Simple Blocker is an easy to use Chrome extension that allows you to block specific websites or subdomains with a click of a button. Designed to boost productivity, it's perfect for students or anyone easily distracted. With features like a built-in Sleep Timer and the ability to block the Chrome Extensions menu, Simple Blocker helps you resist the urge to browse and focus on your work.
Want to check extension ranking and stats more quickly for other Chrome extensions?
Install
Chrome-Stats extension
to view Chrome-Stats data as you browse the Chrome Web Store.
Simple Blocker is an easy to use Chrome extension which allows you to block websites. You can block specific subdomains (news.google.com) or entire websites (facebook.com) at the click of a button.
Simple Blocker was designed with students in mind, but can be beneficial to anyone who has a lot to do and seems to get distracted too easily. Are you spending too much time checking Facebook? Browsing Reddit when you should be writing a paper? In a few minutes, Simple Blocker could be blocking all those websites for you so you can focus on getting things done.
Features:
Use the built in Sleep Timer to enable blocking for a set amount of time
Lock yourself out of the options menu with a preset or random password
Clean, simple user interface with an easy-to-use options menu
Block an unlimited number of websites, subdomains, and pages
If you really have trouble focusing and want to resist the urge to disable Simple Blocker, you can even block the Chrome Extensions menu, as well as lock the Simple Blocker options menu with a password. This, in addition to allowing Simple Blocker in incognito mode, will make it very difficult to circumvent the blocking features, forcing you to focus on your work.
These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews.
Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate,
spammy, or outdated.
Pros
Simple and easy to use
Efficient at blocking websites and keywords
No cost or upselling
Clear UI
Works well without causing browser issues
Cons
May stop working unexpectedly
Requires permission to read and change all website data
No notification when timer ends
Most mentioned
Simple
Efficient
Stops working unexpectedly
Clear UI
No cost
Requires permission
No timer notification
Recent reviews
Latest update, version 0.6.4.4 (2023-05-11): Not working at all currently, even if you give it full access to the sites it's supposed to block.
It seems like the developer has been iterating rapidly, maybe fixing bugs then breaking it again. Though I still wonder if it's been hijacked. There have been no updates in the change log, and the support site is still down.
I think I'm going to develop my own blocker extension, since I can't find any that don't ask for full read/write data access.
I'm leaving the other info below in case it starts working again.
----------
(See below for how to disable the scary permission)
Very suspicious: This extension suddenly asks permission to "read and change all your data on all websites", after working without that permission for many years. Most other site blockers also require this permission, but at least some of them explain why. I'd go find one of them if you're not already a user of Simple Blocker.
The lack of permissions required in old versions was my one reason for choosing this extension over others. I'm very sad; I've been using it for many years.
However, you can disable that permission if you want. I'm doing that in Simple Blocker because I already have it set up the way I want it. Open the Chrome Extensions settings page and click on the Details button for the extension (or for Simple Blocker just go to chrome://extensions/?id=akfbkbiialncppkngofjpglbbobjoeoe). Under "Site Access", change the pulldown from "On all sites" to "On click".
Note that you have to install the extension before doing this, if it wasn't already installed, and it will be enabled when you install it. If you're newly installing the extension, I recommend closing all other tabs while you do the process above.