Comparison

Focus Lock vs I Dictate Notes

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

Head to head
About

Focus Lock

This app helps you stay focused by automatically blocking distracting applications during designated work or study sessions. It's designed to eliminate willpower reliance, ensuring your chosen apps remain inaccessible until your session concludes. Track your progress and celebrate your focus achievements.

Highlights
  • Automatic app blocking during sessions
  • Customizable focus session durations
  • Streak system for consistency
  • Badge progression for motivation
  • Session celebrations and rewards
  • Daily and weekly focus statistics
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

FOCUS FIRST. EARN YOUR SCROLL. Focus Lock combines a Pomodoro timer with Screen Time app blocking. Choose your distracting apps, complete a focus session, and earn time to use them. Built by someone with ADHD who was tired of losing hours to doomscrolling. TWO WAYS TO FOCUS Lock In mode keeps your selected apps locked until you earn an unlock window by completing a focus session. Earned time is measured by actual app usage. Three five-minute emergency unlocks are available each day. Prefer session-based blocking? Turn off Lock In and block distractions only during focus sessions, with optional blocking during breaks. BUILT FOR IPHONE DUO On the inner display, the countdown and session controls sit on opposite sides of the fold. Half-folded on your desk, the timer stays visible above the controls. Open it like a book, fold it closed, or use Split View: your session keeps going. BUILD A FOCUS HABIT - Start with 25- or 45-minute focus sessions. - Tag your work and see where your focus time goes. - Track daily and weekly progress, streaks, and badges. - Share your focus cards and milestones. - Follow the timer with Live Activities and completion alerts. AlarmKit alarms are available on supported iOS versions with your permission. FREE AND PREMIUM Start free with up to three app or category selections for blocking. Premium adds unlimited selections, custom focus durations from 15 to 120 minutes, and custom tags. Optional subscriptions are available in the app; prices and trial availability are shown before purchase. Screen Time permission is required for app blocking. Privacy Policy: https://sleepybytes.com/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

I Dictate Notes

Capture spoken thoughts and let AI transform them into organized, searchable notes. Transcribe, summarize, tag, and even chat with your entire note library to retrieve information instantly.

Highlights
  • Voice note recording
  • AI transcription and summarization
  • Automatic tagging and search
  • Chat with your notes
  • Share recorded notes
  • Microphone input selection
Features
Read full description

I Dictate Notes is an AI note taker that turns your spoken thoughts into organized, searchable notes. Record ideas, memos, meetings, reminders, or reflections wherever you are, and let AI transcribe, summarize, tag, and connect everything for you. No setup. No typing. No friction between a thought and capturing it. With I Dictate Notes, your voice becomes a personal knowledge base you can search, review, and chat with later. Ask questions in plain language and get answers drawn from your own recorded notes, with citations back to the exact memos they came from. ONE TAP TO CAPTURE. AI ORGANIZES THE REST. • Record voice notes anywhere Capture thoughts on a walk, in the car, between meetings, or whenever an idea appears. • Choose your microphone input Select the microphone you want to use before recording, so your audio notes sound the way you expect. • Transcribed and summarized Turn recordings into clean, readable transcripts with concise summaries, key insights, and filler words removed. • Auto-tagged and searchable Your notes are automatically categorized and easy to find. Search by what you said, not when you said it. • Share recorded notes Send or save your recorded notes whenever you need to pass along an idea, transcript, or summary. • Ask across every note Chat with your entire note library like it remembers everything. Ask about decisions, ideas, meetings, research, or past thoughts and get answers grounded in your own words. AN AI NOTE TAKER FOR REAL LIFE Use I Dictate Notes for quick ideas, meeting notes, voice memos, journaling, research thoughts, interview notes, project planning, reminders, and anything else you would rather say than type. HOW IT WORKS Tap and talk — Open the app and start speaking. Record a quick thought or a longer memo. AI makes sense of it — Your recording is transcribed, cleaned up, summarized, tagged, and added to your searchable library. Come back and ask — Read the summary, skim the insights, share the note, or ask your notes a question whenever you need the answer. Your next good idea is worth remembering. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Focus Lock4 screens
I Dictate Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Focus Lock at every 2 weeks against I Dictate Notes's monthly. On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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

Both are free to download. Focus Lock sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and I Dictate Notes sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Focus Lock against 5.0 for I Dictate Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Focus Lock ships an update every 2 weeks, I Dictate Notes monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Focus Lock versus I Dictate Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocus LockI Dictate Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSleepyBytes SIAGyunel Gadieva

Customer experience

Focus Lock

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

I Dictate Notes

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Focus Lock

Subscriptions4
  • Focus Pro$1.997 Days
  • Focus Pro$4.991 Month
  • Focus Pro3 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yearly Plan1 Month trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Focus Pro$17.99
6 purchases

I Dictate Notes

Subscriptions6
  • Starter Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Standard Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Pro Monthly7 Days trial$19.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Starter Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Standard Annual7 Days trial$99.991 Year
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$199.991 Year

Questions

Is Focus Lock free?
Focus Lock is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is I Dictate Notes free?
I Dictate Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Focus Lock or I Dictate Notes?
Focus Lock and I Dictate Notes are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Focus Lock or I Dictate Notes have ads?
Neither Focus Lock nor I Dictate Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Focus Lock or I Dictate Notes?
Focus Lock ships an update every 2 weeks, and I Dictate Notes monthly. Most recently, Focus Lock was updated on October 24, 2026 and I Dictate Notes on October 17, 2026.

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