Easy Note 2 vs Holdback
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Easy Note 2
This app helps you manage your thoughts and tasks with a clean interface. Organize notes into folders, set reminders, and even add pictures. It offers syncing across devices and sharing capabilities for collaboration.
- Organize notes in folders
- Check items as complete
- Due dates, reminders, notifications
- Add pictures to notes
- Sync across multiple iOS devices
- Share folders with other users
- Journal/diary support
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Easy Note 2 is a simple yet effective notes and to-do app with an attractive and clutter-free design. • Features Organize notes in folders Check items as complete Due dates, reminders, notifications Search Add pictures to notes Sync across multiple iOS devices Share folders with other users Journal/diary support Filter Notes by day/week/month/year (calendar) Filter by tags View notes on web
Holdback
This app helps you regain control of your screen time by locking chosen apps until you meet a daily step goal, adhere to a schedule, or stay within a set time limit. It offers a 'never allowed' option for apps you wish to permanently block. Focus sessions can lock your entire phone for dedicated work periods.
- Unlock apps with step goals from Apple Health
- Schedule app availability
- Set daily time limits for apps
- Permanently block apps
- Focus sessions to lock entire phone
- Hard mode to prevent changing settings
- Track walking history and milestones
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Holdback locks the apps that eat your day until you've walked your step goal — or on a schedule, or on a daily limit. Steps come from Apple Health FOUR WAYS TO LOCK • Step goal — your apps stay locked until you've walked your goal for the day. • Schedule — pick the hours your apps stay shut. Nights, work blocks, early mornings. • Daily limit — give an app twenty minutes. When they're gone, they're gone. • Never Allowed — apps you are done with, blocked around the clock, with no unlock at all. All four apply only to the apps, websites and categories you choose. Nothing else on your phone is touched. When you want the whole phone shut for an hour, that's a focus session. WALK TO UNLOCK Set a step goal. Until you reach it, the apps you picked won't open. Steps are read from Apple Health, so there is nothing to fake — no taps to farm, no coins to earn, no minutes to buy back. Open Hours keep your morning usable. Pick the window where your apps stay open even if the goal isn't done — or switch it off and the lock runs around the clock. Reach the goal, and everything opens for the rest of the day. YOUR STEPS, IN ONE PLACE Week, month and year of walking, drawn out day by day. Days on goal, longest streak, best day, averages. The record starts the day you install Holdback and keeps going. Six milestones sit on top of it, from 20 000 steps in a day up to 100 000. FOCUS SESSIONS The four rules above run on their own, all day. A focus session is the one you start by hand — and while it runs, every app on your phone is locked, not just the ones you picked. Set a timer, or run an open-ended stopwatch and stop when the work is done. Rain, waves, thunder, fire or birdsong in the background. HOW IT WORKS 1. Choose the apps you want under control. 2. Pick how they unlock — a schedule, a limit, steps, or not at all. 3. Get on with your day. HARD MODE Switch it on and your settings lock along with your apps. You can raise a goal at any time, but lowering it, changing the days, or swapping the apps waits until that day's steps are done. It closes the loophole most blockers leave open — editing your way out instead of walking. You can remove every restriction at any time by deleting Holdback. Calls, messages and emergency services are never affected. YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS Holdback cannot see which apps you block. Apple's Screen Time framework hands the app anonymous tokens, not app names. Your step data is read from Apple Health and never leaves your device. No account, no sign-up, no ads, no data sold. Terms of Use: https://holdbackapp.github.io/legal/terms-of-service.html Privacy Policy: https://holdbackapp.github.io/legal/privacy-policy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Easy Note 2 at none against Holdback's 2. Easy Note 2 also leads on ratings volume (35 vs 1). Holdback's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 79%). On price, ads, monetization model and device support 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. Holdback sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. Easy Note 2 asks for nothing beyond the download.
Holdback holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Easy Note 2 has 35 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Easy Note 2's written reviews are positive against 100% of Holdback's.
Easy Note 2 ships an update every 4 months, Holdback every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Easy Note 2 | Holdback |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (35 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 35 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 262 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | OrangeOrApple.com | Raman Pazdniakou |
Customer experience
Easy Note 2
Holdback
In-app purchases
Easy Note 2
No in-app purchases
Holdback
- Holdback Pro Weekly$7.997 Days
- Holdback Pro Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year









