Roots vs Northstar personal development
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Roots
This app helps you regain control of your phone usage by setting app limits, scheduling downtime, and participating in detox challenges. It provides insights into your screen time habits and offers features like 'Monk Mode' for focused periods. Aimed at improving well-being and reducing phone addiction.
- 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
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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
Northstar personal development
This app provides a unified system for personal growth, helping users build habits, manage daily tasks, and pursue long-term goals. Its focused design aims to reduce reliance on multiple productivity tools, promoting clarity and consistency in personal development efforts.
- Habit tracking with streak visualization
- Daily to-do list management
- Long-term goal setting and progress tracking
- Simple, distraction-free design
- Unified personal growth system
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Northstar is a focused personal development system designed to help you build better habits, manage your daily tasks, and pursue long-term goals — all in one place. Instead of juggling multiple productivity apps, Northstar brings the core pillars of personal growth together into a single, simple system built for clarity and consistency. FEATURES Habit Tracking Stay consistent with the habits that matter most. Northstar’s habit grid makes it easy to track your daily progress and visualize streaks over time. Daily To-Do Lists Organize and complete tasks with a clean, distraction-free task manager designed to help you focus on what needs to get done today. Long-Term Goals Set meaningful goals and track your progress over time so you can stay aligned with the bigger picture of where you want to go. Simple, Focused Design Northstar is intentionally minimal so you can spend less time managing tools and more time taking action. Your progress, your system. Northstar helps you stay disciplined, organized, and focused on becoming the person you want to be.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Northstar personal development at none against Roots's 17. Northstar personal development also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 75%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Roots's advantage is ratings volume (2.6K vs 1) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.1). On price, ads and device support 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. Roots sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Northstar personal development asks for nothing beyond the download.
Northstar personal development holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Roots has 2.6K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Roots's written reviews are positive against 100% of Northstar personal development's.
| Parameter | Roots | Northstar personal development |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (2.6K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.6K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 379 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | MWM | Manny Baron |
Customer experience
Roots
Northstar personal development
Bugs and requests
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
Northstar personal development
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Roots
- Roots Plus - Monthly Plan$6.991 Month
- Premium$7.997 Days
- Roots Plus - Weekly Plan3 Days trial$7.997 Days
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- Roots - Monthly Plan$9.991 Month
- Roots Plus - Monthly Plan$9.991 Month
- Roots - Monthly Plan$19.991 Month
- Premium Pass7 Days trial$19.991 Month
- Roots Plus - Annual Plan$29.991 Year
- Premium$39.991 Year
- Roots Plus - Annual Plan7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Premium Pass$59.991 Year
- Roots Plus - Annual Plan7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Premium1 Month trial$69.991 Year
- Roots Plus - Annual Plan$79.991 Year
- Premium3 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Premium Pass1 Month trial$99.991 Year
- Premium Pass7 Days trial$99.991 Year
Northstar personal development
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Roots free?
Is Northstar personal development free?
Which has better reviews, Roots or Northstar personal development?
Do Roots or Northstar personal development have ads?
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