Comparison

Screen Time vs Neutral Scroll

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

Head to head
About

Screen Time

This app promotes mindful screen time by tracking usage and providing gentle nudges when sessions end, rather than outright blocking. It helps users understand their habits and make conscious choices about their digital engagement.

Highlights
  • Session-based time tracking
  • Automatic start and stop timers
  • Gentle nudges, not hard blocks
  • Guilt-free timer snoozing
  • Detailed usage statistics
  • Customizable session lengths and daily goals
Features
Read full description

Blocking apps sound good in theory. In practice, you turn them off the moment they get in the way, and then feel worse about it. Break Check brings your screen time down without blocking a thing. You see how long you have been going, get a nudge when your time is up, and decide what happens next. No locked screens, no workarounds, no shame spiral. TRACK ANY HABIT, NOT JUST SCREEN TIME Doomscrolling, binge watching, gaming, the gym, shopping, reading, a bathroom break that got away from you. If you can start it and stop it, you can put it on a timer. SET A DAILY GOAL Give a habit a daily limit. Stay under it and the day counts as a win. Every day you meet your goal adds to your streak. NO HARD CUTOFFS When your time is up you get a gentle notification and the timer keeps counting, so you always know where you stand. Need longer? Add a few minutes with one tap. OR A REAL ALARM For a habit that needs a firmer stop, end the session with a full alarm instead. It gets through silent mode and Focus. NOTHING TO FORGET Timers can start and stop on their own: when you open an app, when you arrive somewhere, or at a time you pick each night. Your social apps can run their own timer. The gym one starts when you walk in. Setup takes about a minute. CONTROL IT FROM ANYWHERE A running timer sits in your Dynamic Island, Notification Center and Lock Screen, so you can check it or pause it without opening anything. Start one from Control Center, your Action Button, or a Home Screen widget. SEE WHERE YOUR TIME GOES Watch each day add up, spot your patterns, and see how close you are to your goal. Your time is kept as real sessions rather than one daily total, so you can find the hour you did not know you were spending. LIFE HAPPENS Waiting at the doctor? Long train ride? Some phone time should not count. Snooze every timer at once and take a guilt free break. No streak broken, no pressure. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. Nothing to sign up for, ever. Break Check never asks for Screen Time access and never sees which apps you open, only the timers you start. Your habits sync through your own iCloud and are never collected or sold. YOUR FIRST TIMER IS ALWAYS FREE Not a trial. Track one habit for as long as you like, at no cost. Unlimited adds the rest: a timer for every habit, full alarm alerts, and the button that snoozes them all. Monthly, yearly, or a one-time purchase that is yours forever. Privacy Policy: https://codewerm.com/breakcheck/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Neutral Scroll

This app offers a sensory pause from habitual phone use. It provides a calming, content-free experience with haptic feedback and visual gradients to help you disengage from endless scrolling. It also acts as a gentle reminder when you attempt to open other apps.

Highlights
  • Content-free scrolling experience
  • Haptic feedback for engagement
  • Visual gradients and color shifts
  • Time-boxed usage periods
  • Optional app opening reminder
  • Privacy-focused, no tracking
Read full description

A sensory pause for the moment your hand reaches for the feed. The urge to scroll isn't really about content. It's about regulation - a fidget, a friction, something to hold. Neutral Scroll gives you that, without the algorithm underneath. You open it. You stay for a time boxed period of time. The screen quietly winds itself down, and you put your phone away. — TWO MODES — Scroll A paged gradient of muted hues. Each swipe snaps cleanly to the next color, with one soft haptic pulse per page. No content. No counter. Just rhythm. Find A target somewhere on the screen, invisible. The closer your finger gets, the faster and heavier the haptic feedback. Land it, and the colour collapses to your fingertip and washes in a new hue. — A SOFTER DOOR — Pick the apps you reach for out of habit. When you open them, Neutral Scroll catches you at the door with a gentle reminder, and points you here instead. Built on Apple's Screen Time framework. Always opt-in. Always your choice. — WHAT IT DOESN'T DO — No likes, no streaks, no scores. No notifications, ever. No tracking, no analytics, no account. No social features, no sharing, no leaderboards. No reason to come back besides the experience itself. — PRIVACY — Neutral Scroll collects nothing. No analytics, no telemetry, no account. The optional shield runs entirely on-device through Apple's Family Controls. Nothing leaves your phone. — REQUIREMENTS — iPhone running iOS 17 or later. Uses the Taptic Engine, so iPhone only — no iPad, no Mac. One-time purchase. No subscription. No in-app purchases. No ads. neutralscroll.com

Screenshots

Screen Time4 screens
Neutral Scroll4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Screen Time at Free against Neutral Scroll's $0.99. Neutral Scroll's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On review sentiment, ads and device support 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

Screen Time is free to download; Neutral Scroll costs $0.99 up front. Screen Time sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Neutral Scroll asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Screen Time versus Neutral Scroll: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScreen TimeNeutral Scroll
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.6 (12 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings12 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCodeWerm LLCProfoundLabs Ltd

Customer experience

Screen Time

All ratings12 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Neutral Scroll

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Screen Time

Subscriptions3
  • Unlimited Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Unlimited Yearly Early Adopter$9.991 Year
  • Unlimited Yearly7 Days trial$11.901 Year
One-time1
  • Unlimited Lifetime$39.99
None

Neutral Scroll

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Screen Time free?
Screen Time is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Neutral Scroll free?
Neutral Scroll costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Screen Time or Neutral Scroll have ads?
Neither Screen Time nor Neutral Scroll shows ads.

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