Shadow vs ScreenLocation
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shadow
This app helps you block distracting applications on your iOS device to improve focus and productivity. It offers a "Safe Zone" for uninterrupted work and robust parental controls to manage children's screen time. Your settings are protected with Face ID and passcode.
- Block distracting iOS applications
- Create a "Safe Zone" for focused work
- Parental controls for screen time management
- Face ID and passcode protection
- Develop good habits
Read full descriptionHide full description
Shadow is a powerful iOS app blocker designed to help you break social media addiction, focus on deep work, and actually get things done. Set your limits, lock away distracting apps, and instantly drop your screen time. Core Features: • Block Distractions Instantly: Restrict access to social media, addictive games, and endless scrolling with strict Screen Time limits. • Create Your ‘Safe Zone’: Need to study or work? Whitelist only the essential apps you need and lock the rest away for deep, uninterrupted focus. • Strict Mode (Face ID Lock): Prevent yourself from cheating. Lock your blocking settings behind Face ID or a passcode so you stay fully committed to your digital detox. • Parental Controls: Easily set screen time limits and block specific apps to ensure a healthy digital balance for your kids. Who is Shadow For? • Students: Lock your phone during study sessions and prep for exams without TikTok or Instagram breaking your focus. • Professionals & ADHD: Create uninterrupted blocks of deep work and reclaim hours of lost productivity. • Parents: Guide and protect your child’s digital habits with foolproof app restrictions. Say goodbye to endless doomscrolling. Download Shadow today and experience the transformative impact of a focused, mindful lifestyle. Privacy Policy: https://goldencanal.nl/#privacypolicy Terms Of Use: https://goldencanal.nl/#termsofuse
ScreenLocation
Read full descriptionHide full description
Block the apps you lose time to, at the places you lose it. ScreenLocation notices the places you go, names them using Apple's own map data, and lets you shut distracting apps off while you are there. Block social media at your desk. Block games at the gym. They come back on their own the moment you leave. You never tag a location, name a place, or confirm anything. SET A LIMIT - Pick a place, pick the apps, done - Those apps are blocked while you are there and released when you leave - Turn a limit off for an afternoon without deleting it - Limits follow the place, not a schedule you have to maintain SEE WHERE IT GOES - Screen time attributed to each place you visit - Ranked, so you can see which places actually cost you - Every day charted by place, over any date range - Every place gets a street address, whether or not a business was identified HOW THE NAMING WORKS Home and Work are worked out purely from your own pattern - where your phone spends its nights, and where it spends weekday working hours. Anywhere else, the app asks Apple's map data what business sits at that spot. If nothing is listed, it uses the street name. It will not guess. If two shops sit side by side and a visit cannot tell them apart, it shows the address and offers you the choice. PRIVACY Everything stays on your device. No account, no sign-in, no sync, no analytics, no ads, no third parties. The only network use is a single map lookup when a brand-new place is first detected, so that it can be given a name. FREE TRIAL, THEN ONE PAYMENT Everything is unlocked for 7 days. After that, tracking and the limits you have already set keep working. Adding new limits and the Trends tab need a one-time $1.99 purchase - kept for good, on every device signed in to your Apple Account. No subscription. WHAT IT NEEDS - "Always" location access, so places can be detected while the app is closed. It uses Apple's low-power visit monitoring, not continuous GPS tracking. - Screen Time access, Apple's own permission for setting app limits and reading usage. A NOTE ON ACCURACY iOS does not give third-party apps a live running total of usage, so per-place minutes are estimated from usage thresholds and will not add up exactly to the figure in Settings. Time spent travelling between places is deliberately left out rather than assigned to whichever place happened to be nearest. Apple's own exact daily total is shown inside the app so you can always compare.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: ScreenLocation at none against Shadow's shown. On price, in-app purchases, device support 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. Shadow sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and ScreenLocation sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Shadow | ScreenLocation |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (113 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 63.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 113 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 124 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adish Padhani | Andrew Meyers |
In-app purchases
Shadow
- Weekly Subscription$1.997 Days
- Weekly Subscription Trial7 Days trial$1.997 Days
- Monthly Subscription$3.991 Month
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Monthly Subscription Trial7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription Discount$6.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription Discount$9.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription Discount$17.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription$34.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription With Trial7 Days trial$34.991 Year
ScreenLocation
- Trends$1.99









