Comparison

Opal vs Added Time

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

Head to head
About

Opal

This app helps you regain control of your digital life by limiting app usage, blocking distractions, and improving focus. It provides tools and insights to reduce screen time, boost productivity, and enhance well-being.

Highlights
  • Screen time control
  • App blocker
  • Set app limits
  • Focus modes
  • Productivity reports
  • Block apps and websites
  • Mindful block screens
Features
Read full description

Achieve screen time control with the world’s most-loved screen time app! Opal is the fun, free Screen Time app to improve your focus and make the most out of every day. 5 to 6 hours. That’s the average time you’ll spend looking at your phone today, often without realizing it. It's time to fight back. With a combination of screen time control, app limits, app blockers, real time data, leaderboards and rewards, you will focus better and accomplish your dreams, just like Opal’s members. **As of August 2026, Opal has saved humanity 500 Million hours of screen time. ** Many of the world's top teams and companies trust Opal to help protect their focus. You can too. **Opal cut my screen time by 2 hours per day – Marketing at Google ** **You need this app. When I first got opal my daily screen-time was about 8 1/2 hours a day. Now it's 1 hour. ** **Opal has become an indispensable tool in my quest for productivity and mindful technology usage ** **Get Opal! - Ali Abdaal, productivity expert** BENEFITS Save 1 hour and 23 minutes per DAY from less screen time, on average. 94% of Opal members are less distracted 93% are more productive thanks to the app 90% report improved well-being Added benefits: - Better screen time control - Better productivity at work - Reduce stress, be more mindful - Supports focus challenges, including ADHD - Set daily work hours, sleep, and routines - Block apps to unplug and detox - Stay in focus when you need it most - You're happy and in control of your screen time FEATURES - #1 Screen Time Control: the most loved app for screen time control with 4.8/5. - #1 App Blocker: Instantly Block apps and websites you choose at a specific time of day throughout the week to organize your time. - Focus Difficulty: Make it hard, or make it a bit easier. Deep Focus won't let you cancel or bypass at all. - App Limits: Set daily usage limits on apps and websites to automatically block them and prevent overuse. - Mindful Block Screens: Discover quotes, puns and more every time you try to open an app or website you really shoudn't. - Blocklist & Allowlist: Easily pick any app, game or website you want to block or allow during your Blocks. - Focus Report: Measure your progress with clear metrics, actionable screen time stats, and benchmark against your peers. - Focus Score: Check your screen time and focus level at any point easily spotting Focus and Distracted time. - Calendar: Set daily working hours, sleep and routines, block apps automatically, so you don’t have to remember. - Precious Rewards: Unlock unique MileStones you can share with friends. - Leaderboard: Challenge friends to top the leaderboard, enhancing productivity, focus and keeping each other motivated. - Breaks: Choose the app you want to use, write your intention, and set a timer. - Focus Mode Integration: Sync your Opal Focus Sessions with iPhone Focus Mode to block apps. - Shortcut Integration: Connect iPhone shortcut automations to start/stop Focus Sessions based on app opens, time, location and more! - Focus Reminders: Get timely reminder notifications when you get distracted or reach a time limit. - Deep Focus: Need ultimate focus? Deep Focus is the maximum level of protection — you can’t bypass or cancel. - More Fun: Opal is guilt-free and fun. - Widget: Have Opal on your home screen! CREATE A PERSONALIZED APP BLOCK LIST Easily pick any app, game or website you want to block or allow to Block Apps. PRIVATE & SAFE We use Apple's Screen Time API in order to monitor and block apps you use. Installation is easy and takes a few seconds on your iPhone. Unlike most apps, Opal works entirely on your phone and personal browsing data never leaves your device. TERMS, PRIVACY & CONDITIONS Read on https://opal.so/terms & https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Added Time

This app helps you focus on your goals with an honest timer that accounts for pauses. It tracks your progress and can block distracting apps to ensure you dedicate your time effectively. Achieve your study, work, or craft objectives with a clear record of your achievements.

Highlights
  • Honest match clock timer with pause accounting
  • App blocker to prevent distractions
  • Detailed progress ledger for goals and habits
  • Customizable timer lengths
  • Lock screen and Dynamic Island controls
  • Siri integration for starting sessions
Features
Read full description

