Quit gambling. Keep the money.
Silex is an app for iPhone and Android that blocks gambling across your whole phone, walks you through 90 days one at a time, and counts the money you didn't lose. No accounts. No ads. No profile of you. Ever.
Get Silex on iPhone Get Silex on Android
$2.99 a week, or $29.99 a year with a 7-day free trial (US prices).
One blocker is one tap from off. So Silex sets up five.
- A system-wide DNS shield Covers every app and every browser.
- A Safari content blocker, on iPhone Built on a bundled list of hundreds of thousands of gambling domains.
- Operator self-exclusion Guided setup for the block you cannot undo on impulse.
- A bank gambling block Guided setup, so your card declines the payment.
- Killing the promos Every marketing email and push that pulls you back.
How this compares to other blockers · The full iPhone guide · Android
A real 90-day program
90 authored days, built from clinical CBT workbooks and the research on how gambling products are designed to hook you. One lesson a day, not a library to binge. Three phases:
- See the Machine
- Rewire
- Fortify
An SOS for the worst minute
One button, always on screen, never behind the paywall. Rate the urge, breathe it down, then ride it out on a timer while the app shows you your own reasons for quitting and the money you've kept so far.
The money, made visible
Not gambled away. Silex takes what you told it you were putting in each week and counts up what you kept instead, so there is a number to look at when motivation runs out.
It never punishes you for slipping
Gambling recovery is not a clean line, and an app that zeroes your progress the moment you lapse teaches you to hide the lapse. Silex does the opposite. A slip triggers a Reset day: a specific lesson about what happened and what to change. Your history is never wiped, and milestones you've earned are never taken back.
Above: Kintsugi, the piece you earn by finishing a Reset day.
What it costs, plainly
Silex is a paid app and it tells you so before you invest any time: after the intake questions you reach a paywall. $2.99 per week, or $29.99 per year with a 7-day free trial (US prices; the store shows yours before you pay). Cancel any time in your Apple or Google Play account.
The crisis helplines are one tap away on the subscribe screen, free, whether or not you ever pay. If a subscription ends, the urge button, the helplines and lapse support keep working. Those are safety features, and safety features should never sit behind a payment screen.
Private because there is nothing to identify you by
No account, no email, no password, no ad network, nothing that follows you between apps. Your answers, your spending figures, your journal and your lapses live on your phone, with an optional iCloud backup encrypted to your Apple account. We cannot read any of it. The one thing Silex sends is an anonymous count of which setup steps get finished, so what trips people up can be fixed. One switch in Settings turns it off.
“I built this because I watched someone close to me go through it, and at the time there wasn't much I could actually do.”
Kyrylo Lozovyi, the developer, in Kyiv. Not a doctor, and there's no company here: just one person, and the sources are all public.
Free for your computer: a browser blocker
Silex — Free Gambling Blocker is a free extension for Chrome and Edge. It blocks more than 290,000 gambling, betting and casino sites, and instead of an error page it shows a calm one: a one-minute breathing exercise and free helplines for where you are. No account, nothing collected, and it works without the app.
Start with the guides
Everything below is free to read, with no email required.
Quitting
Blocking it
Quit gambling. Keep the money.
Silex blocks gambling across your phone and walks you through 90 days, one at a time.
Common questions
Is Silex free?
No. Silex is a subscription: $2.99 a week, or $29.99 a year with a 7-day free trial (US prices). The crisis helplines are free on the subscribe screen whether or not you ever pay, and if a subscription ends, the urge button, the helplines and lapse support keep working.
Does Silex work on Android?
Yes. Silex is on Google Play for Android 8.0 and later, with the same 90-day program, SOS button and money counter. On Android the system-wide shield runs through Private DNS (Android 9 and later). The iPhone app needs iOS 17 or later and adds a Safari content blocker.
Can I remove the blocking in a moment of craving?
You can, and Silex is honest about that: no app can make itself truly unremovable on iOS. That is exactly why it layers five defences instead of relying on one, and why the strongest layer it points you at is operator self-exclusion, which you cannot undo on impulse.
Does Silex send my data anywhere?
Almost nothing. There are no accounts, and everything you write stays on your phone with an optional private iCloud backup that only you can read. The app does send an anonymous count of which setup steps get finished, so the places people get stuck can be fixed — one switch in Settings turns that off.
Is Silex medical treatment?
No. Silex helps you build healthier habits around gambling. It is not medical care and doesn't diagnose or treat any condition. If you are in crisis, use the helplines below.