Comparison

Jolt vs Normal

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

Head to head
About

Jolt

This app helps you reduce screen time and build healthier phone habits by blocking distracting apps and setting usage limits. It offers personalized insights, focus sessions, and challenges to keep you motivated and in control of your device.

Highlights
  • Block distracting apps and websites
  • Set daily duration and open limits for apps
  • Focus sessions with optional breaks
  • Customizable schedules and prebuilt templates
  • Deep Focus Mode with non-bypassable timers
  • Personalized habit insights and progress tracking
  • Join global challenges and earn rewards
Read full description

You know exactly what you should be doing right now. So does your phone - and it's betting you'll check it anyway. Jolt is built for people who are done losing that bet. —— KNOW IF YOU'RE ACTUALLY IMPROVING Attention Forecast - New Before your day starts, Jolt tells you how it's likely to go. One predictive score built from last night's sleep, your 28-day usage trend, your streak, and your blocking discipline. Attention Score: One number. Every day. Your Focus, Sleep, and Discipline combined. It rises when all three do - it won't let one good habit carry the weight of two bad ones. Watch it over 7, 14, 30 days. The direction it moves is the most honest feedback you'll get. Discipline Score: The gap between the limits you set and the limits you actually held. Not whether you blocked Instagram - whether you stayed blocked when it counted. Most people are surprised by this number. That's the point. Focus Score: Most people think they're focused. The Focus Score measures whether they actually were - how much deep work you completed, how many sessions you finished without quitting, how little you touched your phone mid-session. The score doesn't round up. Sleep Score: Your last pickup before bed. Your first reach in the morning. How many times you interrupted your own sleep. Tracked, scored, shown back to you every day. —— SET LIMITS THAT ACTUALLY HOLD Duration Limit: Daily time cap on any app - 30 minutes on Instagram, 20 on YouTube. When it hits, it locks. No snooze, no exceptions. Open Limit: Cap how many times you open an app each day. Three opens on Twitter. Five on Reddit. Once you've hit the number, it's done. Blocking Modes: Easy: a breathing pause before the app opens. Medium: rapid taps or a timed challenge - your brain earns the unlock. Hard: nothing gets through. Hard Mode: Set it once. Can't edit, delete, or override it until the next day. Your morning self makes the rules. Your evening self lives with them. —— FOCUS SESSIONS Focus Flights - New: You don't start a timer anymore. You book a flight. Pick a destination reachable in your focus window. Choose your seat: First Class seals the cabin - no early exit. Business puts a challenge between you and the door. Economy lets you tap out. Board, take off, block your apps. Land and it logs as a completed flight. Quit early and it goes down as a crash - distance credited for how far you got. Every flight lives in your Flight Wallet. Focus Sessions Block every distracting app for a set window - deep work, exam session, meeting hour. 20+ templates or build your own. Everything else disappears until you're done. Quick Sessions: One tap. Immediate block. Zero setup. Focus right now, not after configuring anything. —— CLOSE EVERY LOOPHOLE Sleep Schedule: Set your bedtime and wake-up time. Every distracting app locks automatically. You choose which essentials stay on - everything else is off until morning, with full tracking of every pickup. Accountability Partner: A real person who sees your screen time and must approve every override. Not an algorithm. A human who will actually push back. GPS Blocking: Set your office, library, or gym. The moment you arrive, Jolt activates. The environment does what willpower can't. Good Apps First: Use your journal, reading app, or workout tracker first. Once you do, the distracting apps unlock. Focus becomes the price of entry. Block 18+ One toggle. Every adult site and app - off. Shield Customisation - New: The screen that blocks you now looks how you want it. Choose a persona or build your own: custom text, colors, and icon. Turn on Randomized Experience, and it changes every time a block fires. —— PRIVACY FIRST: All blocking runs locally via Apple's Screen Time API. No personal data leaves your device. Download free. Block your first app in 30 seconds. Support: hello@thejoltapp.com Terms: thejoltapp.com/terms & https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: thejoltapp.com/privacy

About

Normal

This app helps you reduce phone usage by blocking selected applications by default. To access blocked apps, you must physically scan an NFC tag, QR code, or barcode, or be at a specific location. It offers granular control, timed unblocks, and scheduling to help you regain control of your screen time.