Added Time is for the hours you promised yourself — the exam you're studying toward, the degree you're earning, the craft you're putting real hours into. It's a match clock for those hours: a timer that treats your pauses honestly, a ledger that keeps what you did in ink, and a doorkeeper that asks other apps to step aside while you work. Named after stoppage time — the minutes added back after the game stops. Because a paused minute wasn't a minute toward the goal, the clock adds it back on — the goal gets its full measure, and the count stays true. THE MATCH Pick a subject and a length — 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes. The clock counts up. When life interrupts, hit the whistle: the clock holds, and the pause is added on. +7′ means the match ran seven minutes longer. No penalty, no "why did you stop?" prompt. The clock never judges; it just refuses to lie. Full time is a milestone, not a wall — keep playing and the extra time counts, up to four more hours. End early and every minute still banks. The whistle works from the lock screen and the Dynamic Island, and Siri can kick off a block without opening the app. THE LEDGER — FREE FOREVER Name what you're working toward and what it asks of you: hours a day, hours a week, or a habit on the days it applies — an entrance exam, a degree, hours of practice at your craft. Focused time draws itself as tally marks: a slash for thirty minutes, a cross for sixty, partly-done marks staying honestly part-drawn. Today is the page you keep. The Week holds the plan as ghost marks and reads back as the record in ink. Habits are a tap — kept, or simply still a ghost. Counts are of what was kept; the app has no word for "missed." Step back, and the same ledger holds still: THE RECORD shows this week, this month, or every hour since your first block — total hours, focus, clean sheets, and days active, which is a total, never a streak. A quiet band shows when your ink usually lands. Each subject keeps its own line and the date it started; a finished one keeps its line too, its dates closed. Every subject, goal, habit, the Record, and all of History: free, uncapped, forever. Not a trial. THE DOORMAN During a block, the apps you name step aside until the whistle — pause your work and the wall pauses with you. That's free too, along with one standing window, kept forever. Added Time Plus is the doorman working the whole week, including days you never open the app: • Standing windows — deep work, classes, wind-down, across the week • Daily limits — one cap across the apps you pick, not a clock • Screen-time goals — up to three, including a quiet morning • The doorman's ledger — QUIET HOURS · HELD 6 OF 7 NIGHTS, on the record Plus also unlocks four more kits — Midnight, Almanac, Forest, Altitude — and a firmer hold on the way out, if you want one. Plus is optional: a monthly or yearly subscription (the yearly starts with a 7-day free trial), or a one-time lifetime purchase. Prices are shown in the app. Family Sharing is on for all three. Breaks and exits are never behind the paywall — every door has a handle. IF YOU STOP, NOTHING BREAKS Miss a week and the page is simply today's again — no backlog, nothing owed. Let Plus lapse, and nothing is deleted: extra windows remain where they are and pick up exactly where they left off if you come back. PRIVATE, BY ARCHITECTURE No account. No analytics. No servers of ours — nothing about you is ever sent to us. Your record lives on your iPhone, and when iCloud is on, Added Time keeps a copy in your own iCloud (not the doorman's ledger) so it can come back if you delete the app or move to a new iPhone. We can't see it, and you can turn it off. App blocking uses Apple's Screen Time framework on the phone; we never see which apps you use. Purchases live with your Apple ID. Added Time is in English and Spanish, and requires iOS 18 or later. Support: https://addedtime.app/support.html Privacy: https://addedtime.app/privacy.html

Screenshots

Opal4 screens
Added Time4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Added Time at 100% against Opal's 61%. Added Time also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Opal's advantage is ratings volume (90K vs 2) and chart position (#44 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Opal sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and Added Time sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Added Time holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Opal has 90K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Opal's written reviews are positive against 100% of Added Time's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Opal ships an update every 5 days, Added Time every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Opal versus Added Time: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOpalAdded Time
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (90K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings90K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 11 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#44 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size306 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOpal OSMathias Jacobson

Customer experience

Opal

All ratings90,015 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral2.0%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews5,726 reviews
Positive61.5%
Neutral9.2%
Negative29.3%

Added Time

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Opal

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Blocks apps that are not selected
  • Inconsistent behavior when ending focus sessions
  • Crashes when trying to manage blocked apps
  • VPN issues causing other connectivity problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow more customization of blocked apps
  • Integrate with more productivity tools
  • Provide more granular time tracking and reporting
  • Offer a one-time purchase option
  • Improve stability and reduce bugs

Added Time

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

13 purchases

Opal

Subscriptions13
  • Weekly Plan3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Weekly Plan3 Days trial$9.997 Days
  • Opal Student Weekly3 Days trial$9.997 Days
Show 10 more
  • Monthly Plan3 Days trial2 variants$19.991 Month
  • Monthly Plan7 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • Opal Pro Subscription7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Yearly Plan7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Yearly Plan7 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • Yearly Plan7 Days trial2 variants$99.991 Year
  • Yearly Plan1 Month trial2 variants$99.991 Year
  • Opal Pro Yearly$99.991 Year
  • Yearly Plan7 Days trial$129.991 Year
  • Yearly Plan7 Days trial$179.991 Year
3 purchases

Added Time

Subscriptions2
  • Plus$4.991 Month
  • Plus Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • Plus Lifetime$129.99

Questions

Is Opal free?
Opal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Added Time free?
Added Time is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Opal or Added Time?
Added Time is rated higher. Opal averages 4.7 out of 5 from 90K ratings, while Added Time averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Opal or Added Time have ads?
Neither Opal nor Added Time shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Opal or Added Time?
Opal ships an update every 5 days, and Added Time every 11 days. Most recently, Opal was updated on October 27, 2026 and Added Time on October 17, 2026.

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