# Wellspent: Replace Scrolling — user reviews > 184 indexed App Store user reviews of Wellspent by Wellspent GmbH, rated 4.10/5 from 370 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wellspent-replace-scrolling/id1643980844/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wellspent-replace-scrolling/id1643980844.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 244 · 4★ 29 · 3★ 24 · 2★ 24 · 1★ 49 ## What do users think of Wellspent? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 🚀 Helps reduce screen time - 👍 Customizable reminders - 💡 Variety of prompt tones - 🚀 Effective at interrupting scrolling - 👍 Improves productivity and focus **Cons** - 🐛 Inconsistent notifications - 🐛 Tracking and budgeting issues - 🐛 Frequent glitches and bugs - 🐛 Unreliable app functionality - 🔒 Concerns about account/data security **Commonly reported bugs** - App freezing or crashing - Incorrect time tracking - Inability to unlock restricted apps - Inconsistent notification behavior **Most requested features** - Ability to set custom reminder schedules - More detailed usage tracking and analytics - Improved stability and reliability - Support for more than one app in free version ## Newest reviews (18 of 184) ### 2/5 — Used to be good *2025-04-12, version 2.3.1* I bought this app a year ago and for about 6 months it worked well. Over the past 3-6 months they did an update and it is pretty much a pointless app. Previously it allowed me to customize settings. It no longer does. Unlocking apps is simple; not that I didn’t have the willpower to resist but the reminders to not overspend time on apps used to be much more user friendly. ### 2/5 — Such a good app but it’s not working anymore *2025-02-24, version 2.3.1* I loved it but now it doesn’t work. When I installed it it takes me to 3 questions. When I click on either yes or no nothing happens ### 3/5 — Broken *2024-11-05, version 2.0.8* I used to love this app - about 8 months ago I disabled it because I needed to use an app after I reached my budget. However, since then Wellspent hasn’t worked. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled it, and given it all the permissions possible, but it still doesn’t seem to register I’m using an app. It was a very helpful app, but I can’t use it anymore, and for that I can only give it 3 stars ### 3/5 — Good idea but poor timing to lock my phone. *2024-10-30, version 2.0.4* Woke up and needed to access a different App immediately only to find my screen locked. It took scrolling through several pages to unlock it when time was of the essence. ### 2/5 — Isn’t reliable *2024-08-20, version 1.8.3* Have been using it for months, the app used to work okay, but lately it’s been completely unusable. It either blocks apps entirely, or doesn’t block them at all ### 2/5 — App worked last year but has gone downhill *2024-07-28, version 1.7.9* I’m not sure what’s going on—I just got a notification saying they are “working on it” but the app hasn’t worked reliably in months. It was helpful at first but not anymore. I regret paying for the year subscription tbh so I turned off the renewal. It’s just confusing… some days it won’t notify at all (despite the app being open for sure and no other blocking apps conflicting with it) and other days it is relentless and annoying and I want to delete the app. I’ll keep trying it in an attempt to not feel like I’ve wasted my money completely but I don’t have much hope. 🫤 ### 2/5 — Doesn’t do anything *2024-06-11, version 1.7.6* Doesn’t work. Worked for a while, giving nudges that were effective, but doesn’t work anymore. It always says I’ve spent 10 minutes on social media, no matter how much time I’ve actually spent. ### 2/5 — Disappointing *2024-05-31, version 1.7.2* Thought it was a good idea and liked it at first, but it’s never worked properly. Locks you out of your apps completely, and yes there’s a fix for it but it involves disabling the app and re-enabling it every time. Sometimes it locks my apps when I’m not even over my limit yet, etc. Paid for the subscription because of the positives I saw in the beginning but have already cancelled for it to not renew again. Lately seems to work even less than before and I’ve gone back to using the screen time function thats already built into the phone. Just very very buggy and honestly a good idea but bad execution. ### 4/5 — I love it, but doesn’t always work *2024-05-23, version 1.7.1* I love the options to pick what kind of messages you want (I need mean ones) and the frequency. My only issue is oftentimes it doesn’t register my app usage. I’ll be on for what feels like longer than my 5 minute interval and when I check the app, it’ll show no minutes of usage. Due to that, I ended up deleting it previously. I’ve only just redownloaded yesterday and it worked great and now today it already isn’t working. ### 3/5 — Great when it works! *2024-05-15, version 1.7.0* It’s effective at managing screen time and the pop ups are excellent. With new phone and app updates however, it has struggled more often than not. I have had to reset my phone and redownload a couple of times, but the fix doesn’t always work. It’s excellent when it does work but unfortunately is a bit buggy. ### 3/5 — Good concept but buggy *2024-05-12, version 1.6.2* This app appears well designed but often doesn’t do what it’s supposed to. It blocks apps not on my list, often fails to correctly count my time on apps, and doesn’t allow