Highlights
  • Block apps via NFC, QR codes, and barcodes
  • Use any NFC tag, QR code, or barcode
  • Unblock/block specific apps
  • Timed unblocks
  • Scheduling
  • Granular control
  • Bypass prevention options
Read full description

Normal actually makes you use your phone less by keeping selected apps blocked by default. To unblock you have to physically scan an NFC Tag, QR Code or use a Location. This can be any NFC Tag, QR Code, Barcode, Location you set in the app. This 'opt-in' approach is backed by research and actual use. Normal is made to be the most powerful screen time app available. Saving your hours of your day. It's fully open-source and no features are behind paywalls. It can also be made to be impossible to bypass. Highlights of Normal: - Block Apps via NFC Tags, QR Codes and Barcodes - Use ANY NFC Tag, QR Code or Barcode - Unblock/Block specific Apps - Timed Unblocks - Emergency Unblocks - Scheduling - Complete Granular Control - Can make it as easy or as hard to bypass Normal was made because of issues with some other screen time apps. - Other screen time apps are easy to bypass. Normal can be made to be impossible to bypass, or easy to bypass. You have complete control. - Most other screen time apps work on opt-out strategy, where you have access to all apps, then lose access through usage. - Normal works on opt-in strategy. The apps you have blocked are always blocked, to use them you have to physically get up and scan your NFC tag or QR Code. - Most screen time apps are paid, either one-time or more commonly, subscriptions. There are no paid features. Everything is free and open-source. - Normal is privacy-focused. We don't log any data, everything stays on device. Since we're open source, you can check our code and confirm. - Normal allows timed unlocks. Other NFC/QR Code blockers don't have this. If you want to use an app for 15min, you can unlock it for 15min only. You don't have to remember to reblock. Normal was made by actual users, research on smartphone addiction and developments in dumbphones in-mind. If you want to turn your iPhone into a dumbphone, you can. Block all smart apps, block the app store, prevent disabling normal (via preventing delete and the shortcuts trick). Now you have a dumbphone, which you can't make smart without your NFC Tag (which you can make as difficult as you need). If you want a semi-dumbphone, you can. Do the above but have some apps like maps, music, messaging, etc. If you're a professional who needs access to apps distracting sometimes, Normal is for you! Block all distractions with Normal. Set schedules for you work apps or used timed unblocks. Need 15min to post content or check email? You can do that! You just have to physically get up and scan your NFC Tag, QR Code, or Barcode. The apps will automatically reblock after your timer is over. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Jolt4 screens
Normal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Normal at 4.9 against Jolt's 4.3. Normal also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Jolt sells 28 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Normal sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $5.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Normal holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 104 and 39 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Jolt's written reviews are positive against 100% of Normal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Jolt ships an update every 2 weeks, Normal every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Jolt versus Normal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJoltNormal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (104 ratings)4.9 (39 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings104 — better39
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size177 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperASAKIRA CONSULTANTS LLPNormal Engineering Inc.

Customer experience

Jolt

All ratings104 ratings
Positive81.7%
Neutral3.8%
Negative14.4%
Written reviews157 reviews
Positive82.2%
Neutral3.8%
Negative14.0%

Normal

All ratings39 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

28 purchases

Jolt

Subscriptions24
  • Pro Plan - Monthly3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Pro Plan | Weekly$4.997 Days
  • Pro Plan - Weekly3 Days trial$5.997 Days
Show 21 more
  • Pro Plan - Monthly3 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Pro Plan - Weekly$6.997 Days
  • Pro Plan - Weekly3 Days trial$6.997 Days
  • Pro Plan - Weekly3 Days trial2 variants$7.997 Days
  • Pro Plan - Weekly3 Days trial$8.997 Days
  • Pro Plan - Monthly - Discounted3 Days trial$11.991 Month
  • Pro Plan - Monthly3 Days trial$11.991 Month
  • Pro Plan - Monthly - T3 D03 Days trial$13.991 Month
  • Pro Plan - Monthly$15.001 Month
  • Pro Plan - Monthly3 Days trial$17.991 Month
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - T3 D23 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - T3 D03 Days trial$45.001 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - T3 D13 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - NY503 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - NY253 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - 753 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - T1 D03 Days trial$51.001 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - T1 D23 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly$60.001 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - T2 D03 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Pro Plan - Yearly - T1 D13 Days trial$69.991 Year
One-time4
  • Hard Mode Sos$3.00
  • Pro Plan | Lifetime$39.99
  • Pro Plan | Lifetime$79.99
Show 1 more
  • Pro Plan | Lifetime$199.99
9 purchases

Normal

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly Support$5.001 Month
  • Monthly Support$10.001 Month
  • Monthly Support$20.001 Month
One-time6
  • One-time Donation$5.00
  • One-time Donation$10.00
  • One-time Donation$20.00
Show 3 more
  • One-time Donation$50.00
  • One-time Donation$100.00
  • One-time Donation$200.00

Questions

Is Jolt free?
Jolt is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Normal free?
Normal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Jolt or Normal?
Normal is rated higher. Jolt averages 4.3 out of 5 from 104 ratings, while Normal averages 4.9 from 39 ratings.
Do Jolt or Normal have ads?
Neither Jolt nor Normal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Jolt or Normal?
Jolt ships an update every 2 weeks, and Normal every 2 days. Most recently, Jolt was updated on October 4, 2026 and Normal on October 15, 2026.

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