Comparison

Flora vs Roots

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Flora

This app helps you stay focused and build positive habits by growing virtual trees. It blocks distracting apps and allows you to collaborate with friends to stay on track. You can also choose to plant real trees in partnership with environmental organizations.

Highlights
  • Focus timer with app blocking
  • Virtual tree growth for motivation
  • Collaborative focus sessions with friends
  • To-do list and reminders
  • Habit tracking and garden building
  • Option to plant real trees
Features
Read full description

Flora is a new way to stay off your phone, clear to-do lists, and build positive, life-changing habits. Whenever you want to make progress towards your goals, plant a seed in Flora. As you work hard, the seed will grow into a healthy tree. Let the tree be your coach and grow yourself with it. You will be amazed by how great you can be. FOCUS TREES Have trouble putting down the phone? Flora blocks distracting apps in a pleasant way to help you focus on what’s more important in real life. If you cannot resist the temptation of using your phone and leave the app while growing a tree, the tree will be killed! But if succeeding, you'll unlock new trees. DOUBLE EFFICIENCY WITH FRIENDS Things get even more interesting when you challenge your friends to plant trees together—you will see who kills a tree (ouch). However, if you successfully stay away from your phones together, each of you will win an additional tree from a random friend. You can also chat and share your progress to motivate each other and keep everyone on track.* * Flora is the original app for multi-user tree planting and delivers the best features that help you and your friends be productive. TO-DO LIST & WIDGET Flora is a to-do list, and more. Simply create a to-do item and set a reminder, then you will never forget a thing. Even better, you can tag your trees with a to-do item to easily track the progress towards each of your life goals. No matter if your goal is daily, weekly, or monthly, Flora will help you follow it through and achieve it. HABIT TRACKER Enjoy a rewarding daily habit routine. If you grow trees regularly, you will earn yourself a beautiful, vibrant garden. Take a look at it and feel proud of yourself! Each tree records your perseverance and a step towards a healthy life. You can also view the daily, weekly, or monthly statistics of your activities in Flora to find opportunities to improve your time-management and planning skills. REAL TREES, REAL IMPACT Why not plant REAL trees while improving yourself? Flora proudly offers the opt-in Price and Care services that let you plant real trees on the earth if you kill or successfully grow a tree in the app. We partner with tree-planting organizations in Africa and East Asia, such as the Trees.org and Eden Reforestation Projects, to plant fast-growing soil rebuilding trees, fruit trees that diversify incomes and nutrition, and trees that can provide forage and fuel-wood. All these trees help make the earth greener and provide long-term financial aid to families who need it most. Sounds good? Download Flora and join our 2,000,000+ productive users now!

About

Roots

This app helps you manage your phone usage by setting app limits, scheduling downtime, and offering challenges to reduce screen time. It aims to improve focus, be more present, and cure phone addiction by monitoring digital dopamine and providing a personal balance score.

Highlights
  • App and website blocking
  • Scheduled downtime
  • Phone detox challenges
  • Monk Mode for strict blocking
  • Digital dopamine monitoring
  • Daily goals and progress tracking
  • Personal balance score
Features
Read full description

Roots is the #1 screen time app. Set boundaries with your phone, and unlock more time.  Screen time has a major impact on our mental and physical wellbeing. We're here to help — with better app limits, digital downtime, daily goals, balance score, and more. Join thousands of people using Roots to build a better relationship with their phone. WHAT TO EXPECT - Better screen time management - Unlock 2 hours per day - Stop scrolling mindlessly - Cure your phone addiction - Detox from phone dopamine - Find better balance - Be more present - Stay focused BLOCK NOW - Start blocking apps at any time with one tap BETTER APP LIMITS - Block any app or website based on time limits or number of opens SCHEDULE DOWNTIME - Be intentional with "mindful mornings", "evening wind down", and more PHONE DETOX CHALLENGES - Personalized challenges to compete with yourself and friends - Challenges with neuroscientist and Roots Chief Science Officer, Tj Power BLOCK WITH "MONK MODE" - App blocking that doesn't let you unblock until tomorrow MONITOR DIGITAL DOPAMINE - Not all screen time is equal, so we help you understand the impact of each app DAILY GOALS - Set goals for screen time and phone pickups, and track your daily progress PERSONAL BALANCE SCORE - Daily score helps keep you accountable with beautiful illustrations and visuals SCREEN TIME TRENDS - View the progress and trends of your screen time journey BUILD A STREAK - Build a streak as you stay under limits, earn cheat days and custom app icons BLOCK ADULT WEBSITES - Keep yourself off adult websites once and for all DON’T JUST TAKE IT FROM US "We’re all guilty of being obsessed with our phones. Roots helps you break free." -- Tj Power, Neuroscientist and Author “It's beautiful, and it works” -- Jameston78 “This app does what it says” -- Casper-F “Worth every penny” -- Thehikingfool PRIVACY GUARANTEED We use Apple’s Screen Time API so all of your phone usage data stays on your phone. TERMS & CONDITIONS - Auto-Renewing Subscription Options: Roots Plus (Monthly or Annual) - Terms: https://www.getroots.app/terms - Privacy Policy: https://www.getroots.app/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Flora4 screens
Roots4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Flora at 83K against Roots's 3.3K. Flora also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 76%) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Flora sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Roots sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Flora against 4.8 for Roots. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Flora has 83K ratings behind it against 3.3K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 89% of Flora's written reviews are positive against 76% of Roots's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Flora ships an update fortnightly, Roots every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Flora versus Roots: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFloraRoots
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (83K ratings) — better4.8 (3.3K ratings)
Positive reviews89.1% of reviews — better75.7% of reviews
Number of ratings83K — better3.3K
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS16.4 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size661 MB361 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAppFinca Inc.MWM