me to unblock apps without turning the app on and off again. Not worth the money for me. ### 3/5 — Great… when it works *2024-04-26, version 1.6.2* I’ve had this app for a while and even purchased the yearly option. When it works it’s great, really helps me be mindful of my screen usage, but it hasn’t worked consistently since I’ve had it. Customer support is great and always there to answer but it seems as soon as one feature is fixed, it quickly begins to fail again.. I’m holding out hoping that it’ll settle itself out eventually but I do feel gypped paying for something that doesn’t quite work as intended.. ### 2/5 — Doesn’t work *2024-04-21, version 1.6.1* Limit reminder doesn’t pop up reliably at the time limit set. When it does work it’s very helpful but doesn’t work enough to be worth it ### 1/5 — Very glitchy *2024-04-03, version 1.5.9* The timed nudges seem to come and go, not sure why it works sometimes and not others. Also, now the apps are being completely restricted! ### 3/5 — Periodt *2024-03-29, version 1.5.8* This is the best app for scrollers periodt. But it can’t differentiate youtube premium (when your phone display is locked) and normal. Which means ANY video is considered a target. Wish it could be only shorts because that the real reason the majority of people select them to monitor youtube!!! ### 2/5 — Doesn’t work all the time *2024-03-22, version 1.5.6* App seems to work at beginning of the day but as the day goes on the nudges stop working. ### 2/5 — Allow access to screen time *2024-03-14, version 1.5.4* I cannot figure out how to give access to the app. It prompts me to allow, I click continue and then it says “allow with passcode” and I click that then I just get a page that says you cannot use the app without allowing access to screen time. And the link given to show how to allow the access for the app does not actually show you how to allow the app access to your screen time. I really want to try the app but I am unable to link screen time access ### 2/5 — Worked well at first *2024-03-06, version 1.5.1* It started off so well, and I noticed my screen time really decreased. Then it would randomly lock up my apps and I’d have to go in and remove Wellspent from accessing screen time. Well, guess I did that too many times because now it doesn’t notify me every 15 minutes and even after spending over an hour on social media, it says I’ve been on just a few minutes. I really thought I’d discovered *the* thing! ETA: every few days I need to go into settings and disallow Wellspent from accessing Screen Time and then allow it again and it will start working. Seems inconsistent, but is good when it works. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work consistently *2025-01-10, version 2.2.5* It doesn’t work consistently, blasts you with notifications sometimes and then nothing for hours. Also all the human emojis are white, like… what year is this? ### 1/5 — So glitchy, and stopped working completely *2024-09-22, version 1.8.16* This app worked great the first week or two, my screen time decreased considerably, then I noticed I was not getting notifications consistently. The type of notifications also changed and they became much easier to simply click and bypass (used to be you had to press and hold- which I found much more effective in making me pause and choose to log off). I wrote customer service and was told there was nothing they could do. Then I stopped getting regular notifications. They only popped every 30 minutes even though I set it to 5 minutes. The ap stopped logging how much time I spent on social media. Then it stopped working for days or weeks at a time. Now the app is down completely while they work through “technical difficulties.” Yikes. Customer service has been unhelpful and will not process a refund. Do not waste your money on this app! ### 1/5 — Locks me out of apps *2024-08-04, version 1.8.1* Ok so I was only using it for a week after I started paying for it and it was locking me out of the apps that I told it to restrict and I wasn’t on them for very long and I had no indication when I could access them again. Also time spent on the apps isn’t well calculated and I cannot go back and see the times from previous days. Just feel like $60 is not a justifiable price, just wish I would have fully realized that before the week was up. ### 1/5 — Concept is good, execution is not *2024-06-13, version 1.7.6* I wish it worked like they say it will but it does not. ### 1/5 — The app doesn’t work *2024-05-11, version 1.6.2* I downloaded this app a few days ago and am in my free trial week. It does not work. I got one push nudge and then never got another one again. Checked all of the app settings, restarted app and phone. It also does not track screen time effectively. This morning I was scrolling Instagram and realized I had been on it for 15 minutes. I check the Wellspent app and it says my screen time has been 1 minute. It’s a great idea for an app but if it doesn’t work, what’s the point? ### 1/5 — Does not work as advertised *2024-04-26, version 1.6.2* Experienced a lot of bugs both with free and paid version. It didn’t accurately track my social media usage and I had only linked it to 3 apps; eventually I linked it only to Facebook. It would say I’d spent zero minutes of my time budget when I’d already been on social for a couple hours. Many days it didn’t send me notifications/nudges at all. (I did appreciate/enjoy the