Brightspace Pulse vs Cram Lock
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Brightspace Pulse
Stay connected with your courses on the go. Visualize upcoming deadlines, manage your time effectively, and receive real-time updates on course activities. Access course content offline and participate in discussions.
- Visualize upcoming dates and deadlines
- Receive push notifications for course updates
- Offline access to course content
- Participate in Activity Feed discussions
- Seamless browser login to D2L Brightspace
- Apple Continuity support
Read full descriptionHide full description
Stay connected to learning anytime, anywhere with Brightspace Pulse. Brightspace Pulse gives learners and their authorized parents and guardians a convenient way to follow coursework, deadlines, progress, and important updates. Learners can: - Access their course content - View important dates and deadlines across their courses - Manage upcoming and overdue coursework - Receive notifications for Announcements, Grades, Quizzes, Assignments, Activity Feed posts, and more - Access supported course content offline, including video and audio - Participate in Activity Feed discussions - Open Brightspace in a browser to complete additional activities Parents and guardians can: - View upcoming and overdue work, grades, shared Portfolio items, and classroom updates - Receive notifications about quizzes and assignments with upcoming due dates - Follow multiple learners from one account, when supported by their school or organization Features vary by role and by your institution or organization’s Brightspace configuration. An account provided by your school, district, or organization is required. Parent and guardian access must be enabled by the learner’s school or organization. NOTE: iPhone, iPad, and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.
Cram Lock
Read full descriptionHide full description
cram lock locks the apps that eat your day until you learn one flashcard from your real class. answer it, get 15 minutes, then it locks again. failed two classes at 18. spent a decade at meta and tiktok building the thing that did it. built cram lock to undo it. how it works - pick the apps that wreck you (tiktok, instagram, games, whatever). cram lock uses apple's screen time controls to block them. - when you try to open one, you get a flashcard instead. - answer it, unlock, and get back to it. tap the lock to relock early. - want longer? set the unlock window anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes. built for berkeley first-years every card is written to the current syllabus and links to its source so you can go deeper: - chem 1a - bio 1a - math 51 (formerly math 1a) - cs 61a - data c8 - physics 7a - math 52 (formerly math 1b) - cs 61b - chem 1b - physics 7b pick your classes. narrow to a module or a single topic before a midterm. thousands of cards, ten cards per topic, no filler. what it is not - not a timer you can dismiss. - not a productivity dashboard. - not a chatbot. every card was written from the course sources and checked. a card streak counts every card you get through, so the number only goes up. three looks: black on white, white on black, or green on black in monospace for the 61a and 61b crowd. free, and it stays free all ten courses are free. every card, every class, no trial, no card required. no ads, no selling your data, no nagging. we think the lock should be free -- you already have enough working against you. about the subscription you'll see listed it is not for the classes. those are free and they stay free. it will unlock uploading your own flashcards -- any course, any school -- which is in development. nothing in the app charges you today, and the ten built-in courses will stay free when it arrives. privacy cram lock never sees which apps you block or what you do in them. screen time permissions are handled entirely by ios on your device. support: cramlock.app privacy policy: https://cramlock.app/privacy.html terms of use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Brightspace Pulse at none against Cram Lock's 2. Brightspace Pulse also leads on chart position (#106 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Cram Lock sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 7 days. Brightspace Pulse asks for nothing beyond the download.
Brightspace Pulse ships an update fortnightly, Cram Lock every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Brightspace Pulse | Cram Lock |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (273K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 36.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 273K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Best chart rank | #106 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | D2L Corporation | Mack Ortis |
Bugs and requests
Brightspace Pulse
Reported bugs
4 issues- Frequent log-out problems
- Inability to load course content
- Notifications not working as expected
- Compatibility issues with older devices
Requested features
4 requests- Allow file downloads and exports
- Improve notification reliability
- Optimize for tablet/iPad use
- Add more customization options
Cram Lock
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Brightspace Pulse
No in-app purchases
Cram Lock
- Weekly3 Days trial$9.997 Days
- Yearly3 Days trial$49.991 Year








