What to know before you pick a blocker

A blocker is only as good as the promises around it. These are worth checking in any extension, including this one:

Is there a cap? Some free blockers stop at two or three sites. Plainware Focus has no cap on lists or sites.
What does it see? Plainware Focus doesn’t ask for the permission that reads your browsing history, has no account and no analytics, and keeps your lists on your computer. The only network request is checking a Pro key.
Does it keep working? Blocks are Chrome’s own rules, which survive restarts, so they don’t depend on a background script staying awake.
Does it slow pages down? Plainware Focus runs no scripts inside the pages you visit.

Block a site with Plainware Focus

Install Plainware Focus and open its Settings from the toolbar.
Make a list, then add sites. A site can be a whole site such as instagram.com, part of one such as youtube.com/shorts, or one exact page. You can also start from a preset for feeds such as Reels and Shorts.
Pick how the list blocks: Always, On a schedule, After a daily limit or Only during focus.
When you add a site, Chrome asks to allow Plainware Focus on that site. Say yes so it can show its own block page. If you say no, the site is still blocked, but Chrome shows its own “blocked” page.
Quick shortcut: on any page, open the toolbar popup and choose Block this site.

What you see when a site is blocked

The block page says what is blocked, which list blocked it, why, and until when. After a short wait you can unblock the site for a few minutes, and you can adjust both the wait and the length. There are no quotes, ads or guilt trips.

What it can’t block

Incognito, unless you open Plainware Focus’s details page on chrome://extensions and turn on Allow in Incognito. Settings shows whether it’s on.
Guest windows, other Chrome profiles and other browsers. No extension can cover those. Use your computer’s own screen-time controls for them.
Removing the extension. Anyone can do that from Chrome’s Extensions page. Pro’s strict mode adds a wait before you can weaken a block, but it’s a speed bump, not a lock.

Good to know

Plainware Focus won’t block the Chrome Web Store, so you can always manage your extensions.
Keyword and category lists are Pro tools, tagged before you open them. Blocking sites, schedules, limits and the timer are free.
Plainware Pro is one payment, ₹249 in India or $9 elsewhere, and unlocks Pro in every Plainware extension.