Comparison

Mind the Focus vs ByTime

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Mind the Focus

This app helps you stay focused by automatically activating desired focus modes based on your calendar events. You can customize activation times, mute irrelevant events, and ignore specific calendars to ensure you're always in the right mindset for your commitments.

Highlights
  • Calendar synchronization
  • Automatic focus activation
  • Customizable focus timing
  • Mute irrelevant events
  • Ignore specific calendars
Features
Read full description

Feel awkward after missing important parts during a work meeting? Regret prioritizing your phone over your friends while out? Stay focused effortlessly based on your calendar with Mind the Focus! Mind the Focus synchronizes with your calendar, prompting you just at the right time to activate the desired focus for your next event. To stay focused, the app allows you to: • Decide the focus you want to have for your next event • Customize the time at which a focus is (de)activated before and after your events • Mute events that you do not require a focus for • Ignore calendars that are not relevant to you With Mind the Focus, you will never find yourself at an event without the right focus! Start focusing on what matters to you now!

About

ByTime

Read full description

Earn your screen time. Most screen-time apps work by taking things away. ByTime works by giving them back — but only when you've earned them. Focus for a few minutes, and minutes drop into your wallet. When you want to use Instagram, TikTok, or any app you've blocked, you spend from what you earned. No daily quotas. No willpower contests. No guilt afterwards. It's the simplest behaviour change there is: you can have it, you just have to earn it first. HOW IT WORKS 1. Pick the apps and websites you want to keep at arm's length. 2. Run a focus session. Three minutes, thirty minutes — your call. 3. Spend what you've earned. Tap the shield over a blocked app, choose how many minutes to spend, and it opens. When the minutes run out, the shield comes back. A WALLET, NOT A WARDEN Your earned minutes sit in a balance you can see at a glance. Carry minutes forward. Spend them on whatever you want, in whatever order you want. The app doesn't decide what's important — you do. A FOCUS SESSION YOU CAN LIVE WITH The session screen is dominated by a slow, ambient surface that breathes for as long as you focus — Aurora, Sunset, Observatory, and a handful of other shader-rendered backgrounds you can pick from. The timer is there when you need it, but it isn't the loudest thing on the screen. And the reward you're earning sits next to the time you have left, so the session is about what you're gaining, not just what you're spending. BUILT ON THE 8-8-8 BALANCE Eight hours of focus. Eight hours of reward. Eight hours of sleep. ByTime is built around the idea that a day works best when those three are in rough balance — and your screen time belongs in the reward eight, paid for by the focus eight. You set the daily targets; the wallet does the accounting. A REWARD, NOT A PUNISHMENT The earn-then-spend loop works the way brains actually respond to incentives: positive reinforcement instead of punishment, delayed gratification instead of impulse. You're not being scolded for picking up your phone — you're being paid for putting it down. PRIVACY THE WAY APPLE INTENDED ByTime is built on Apple's Screen Time APIs (FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, DeviceActivity). Your usage data never leaves your device. We don't collect it, we don't see it, and we don't sell it. CALM, PREMIUM, INTENTIONAL Dark-first interface, tactile glass surfaces, fluid motion. ByTime is designed to feel like a well-made instrument — a tool you reach for, not one that scolds you. WHO IT'S FOR — Students who lose hours to TikTok between every study block and want their phone back on their own terms. — Anyone who's tried five blockers and felt punished by all of them. — Adults who want to spend less time scrolling and more time on what they actually planned to do. WHAT IT'S NOT — Not a parental control app. ByTime is built for self-management; you set your own rules. — Not a streak machine. There are no fires to lose, no badges to chase, no scoreboards. — Not a shame engine. The app never tells you you've used your phone too much. It just shows you what you've earned. Earn it. Spend it. Stop fighting your phone.

Screenshots

Mind the Focus4 screens
ByTime4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: ByTime at Free against Mind the Focus's $4.99. ByTime also leads on update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). Mind the Focus's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). On ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

ByTime is free to download; Mind the Focus costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mind the Focus ships an update fortnightly, ByTime weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Mind the Focus versus ByTime: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMind the FocusByTime
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating3.3 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews25.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.618.6
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel FuerstBaalavignesh A

In-app purchases

None

Mind the Focus

No in-app purchases

None

ByTime

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mind the Focus free?
Mind the Focus costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ByTime free?
ByTime is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Mind the Focus or ByTime have ads?
Neither Mind the Focus nor ByTime shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mind the Focus or ByTime?
Mind the Focus ships an update fortnightly, and ByTime weekly. Most recently, Mind the Focus was updated on October 16, 2026 and ByTime on October 11, 2026.

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