Essence vs ScrollCop
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Essence
This app helps users break compulsive behaviors and build lasting self-discipline through science-based recovery principles. It offers structured programs, tracking tools, and mental wellness exercises to reduce urges and improve focus. Users can monitor their progress with streak counters and widgets for constant motivation.
- Addiction recovery tracker
- Streak counter
- Structured recovery program
- Urge management tools
- Mindfulness exercises
- Home and lock screen widgets
- Private and secure tracking
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Essence: Quit Addiction & Detox Recovery Quit addiction, regain control, and build lasting self-discipline. Essence is a science-based addiction recovery and habit tracker designed to help you break compulsive behaviors, reduce urges, and rebuild mental strength. Using neuroscience-based recovery principles, structured programs, and powerful tracking tools, Essence helps you quit addiction and embrace reset culture for permanent positive change. Whether your goal is to complete a dopamine reset, start a dopamine detox, or break unhealthy habits, Essence provides the tools and guidance needed for long-term recovery and focus. Join thousands of users who are successfully quitting addiction and transforming their lives. Addiction Recovery Tracker & Streak Counter Track your progress with a powerful recovery tracker designed to keep you motivated. Features include: • Accurate sobriety and recovery streak counter • Progress tracking and milestone achievements • Visual insights into your recovery journey • Motivation through streak growth and consistency Tracking progress strengthens discipline and improves recovery success. Structured Recovery Program Essence includes a guided recovery system designed using proven behavioral science principles. This program helps you: • Quit addiction step by step • Reduce urges and compulsive behaviors • Strengthen discipline and self-control • Build healthier daily habits • Create lasting behavioral change Each step supports sustainable recovery and mental resilience. Trigger Protection & Discipline Tools Protect your recovery and maintain focus with tools designed to reduce triggers and prevent relapse. Essence helps you: • Reduce exposure to triggering content • Maintain discipline during vulnerable moments • Strengthen consistency and self-control • Stay committed to your recovery goals Mental Wellness & Urge Management Essence provides practical tools to help manage urges and improve mental clarity. Includes: • Guided mindfulness exercises • Urge control and stress reduction tools • Focus and discipline training • Mental clarity and emotional balance support Stay Motivated with Widgets Keep your progress visible with Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets showing your recovery streak and milestones. Constant visual motivation helps reinforce discipline and consistency. Private and Secure Your privacy is fully protected. Essence provides: • Secure and encrypted data • Private addiction tracking • Anonymous and confidential experience Your recovery journey remains completely private. Benefits of Using Essence Users experience meaningful improvements such as: • Increased self-control and discipline • Reduced urges and compulsive behavior • Improved focus and mental clarity • Increased motivation and productivity • Healthier habits and routines • Greater confidence and emotional stability Start Your Recovery Today Essence gives you the tools, structure, and support needed to quit addi... Terms of Service (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
ScrollCop
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Every app blocker has an off switch. At 11 p.m. you will find it. ScrollCop is a friendly cop for your phone: you decide, before the urge, who gets to let your apps out. BLOCK APPS IN TWO TAPS Tap the apps that eat your time: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, X, or any app on your phone, plus whole categories and websites. Pick how long. The apps disappear from your Home Screen and won't open until time's up. It runs on Apple's Screen Time, so it holds even if you close ScrollCop. Try to open one and you get pulled over. YOU CHOOSE WHO CAN END IT EARLY Every block starts as "Nobody", so it really holds. Change it with one tap: • Me: end it whenever you want, after a ten-second pause. • Nobody: not even you. It opens when time's up. • A friend: ScrollCop texts them a one-time PIN. Only that PIN ends the block early. Your friend doesn't need the app. Want it even stronger? Give a friend your key, and codes come only from their phone. Locks hold even if you change the date or time, and ScrollCop can't be deleted while a locked block runs. Schedules start locked too. SCHEDULES THAT RUN EVERY DAY Block apps at the same time every day, automatically, even with ScrollCop closed. Give each schedule its own apps: games during study time, social apps at dinner, everything at bedtime. Choose who can switch it off: you, nobody, or your friend. Start from Bedtime, Mornings, Work hours, Study time or Dinner, or make your own. A COP THAT CHEERS YOU ON Over 5,000 short, original lines turn up around the app: on Home, while a block runs, on the screen you see when you try to open a blocked app, and when a block is done. Some are jokes, some are pep talks, all of them are on your side. Every block you finish is a numbered case, and the cop salutes when you close one. 165 THINGS TO DO INSTEAD Bored? Stressed? Up too late? ScrollCop suggests three small things that fit the time you have and the time of day: stretch for three minutes, write a two-line poem, tidy one drawer, lay out tomorrow's clothes. Tap "Show me three others" for more. A PLAN FOR THE URGE Decide once what you'll do when the pull hits: drink a glass of water, do ten squats, text a friend. Your plan shows up on the screen a blocked app opens to, right when you need it. SOS FOR THE MOMENT IT HITS Tap "I feel the urge" and ScrollCop asks what you actually need: bored, stressed, tired, lonely, avoiding something. It gives you one small thing to do instead, then checks whether the pull dropped. BOREDOM GYM Scrolling trained you to fill every gap. This trains the opposite: short exercises in sitting with nothing, thirty seconds first, then longer. YOUR WEEK AT A GLANCE One sentence about your week, a simple chart, an optional weekly goal and three plain numbers, like "45 min blocked today" and "12 days in a row without your blocked apps". Everything else is one tap away, each number with a line saying what it means. Counted on your phone. A slip is data, not failure. No guilt notifications. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No server. No ads, no analytics, no subscription. Apple's Screen Time gives ScrollCop opaque tokens, so it can't see which apps you use. Export or delete everything whenever you like. Free. Made in Canada. A behaviour-change tool, not medical advice.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ScrollCop at none against Essence's 7. ScrollCop also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, 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. Essence sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. ScrollCop asks for nothing beyond the download.
Essence ships an update every 2 weeks, ScrollCop every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Essence | ScrollCop |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (19 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 19 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 153 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Joe Jeyaseelan | Jashandeep Singh |
In-app purchases
Essence
- Weekly Premium$0.997 Days
- Monthly Premium$1.991 Month
- Yearly Premium3 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Coins$0.99
- Coins$1.99
- Coins$4.99
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- Lifetime Premium$39.99
ScrollCop
No in-app purchases