mindfulness nudges when they actually worked). I wasn’t able to get answers from tech support either. Hoping I can get a refund. ### 1/5 — Chris kyte *2024-04-24, version 1.6.2* It’s actually screwed my phone up, would give this negative stats if I could. I requested not to have my WhatsApp blocked as I need it for work, the app blocked it anyways. Then the app blocked my apps past the schedule input on the app, and I’ve been locked out since. Literally didn’t come back once so far. I deleted the app, and it was still blocked after I deleted the app. I have contacted the customer support and I get a pretty useless response and I still do not have a solution to unlocking my phone. Avoid like the plague ### 1/5 — Awful *2024-04-13, version 1.6.0* I attempted to cancel this and they still charged my credit card! Now they won’t answer my messages and won’t refund the fee!! ### 1/5 — Great idea, poor execution *2024-04-11, version 1.5.9* So many parts of this are great in theory but in practice: - no reminder on day 5 about the free trial ending soon, despite what was advertised at sign up - the last day of my free trial, every app I put on my list was suddenly and inexplicably restricted without the option to unrestrict it! I had to call someone to help me access information I needed from an app - today, I got notice from Apple that my free trial had ended. Coincidentally, there have been zero reminders about any app usage. I just zoned out on social media and realized it had been at least 30 min… I checked Wellspent and it says 11 min total across all monitored apps today In short- it’s a glitchy mess and I want my money back. I gave it 2 stars and now I’m so mad I want one of those stars back too. ### 1/5 — Sneaky sales techniques and subscription *2024-04-09, version 1.5.9* After going through the sign up process and using the free trial and cancelling, I’d avoid this app for the following reasons: Immediately trying to manipulate using disingenuous sales techniques. Doesn’t do much but pop up as you’re using a particular app with a message - that’s it. Charges £60 for annual subscription which is scandalous. As soon as you cancel will instantly offer a 60% discount. The people who have paid £60 will feel ripped off, and , but they’re not meant to know anyway. Those who take the 60% discount will be paying the intended price all along and think they’ve got a “deal” when they haven’t. Avoid this app there are others that do the same but better and more and for a cheaper price. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Helped me practice *2025-05-16, version 2.3.1* Great if you need to use an app (Babbel in this case) regularly and need to block distracting apps. Easy to set up and effective. ### 5/5 — My screen time has plummeted *2024-03-18, version 1.5.5* According to my screen time summary, my phone use has gone down about 15% per week since I installed Wellspent. Really easy to set up and use. I don’t currently have the premium subscription as I just need gentle reminders to gtf off of Reddit. The mindfulness themed reminders are the only ones I’ve tried but I find them incredibly helpful and gentle in encouraging me to make better use of my time rather than attempting some sort of guilt trip (the contrarian in me does not respond to those positively). I have no immediate feedback for improvement nor major issues to complain about. This app is amazing and I recommend it for anyone interested in decreasing their screen time. ### 5/5 — This is it! This is the one! *2024-01-20, version 1.4.28* Never written an app review in my life. Had to get on here to say this is the exact combination of stopping the scroll with a full screen and emotional/intellectual appeals/reminders I needed! I only wish I could set it to lock the screen for 10 seconds for a few deep breaths. My screen time is down from an EMBARRASSING percentage of my day to 30 mins a day in just 4 days of using it. BLESS you. ### 5/5 — Awesome app! *2024-01-18, version 1.4.26* This app has been so helpful for me! I love that I can customize the time I want to spend and the tone of the prompts. It really does help me spend less time on social media and be more productive. ### 5/5 — It’s helped me so far… *2024-01-15, version 1.4.26* This has helped me cute down my time scrolling ### 5/5 — Great way to break the habit *2024-01-14, version 1.4.26* I downloaded the Wellspent app because I was turning to my iPhone ( specifically Instagram) to escape my anxiety from my work. The app has helped me significantly reduce the time I spent online and get back to work. It’s a gentle and private reminder. Really helps! ### 5/5 — Has helped me realize and manage time *2024-01-12, version 1.4.26* This app has helped me enjoy my time more by helping me realize how much time I’ve been wasting. So far I have loved it! ### 5/5 — Great App *2024-01-07, version 1.4.25* I just downloaded it a few days ago, but it has been so helpful so far! I already can see the difference on how and for how long I’ve been using Social Media. My favorite app for this kind of things so far!! ### 5/5 — Honestly so good *2024-01-06, version 1.4.25* This app has helped me so much ### 5/5 — Great reminders to move on *2023-12-14, version 1.4.23* Great app to keep you on top of your intentions. The reminders aren’t annoying and you can choose the tone of voice. Well worth trying. --- *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 2026-08-17.*