moss vs Leaving the phone in another room
Put the phone in another room, or charge it outside the bedroom.
Checked 11 November 2026 against No maker's own pages. We make moss, so we have linked every source below.
What Leaving the phone in another room is
This costs nothing and works for every phone and every person in the house. In one study (Hughes and Burke, 2018), a week with no smartphone in the bedroom improved three of four measures, including happiness and quality of life, though the effects were relatively small. A 2017 paper claimed that a phone merely being nearby drains attention, but a preregistered replication in 2022 did not find that effect, so treat it as contested. The cost is that calls, alarms and everything useful go with the phone, and nothing stops you walking to get it.
What moss is
moss is an iPhone app that comes with a small physical stone. You choose the apps that distract you, tap your phone on the stone, and those apps stay locked until you tap the stone again. People who live together can link their phones to share schedules and put their phones down at the same time, while each person keeps control of their own phone. Locking is free in the app, the stone is a one-time purchase, and the household features are a paid add-on.
Side by side
| Feature | moss | Leaving the phone in another room |
|---|---|---|
| Price | US$49 stone, free app | Free |
| Subscription | None to lock your own phone. Household features are a paid add-on | None |
| Works on | iPhone only, iOS 17 or later | Any phone |
| How you lock | Tap the stone, or start from the app, a Shortcut, the lock screen or the Action Button. Schedules by day of week | Distance. The phone is somewhere else |
| How you unlock | Tap the stone, in the app | Walk to the phone |
| If you need back in | 3 emergency unlocks a month, refilled automatically | Walk to the phone. You may not hear it ring |
| Locking together as a household | Yes, as a paid add-on. Shared schedules, sessions others join in one tap, a view of whose phone is down, a streak. Nobody controls anyone else | Yes. Anyone can do it, on any phone |
| Whose key opens your phone | Only your household's own stone, card and sprigs unlock your phones | Nothing is locked |
Where Leaving the phone in another room is better
- It is free and total: the whole phone is out of reach.
- It works for every phone and every person at home.
- It has a published study behind it, with small positive effects. There is no published trial of NFC pucks.
Where moss is better
- The phone stays with you for calls, alarms and maps.
- With the stone in the other room, the walk gets you an unlock, not the whole phone.
- A lock-screen timer and schedules, so it does not rest on remembering.
Who should pick which
Pick Leaving the phone in another room if
You can do without calls and alarms for a while, and out of sight is enough for you.
Pick moss if
You need the phone near you and only want the distracting apps out of reach. Both use the same idea: distance.
Sources
- Hughes and Burke (2018), Computers in Human Behavior
- Ward, Duke, Gneezy and Bos (2017), "Brain Drain"
- Ruiz Pardo and Minda (2022), replication, Acta Psychologica
Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
moss is a stone that locks the apps you choose.
Tap to lock, tap to unlock. One price, and locking needs no subscription.
