functions.
The launch targets US consumers who have turned to dedicated hardware to limit phone use, a category Brick helped establish with its tap-based blocker. The Brick Night adds room-level automation to that approach, while leaving tap-based blocking to the cheaper original device.
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