Customer experience

Flora

All ratings82,938 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral1.8%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews3,868 reviews
Positive89.1%
Neutral3.8%
Negative7.1%

Roots

All ratings3,142 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.1%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews370 reviews
Positive75.7%
Neutral5.1%
Negative19.2%

User reviews

Flora

From 83K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌳 Helps with focus and productivity
  • 🌱 Motivating to grow plants/trees
  • 🕰️ Useful timer and task management features
  • 🌳 Ability to plant real trees
  • 🤝 Collaborative study sessions with friends

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches (e.g. trees dying unexpectedly, progress not saving)
  • 🔒 Facebook login requirement
  • 🌱 Repetitive plant selection after a while
  • 📊 Lack of detailed progress tracking and statistics
  • 🔇 Notification issues (e.g. no alarm when timer is up)

Roots

From 3.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Helpful for reducing screen time
  • 🚀 Effective in cutting down app usage
  • 💡 Customizable app blocking and downtime settings
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 👍 Responsive customer support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional performance issues and bugs
  • 🐛 Inconsistent app blocking and unblocking
  • 🐛 Inaccurate screen time tracking
  • 🐛 Difficulty deleting account or changing subscription
  • 🐛 Frustrating when apps are locked unexpectedly

Bugs and requests

Flora

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Login issues and account problems
  • Inconsistent timer behavior and progress tracking
  • Syncing and offline issues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow login options other than Facebook
  • Add more plant/tree variety
  • Implement a pause feature without killing the plant
  • Provide more detailed progress tracking and analytics
  • Add lock screen timer and notification options

Roots

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Apps getting blocked when they shouldn't be
  • Screen time data not syncing correctly
  • Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • Subscription issues and inability to cancel
  • Trouble with the initial setup and syncing

Requested features

5 requests
  • Home screen and lock screen widgets
  • Customizable challenges and ability to share with friends
  • More options for the 'Do Not Disturb' mode
  • Improved analytics and progress tracking
  • Ability to easily adjust app limits without resetting

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Flora

One-time3
  • Amazon Rainforest Tour$0.99
  • Amazon Rainforest Tour$1.99
  • Drylands' Marvels Tour$1.99
10 purchases

Roots

Subscriptions10
  • Premium$7.997 Days
  • Roots Plus - Weekly Plan3 Days trial$7.997 Days
  • Roots - Monthly Plan$9.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Roots Plus - Monthly Plan$9.991 Month
  • Roots Plus - Annual Plan$29.991 Year
  • Premium Pass$59.991 Year
  • Roots Plus - Annual Plan7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Premium Pass1 Year trial$99.991 Year
  • Premium3 Days trial$99.991 Year
  • Premium Pass7 Days trial$99.991 Year

Questions

Is Flora free?
Flora is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Roots free?
Roots is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Flora or Roots?
Flora is rated higher. Flora averages 4.8 out of 5 from 83K ratings, while Roots averages 4.8 from 3.3K ratings.
Do Flora or Roots have ads?
Neither Flora nor Roots shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Flora or Roots?
Flora ships an update fortnightly, and Roots every 3 weeks. Most recently, Flora was updated on November 9, 2026 and Roots on November 7, 2026.

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