Rewire vs One Sec

Last updated May 2026.

One Sec popularized the "pause before you open the app" idea and has the published research to back the concept (Grüning, Riedel, and Lorenz-Spreen, PNAS 2023, showing a 57% reduction in app opens). Rewire takes the same underlying insight (friction at the moment of impulse changes the outcome) and builds a much larger behavioral system around it. Here is how the two compare.

The one-line answer

One Sec is a single, scientifically validated intervention (breathing pause). Rewire is twelve interventions plus a Dopamine Score plus a 30-day neurochemical arc.

If your only problem is mindless Instagram opens, One Sec might be enough. If you are dealing with deeper urge patterns (porn, gambling, weed, junk food, alcohol, compulsive scrolling combined), Rewire's scope is built for that.

How they actually work

One Sec inserts a friction pause between you and a distracting app. You tap Instagram, a breathing exercise appears for around 7 to 10 seconds, and then you choose whether to continue. Pro adds Re-Intervention (a doom-scroll emergency brake that kicks you out after a set time), emotion tracking, journaling, and healthy alternative suggestions.

The mechanism is real and the research is solid. The 2023 PNAS paper found a 57% reduction in app opens, validated again in field experiments by the Danish government with young consumers and the German government with adolescents. One Sec has a dedicated research scientist, Dr. David Grüning, affiliated with the Max-Planck Institute and Stanford.

Rewire uses friction too, but at a different point in the loop. Rather than intervening at the app-open moment, Rewire intervenes at the urge moment. You tap the orange "I AM HAVING AN URGE" button, set the intensity, run through a 15-second breathing exercise, then pick from two intervention cards. Each one is a different clinical protocol:

• Pattern Break (physical pattern interruption)
• Identity Lock (identity-based behavior change from the Atomic Habits framework)
• Grounding Reset (sensory grounding from CBT)
• Future Message (temporal self-distancing research)
• Reflex Override (Inhibitory Control Training, Verbruggen and Logan)
• Face Calm (facial feedback plus PMR, Coles et al. 2022)
• Pressure Release (Progressive Muscle Relaxation plus DBT TIPP, Jacobson 1938)
• Urge Surfing (MBRP, Alan Marlatt) and four more

Rewire also tracks your Dopamine Score (0 to 100), runs a structured 30-day neurochemical arc with progressive feature unlocks, and includes the Detox Challenge, Rewire Cam, widgets, and Accountability Partners.

Pricing

One Sec: Free tier lets you set an intervention on one app. Pro is $19.99 to $50 per year depending on region (3.99 EUR per month, 14.99 EUR per year, or 99.99 EUR lifetime per the official store).

Rewire: Free tier includes the Dopamine Score, urge logging, four micro-interventions, the Detox Challenge, and the full 30-day arc. Pro unlocks the remaining eight interventions, advanced SIGNAL coaching, and Accountability Partners.

Both are cheaper than Opal or Freedom. One Sec is more expensive than Rewire on the annual plan, but the lifetime option exists.

Where One Sec wins

• Published peer-reviewed research. PNAS 2023 with the Max-Planck Institute is genuinely impressive and unmatched in this category. Rewire's interventions are each backed by peer-reviewed papers, but Rewire as a product has not run its own randomized controlled trial. One Sec has.
• Cross-platform. Works on iOS, Android, and as a browser extension for Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. Rewire is iOS-first.
• Simplicity. One job, done well. If you want a single tool you understand in 30 seconds, this is it.
• Scheduled and delayed interventions. You can configure interventions to fire immediately, after X minutes of usage, or as Re-Interventions (repeated pauses) inside the same app session.

Where Rewire wins

• Scope. One Sec stops you at the app door. Rewire helps you when the urge hits regardless of whether an app is involved. You can use Rewire during a porn urge, a weed craving, a junk food binge moment, or a compulsive scroll. One Sec is structurally limited to the app-open trigger.
• Multiple intervention modalities. A breathing pause is one tool. Rewire ships twelve, each based on a different clinical protocol. If breathing does not work for you in a given moment, you have eleven alternatives.
• Identity-based change. Rewire's post-intervention choice screen asks you to declare "I am the kind of person who..." which is identity-based behavior change from the Bem self-perception tradition. One Sec stays at the friction layer.
• Quantified metric. Dopamine Score gives you a number that moves with your behavior. One Sec tracks app opens and time saved. Different granularity.
• 30-day arc. Rewire is designed for the day 21 to 35 trough where most habit attempts die. Progressive feature unlocks (gratitude journal at day 7, SIGNAL reflections at day 14, accountability partners at day 30) keep the chemistry fresh as novelty fades. One Sec stays the same on day 1 and day 100.

Use both, or use one

These two genuinely complement each other. Use One Sec to add a breathing pause at the app-open moment, and use Rewire for the urge moments that bypass the app entirely (the weed craving while you are walking home, the porn urge at 2 AM, the junk food binge after a bad day).

If you have to pick one:

• Pick One Sec if your problem is purely about reducing time on specific apps, you want one tool that does one thing well, and the breathing-pause mechanism resonates with you.
• Pick Rewire if you are dealing with urge-based behavior (porn, gambling, weed, alcohol, food, compulsive scrolling), you want a quantified behavioral metric, and you want interactive interventions that go deeper than a breathing pause.

TL;DR comparison

	Rewire	One Sec
Core mechanism	12 micro-interventions at urge moment	Breathing pause at app-open moment
Number of interventions	12 (each cited)	1 primary (with breathing variants)
Published research	Each intervention cited from peer-reviewed papers	Direct PNAS 2023 trial of product
Quantified metric	Dopamine Score (0 to 100)	App opens / time saved
Scope	Behavioral urges (porn, food, scroll, weed, etc.)	App-specific friction
Platform	iOS, iPad, Apple Watch	iOS, Android, browser extension
Identity-based change	Yes (post-intervention choice)	No
30-day structured arc	Yes	No
Free tier	Full core loop	One app only

Download Rewire on the App Store