# Merit: Screen Time Blocker — Focus Timer, App Limit Control > Focus Timer, App Limit Control (iPhone/iPad app by 岚烜 吴.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/merit-screen-time-blocker/id6795602793 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [岚烜 吴](https://appshunter.io/developer/6788589687) - Category: Productivity - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 17.0 · 3 MB - Languages: American English, Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French (France), German (Germany) and 24 more - Released: 2026-08-05 - Data updated: 2026-09-05 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/merit-screen-time-blocker/id6795602793/reviews.md ## What is Merit? $5.99 once. No subscription, ever. Every other app in this category charges you weekly to stay off your phone. One of them wants $10 a week. That's $520 a year to not open Instagram, which is about where the cure starts costing more than the disease. Merit locks the apps you pick. Getting them back costs you something real: walking, moving, standing up, sleeping. HOW EARNING WORKS No "I did it" button. Merit reads your activity out of Apple Health and does the math itself. Nothing to fake. Apps that let you type in your own workout are inviting you to lie to yourself, and plenty of people take them up on it. 1,000 steps = 5 minutes 10 minutes of exercise = 10 minutes Each stand hour = 2 minutes 7 hours of sleep = 15 bonus minutes Spend the credit to open something you blocked. When the time runs out the block comes back by itself. STUDY MODE Blocking Instagram shouldn't take your calculator with it. Merit keeps an allowlist for the things you actually need, and it's free. Every competitor has reviews complaining about this exact problem, so putting it behind a paywall wasn't something I was willing to do. FREE Blocking, the allowlist, earning from your step count. This isn't a trial. It doesn't expire. $5.99 Three more ways to earn: exercise minutes, stand hours, sleep. Separate blocking profiles, because work and Saturday don't need the same rules. And a record of where your screen time actually came from. One payment. Whatever worked before you paid still works after. PRIVACY No account. The apps you pick are stored as opaque tokens that never leave your phone, so I couldn't tell you what you blocked even if you wanted me to. Health data is read-only. One thing does get sent: a few anonymous counters, like how often the app gets opened and how many blocks ran their course. They hang off a random ID. What you blocked is not in there, and could not be. Settings has a switch if you would rather it sent nothing. ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Unlock Everything | $5.99 | one-time | ## Version history (last 2 releases) ### 1.1 — 2026-08-27 Arabic and Hebrew now lay out right to left. That should have been true from the start. Portuguese (Portugal) and Slovenian bring the app to 35 languages. Plurals are fixed in 18 more — with a single app blocked, several of them were quietly saying it wrong. Japanese, Chinese and Arabic got wording fixes as well. Two new rows in Settings: rate the app, and send feedback with your version and device already filled in. New, and worth knowing about: a switch for anonymous usage counters, on by default. Merit sends how often it gets opened and how many blocks ran their course, tied to a random ID. What you block is not in there and could not be. ### 1.0 — 2026-08-06 No release notes. ## More apps by 岚烜 吴 - [CoverForge: Book Cover Maker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/coverforge-book-cover-maker/id6790119719) - [OffLingo: Offline Translator](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/offlingo-offline-translator/id6790425607) - [Pip: Kids Preschool Storybook](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pip-kids-preschool-storybook/id6792321907) - [Passport Photo & ID: IDReady](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/passport-photo-and-id-idready/id6794147039) - [Meowtch: Cat Cafe Tile Match](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/meowtch-cat-cafe-tile-match/id6794862151) - [Story Pole: Feet Inch Stairs](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/story-pole-feet-inch-stairs/id6795585219) All apps by 岚烜 吴: https://appshunter.io/developer/6788589687 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-05.*