ScreenZen vs FocusWell
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ScreenZen
This app offers multiple strategies to help you reduce screen time and control app usage. Features include delayed app opening, timed scrolling interruptions, and customizable app limits. It also provides options for strict blocking, settings protection, and encourages mindful breaks.
- Delayed app opening
- Scrolling interruption
- Set app goals and limits
- Configurable daily schedules
- Strict app blocking
- Screen time tracking for distracting apps
- Settings protection locks
Read full descriptionHide full description
Multiple strategies to reduce your screentime 1. Delay before opening your app: A bit of time before choosing if you need to open your distracting app. You can have the wait time increase each time you open your app. 2. Interrupt your scrolling: Check your distracting apps for short periods of time so you don't get sucked in. 3. Set an app goal and optionally block when you reach your limit. 4. Configurable for different days of the week and time by app. 5. Messages like "Is this important" before opening your app. 6. See your screen time for only your distracting apps. Don't worry about Google Maps bloating up your time. 7. Strict block your apps: Either for time ranges, after a certain number of opens or ScreenTime. 8. Locks on Settings to prevent you from changing your settings when you want to open an app. 9. Breathing and other activities to encourage you not to need to open the app while waiting for it to unlock. 10. Streaks to encourage you not to exceed your limits or override your settings.
FocusWell
This app helps you regain control of your daily screen time and combat excessive scrolling. It introduces a mindful pause before opening distracting applications and allows you to set custom limits and focus sessions to build lasting concentration.
- Mindful pause before distracting apps
- Custom app limits
- Focus sessions
- Daily screen time insights
- Distraction-free design
- Private data handling
Read full descriptionHide full description
Most people don't decide to scroll for forty five minutes. It just happens, somewhere between checking one notification and looking up an hour later. FocusWell is an app blocker and focus tool built for exactly that moment, the split second before autopilot takes over. Your phone is built to keep you tapping. FocusWell is built to give you a way out, not through willpower alone, but through a calm pause, honest app limits, and focus sessions that actually hold. WHY FOCUSWELL A calm pause, not a lecture. Before a distracting app opens, FocusWell gives you one honest moment to decide. No shame, no lockouts you didn't ask for, just a real choice where autopilot used to win. Block one app or everything at once. Choose exactly what to limit, one app, a category, or all of it, for a focus session or on a schedule that runs automatically in the background. See where your time actually goes. Daily and weekly screen time insights show your real habits, not a guess, so you can see the hours you win back add up week over week. Build focus that lasts. Turn one good day into a streak. FocusWell helps you trade the scroll reflex for deep work, study time, or simply being where you already are. WHAT YOU GET - A calm pause before distracting apps open - App limits and focus sessions, for one app or all of them - Schedules that run automatically, not just when you remember - Daily and weekly screen time insights - Private by design: your usage data stays on your device WHO IT'S FOR Students protecting a study block. Anyone building a career who needs one uninterrupted hour before the inbox opens. People who pick up their phone for one notification and put it down forty minutes later, more tired than when they started. FocusWell meets you at the moment you already recognize, right before the scroll starts. Every skipped scroll adds up to a real hour somewhere else, a workout, a book, a conversation, or just quiet. FocusWell doesn't ask you to try harder. It just removes the moment where autopilot used to win. FocusWell runs on Apple's own Screen Time framework, so your usage data stays on your device, not a server. No streak shaming, no guilt trips, just a clear tool for people who want their attention back. Download FocusWell and start your first focus session today. Terms, Privacy and Conditions https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ https://https://www.getfocuswell.com/terms-of-service
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FocusWell at none against ScreenZen's 4. FocusWell also leads on update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 weeks). ScreenZen's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (52K vs 3). On price, rating, review sentiment and iOS requirement 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. ScreenZen sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. FocusWell asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for ScreenZen against 5.0 for FocusWell. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ScreenZen has 52K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 93% of ScreenZen's written reviews are positive against 100% of FocusWell's.
ScreenZen ships an update every 3 weeks, FocusWell every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ScreenZen | FocusWell |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (52K ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 93.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 52K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #154 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 159 MB | 71 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ScreenZen LLC | Stanislav Varetskyi |
Customer experience
ScreenZen
FocusWell
Bugs and requests
ScreenZen
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unlock button not working as expected
- App stops working after some time
- Compatibility issues with iOS 16 update
Requested features
4 requests- Add more customization options
- Integrate with productivity/to-do apps
- Add more pause/break options
- Improve website blocking functionality
FocusWell
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ScreenZen
- Kind Tip$5.00
- Generous Tip$10.00
- Amazing Tip$20.00
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Fantastic Tip$40.00
FocusWell
No in-app purchases







