Ascent vs Just Did
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ascent
This app helps build healthy phone habits by pausing distracting apps and preventing mindless scrolling. It offers features like focus sessions, app limits, and reminders to promote mindful usage and productivity.
- Pause Exercise before opening apps
- Focus Sessions to minimize distractions
- Reminders to step away from time-consuming apps
- Set daily app usage limits
- State intentions before using apps
- Organize essential apps with Shortcuts
- Save bookmarks as mindful alternatives
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The main goal of Ascent is to build healthy phone usage habits in the long term. Ascent pauses distracting apps giving the ability to avoid procrastination loop from the start. App prevents undesired scrolling through news feeds and short videos. Instead Ascent allows to spend time on mindful working and creating. Ascent is a powerful and intuitive app blocker that helps you stay focused and combat procrastination. With its advanced blocking and tracking features, Ascent makes it easy to take control of your screen time and achieve your goals. Pause Exercise: Ascent makes you take pause before opening a destructing app. Take your time to reflect on whether you really want to open it. You can choose to either close the app or continue using it. This feature helps you to avoid compulsive app opening and makes your phone usage more mindful and reasonable. Focus Session: Focus Session elevates your productivity by creating a dedicated space with minimized distractions. It temporarily restricts access to specific apps, ensuring your attention stays on the task at hand. This feature helps you stay deeply engaged, promoting a state of flow and maximizing your efficiency. Reminder: Reminder helps you regain control over your digital habits by guiding you away from time-consuming apps. Set reminders to activate the Pause Screen, nudging you to step back and break free from unhealthy screen time patterns, fostering a more balanced relationship with your digital environment. App Limits: Set daily usage limits on apps and websites to automatically block them and prevent overuse. Limit screen time and stay focused! Intentions: Intentions reshape your interaction with digital distractions by prompting you to pause and state your purpose before using potentially harmful apps. This feature turns impulsive screen time into a deliberate choice, helping you build a more mindful and intentional relationship with your digital habits. Shortcuts: Shortcuts transform your digital habits by letting you get more done with less taps, streamlining your workflow and minimizing interruptions. Arrange essential apps and links for quick access, so you can retrieve them when needed. By keeping your focus sharp and avoiding distractions, Shortcuts help you stay productive and intentional. Bookmarks: Bookmarks transform your screen habits by shifting your focus from algorithmic content to what truly matters. Ascent helps you save bookmarks as valuable resources, providing a mindful alternative to chaotic feeds and integrating quality knowledge into your daily routine for a more meaningful and intentional digital experience. Ascent makes it easy to set up custom blocking schedules and stay on track. You can choose to block apps for a specific period of time or during certain times of the day, and receive notifications when your blocking schedule is about to end or when you're approaching or exceeding your daily limits. This helps you stay aware of your habits and make positive changes to your daily routine. Benefits: - Better screen time control - Better productivity at work - Reduce stress, be more mindful - Better manage ADHD - Set daily work hours, sleep, and routines - Block apps to unplug and detox - Stay in focus when you need it most - You're happy and in control of your screen time screen time, offtime, screen time for focus, screen time control, limit screen time, app time limit, screen time blocker, social media blocker, app blocker, appblock, focus, stay focused, focus timer, productivity, procrastination, stop scrolling Terms (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://ascent-app.com/app-store-privacy-policy
Just Did
Log when you last completed a task without pressure or guilt. Set optional gentle reminders for recurring activities or simply keep a record. Collaborate with others in shared spaces to see who did what and when.
- Log task completion with one gesture
- Optional gentle reminders for recurring tasks
- Create shared spaces for groups
- See who did what and when in shared spaces
- Unlimited personal tasks
- Privacy-focused design
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When did I last water the plant? Walk the dog? Call Dad? Restock the office snacks? When was the last time I did...everything? "Just Did" answers one question: when did I last do that? No streaks to maintain. No habits to break. No guilt-trip notifications. Just a calm, simple log of the things you do, with optional gentle nudges. A minimalistic approach to logging task completions and to-dos. ONE GESTURE, ONE LOG • Tap and hold a task card to mark it done. The card fills as you hold — a small, satisfying confirmation. No accidental ticks, no forms, no checkmarks, no fanfare. It's a different feel from every other tracker, and it's the whole point. SET A CADENCE, OR DON'T • Add an interval to any task — every 3 hours, every 4 days, every 7 days — and "Just Did" will gently remind you when it's been a while. Or skip the cadence entirely and just keep a record. Reminders are always optional, never pushy. SHARED SPACES, FOR ANY GROUP THAT NEEDS ONE • Create a Space and invite anyone with a 6-character code — your partner, family, roommates, dorm-mates, coworkers, project teammates, or a group of friends. • See who did what, and when. No assignments. No nagging. No leaderboards. Just a shared sense of "yeah, that's been done." • Use it at home, at the office, in a shared studio, on a trip — wherever a small group needs to keep track of the same tasks or to-dos. FREE FOR MAJORITY OF USE CASES • Unlimited personal tasks on your device, free forever. Spaces are free for up to 2 members and 3 shared tasks — enough for some groups. • The Pro upgrades are honestly optional. • Tasks Pro — full display customisation: background packs, premium completion animations, custom card colours, personalised colour scale. • Spaces Pro — removes the member and task caps. The owner pays; everyone in the Space benefits without paying themselves. PRIVACY BY DEFAULT • Personal tasks stay on your device. Shared Spaces only sync what's shared. Sign in with Apple, Google, or email — or skip sign-in entirely and use JustDid locally. Just Did is for anyone who doesn't want another habit tracker. No streaks. No guilt. No pressure. Just a quiet record of the things you've already done — alone, or together. Privacy Policy: http://justdidapp.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Just Did at 5.0 against Ascent's 4.6. Just Did also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and review sentiment (100% vs 84%). Ascent's advantage is ratings volume (45 vs 6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Ascent sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Just Did sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Just Did holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ascent has 45 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Ascent's written reviews are positive against 100% of Just Did's.
Ascent ships an update every 3 weeks, Just Did weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ascent | Just Did |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (45 ratings) | 5.0 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 45 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 109 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ascent Apps TOO | Zachary Lau |
Customer experience
Ascent
Just Did
In-app purchases
Ascent
- 1 Month Premium$2.991 Month
- 1 Year Premium$9.991 Year
- Free Lifetime PremiumFree
- Lifetime Premium$17.99
Just Did
- Spaces Pro Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Spaces Pro Yearly1 Month trial$29.991 Year
- Tasks Pro$2.99
- Spaces Pro Lifetime$59.99





