RescueTime vs Lockout
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RescueTime
Understand and manage your time automatically. This app helps you block distractions, track activities on your mobile and desktop, and set productivity goals. Gain insights into your workday and improve focus.
- Automatic time tracking
- Distraction blocking (Focus Sessions)
- Activity categorization
- Task timers
- Offline activity logging
- Home screen widgets
- Productivity goals and alerts
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RescueTime helps you track time, block distractions, manage goals, and understand your full workday across phone and desktop. Together this gives you a clear view of your habits and the tools to improve them. Understand where your time goes, stay focused when it matters, and build better workdays without extra effort. One subscription works across all your devices, syncing your data to give you a complete picture of your time on mobile and desktop. **Created For iOS** RescueTime for iOS brings powerful, simple focus tools to your phone: • Automatic app tracking: see app activity with productivity ratings and daily and weekly summaries (optional Screen Time permission). • Focus Sessions with optional app blocking: stay on task with time-boxing, optionally grant permission to block distractions in real time. • Project tracking: log time to specific projects and track progress across sessions and timers. • Offline time: add meetings, calls, and other offline activities to complete your day. • Reporting: View and manage your time across all your devices in the app. • Available in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and Russian. **Focus Sessions** Start a Focus Session when you need uninterrupted time to work. RescueTime blocks distractions, tracks your progress, and delivers a summary when you're done. Use timers for time boxing or to track open-ended tasks. Sessions and timers can be linked to projects, so your focused time always counts toward something meaningful. **Full Workday Perspective** Install RescueTime on your desktop to see the full picture. Your activity, focus sessions, and progress sync seamlessly across devices. Please note that RescueTime for desktop is only available in English. **Goals And Insights** Set daily goals for focused work, screen-free time, or better online habits. RescueTime tracks your progress automatically and shows how your behavior aligns with your goals. Weekly summaries highlight trends over time, so you can see what's working and what's not. **Permissions** Several optional features require elevated permissions. Reporting: tracking phone app activity requires Screen Time permission, and you can choose to use this feature or not. Focus Sessions: using the optional app blocking part of sessions requires Screen Time permission in order to offer real-time intervention. **Plans** Solo Focus includes automatic tracking with full history, Focus Sessions with real-time app blocking, offline activity logging, goals with daily targets, alerts and automations, advanced filtering, and integrations. Solo+ includes everything in Solo Focus, plus automated project and task tracking with RescueTime Timesheets. Link activities and timers to projects to automatically generate timesheets or track progress across work and personal goals. Free includes automatic basic tracking, daily and weekly reports, the Productivity Pulse, and two weeks of activity history. Offline time logging, project tracking, and distraction blocking require a subscription. **For Teams** RescueTime also offers team plans with shared projects, team dashboards, manager insights, and centralized settings. Team plans are only available at rescuetime.com. **Privacy** RescueTime does not record keystrokes, capture screenshots, or read message and website content. You control what is tracked, can pause tracking at any time, and can export or delete your data whenever you choose.
Lockout
This app helps you manage screen time by blocking distracting applications. To regain access, you must beat the dealer in a game of blackjack. Earn your unlock time by winning hands, or face longer lockouts.
- Block distracting apps, categories, and websites
- Play blackjack to earn screen time
- Customizable win and loss stakes
- Automatic re-locking after unlock window
- Emergency unlock feature
- No account or ads required
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Block distracting apps, then beat the dealer at blackjack to earn your screen time back. Blocking and unlock rounds require 21 Lockout Plus. 21 Lockout is a screen time app blocker with a twist: your distractions don't unlock because you caved. They unlock because you beat the dealer. Pick the apps, categories and websites you want to stay out of. Reach for one and you don't get in — you get dealt a hand of blackjack. Win, and you earn a set number of minutes. Lose, and the lockout runs longer. WHY IT WORKS Most screen time blockers fail for the same reason: turning them off is easier than leaving them on. One tap in Settings and the wall is gone. 21 Lockout doesn't ask for willpower. It asks for a winning hand. The friction is small enough that you keep the app installed, and real enough that you stop opening Instagram on autopilot. You get your minutes — you just have to earn them. HOW IT WORKS 1. Choose the apps, categories and websites to lock 2. Open one and the shield deals you in 3. Win the hand and earn your unlock window 4. Lose and wait out the cooldown 5. Locked out at the worst moment? Emergency unlock — 15 minutes, three a day MAKE THE STAKES YOURS Set what a win earns and what a loss costs, anywhere from 5 minutes to 4 hours. Short stakes for a workday, longer ones for a deep-work block. When your window expires, your apps re-lock on their own — you never have to remember to switch it back on. WHAT'S INCLUDED Free: setup and Screen Time permission. 21 Lockout Plus unlocks the product itself: • Blocking the apps, categories and websites you choose • Blackjack unlock rounds • Custom win and loss stakes • Automatic re-locking when your window expires • Emergency unlocks NO ACCOUNTS, NO ADS There's nothing to sign up for and no password to lose. The apps you choose stay inside Apple's on-device Screen Time framework — their names are never sent to us. We collect anonymous usage analytics to improve the app, and nothing that identifies you. SUBSCRIPTION Standard 21 Lockout Plus plans are $69.99/year or $14.99/month and include a free trial for eligible new subscribers. Discounted recovery offers, when shown, do not include a trial. Subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID subscription settings. 21 Lockout is a self-restriction tool for your own device. It is not a parental-control product. The blackjack game involves no wagering of money or virtual currency, and no prizes of any kind. Terms of Use: https://stella-lane-associates.com/21lockout/terms Privacy Policy: https://stella-lane-associates.com/21lockout/privacy Support: https://stella-lane-associates.com/21lockout/support
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Lockout at 5.0 against RescueTime's 4.3. Lockout also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 4 weeks). RescueTime's advantage is ratings volume (4 vs 1). 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
Both are free to download. RescueTime sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.00 per month and Lockout sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $7.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lockout holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.
RescueTime ships an update every 4 weeks, Lockout every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RescueTime | Lockout |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 21.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | RescueTime | Stella Lane Associates LLC |
Customer experience
RescueTime
Lockout
In-app purchases
RescueTime
- Solo Monthly14 Days trial$9.001 Month
- Solo+ Monthly14 Days trial$15.001 Month
- Solo Yearly14 Days trial$84.001 Year
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- Solo+ Yearly14 Days trial$143.991 Year
Lockout
- 21 Lockout Plus$7.491 Month
- 21 Lockout Plus7 Days trial$14.991 Month
- 21 Lockout Plus14 Days trial$14.991 Month
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- 21 Lockout Plus$34.991 Year
- 21 Lockout Plus7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- 21 Lockout Plus14 Days trial$69.991 Year









