Monkeyless vs HoldUp
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Monkeyless
This app helps you reduce phone addiction by incorporating mindfulness before opening distracting applications. It offers guided meditations, personalized screen time analysis, and habit-building plans to foster healthier digital habits.
- Meditate to unlock apps
- Guided meditations
- Screen time analysis
- Habit building plans
- Progress tracking
- Micro-mindfulness exercises
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Monkeyless is a mindfulness screen time app that helps you end phone addiction by meditating before opening distracting apps. Here’s how: Meditate to unlock – our soft app blocking feature creates a mindful moment before distractions begin. Take a short breath before opening certain apps. No more autopilot to distracting apps. Daily guided meditations – access guided meditations and micro-mindfulness exercises to reset your mind daily. Turn insight into action – get personalized screen time analysis to uncover patterns, triggers, and areas for growth. Build better habits – choose from science-backed habit plans designed to help you dismantle addictive phone behaviors and build mindful ones. Track your transformation – a clear, encouraging progress system keeps you motivated as you build mindfulness and intention into every tap. Try all features free during your trial. After the trial, access requires a subscription. We believe mindful tools should be accessible - if cost is a barrier, reach out. We’re here to help. Join 10 000+ users who have already liberated themselves. The average person spends over 6 hours a day on their phone. What about you? The root cause? Low mindfulness. It’s so easy to open Instagram or TikTok and, hours later, realize you’ve lost track of time. Hours have passed by. Your mind is on autopilot. East Asian philosophy describes this as the "Monkey Mind" - restless and mindlessly jumping from one thing to another. Like every addiction, breaking the habit seems like fighting uphill against yourself. And harsh measures such as blocking apps, or setting time limits never seem to work in the long run. Monkeyless takes a radically different approach. Why? 1. The root cause of doomscrolling is the restless "Monkey Mind," shaped by years of conditioning toward constant distractions such as your phone. 2. The only solution lies in calming this same mind with mindfulness. Simply blocking apps or setting time limits, like most screen time apps do, don't address the root issue. 3. Cultivate mindfulness with meditation. Combine pragmatism with optimism. You don't have to be a monk to do this - but hey, we always welcome you to join us. Science? Using mindfulness backed by science, we make it easier to break these habits in a lasting way. Meditation has been proven to effectively help in dismantling addictive behaviors. For instance, a study on Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) found that mindfulness training was associated with a reduction in relapse rates among individuals, and it could help manage stress-induced addictive behaviour. Other research on MBRP and similar approaches has shown reductions in relapse, emotional distress, and impulses. Ancient wisdom from thousands of years ago is still highly relevant today. Change with Monkeyless, break free from the Monkey Mind forever. AI Transparency Notice: Monkeyless uses artificial intelligence to assist in creating the audio tracks for our guided meditations. All meditation scripts are written by humans. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions): https://www.monkeyless.app/faq Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://monkeyless.app/privacy-policy.html Our special thanks goes to the book: The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa. Some of the teachings in this app are inspired by this.
HoldUp
This app helps you focus by blocking distracting applications until you complete a real-world checklist. Set timed tasks and re-lock reminders to ensure your to-do list gets done before you scroll.
- Block distracting apps and categories
- Create unlimited checklists
- Staged time-blocks with start times
- Strict mode to hide skip button
- Re-lock reminders
- Private by design, no data collection
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holdup blocks your distracting apps until you finish a real-world checklist. before you scroll, do the thing. pick the apps that pull you in. write the list that matters — gym, dishes, homework, the email. until the list is done, those apps wait behind a gate. how it works — block individual apps, whole categories, or websites using apple's screen time framework — your checklist, unlimited items, free — staged time-blocks: give tasks start times, and apps re-lock when each window arms — strict mode hides the skip button for the days you mean it — honest by design: skipping exists, it's just a deliberate choice you have to look at — re-lock reminders so a new block never ambushes you private by design everything stays on your phone. no account, no tracking, no analytics, no data collected. the screen time framework's data never leaves your device — apple designed it that way, and we like it that way. the honest fine print holdup creates friction, not an unbreakable cage. ios doesn't let any app be a perfect jailer — re-locks land within about a minute of use, and skipping is always a visible choice (unless strict mode says otherwise). the point isn't to fight you. it's to make the doomscroll a decision instead of a reflex. before you scroll, do the thing.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HoldUp at none against Monkeyless's 10. HoldUp also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and review sentiment (100% vs 81%). Monkeyless's advantage is ratings volume (118 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Monkeyless sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per 7 days. HoldUp asks for nothing beyond the download.
HoldUp holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Monkeyless has 118 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Monkeyless's written reviews are positive against 100% of HoldUp's.
Monkeyless ships an update every 2 weeks, HoldUp every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Monkeyless | HoldUp |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (118 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 81.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 118 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 206 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Monkeyless | Traid Co. LLC |
Customer experience
Monkeyless
HoldUp
In-app purchases
Monkeyless
- Monkeyless Pro Weekly$5.997 Days
- Monkeyless Pro Weekly7 Days trial$6.997 Days
- Monkeyless Pro$11.991 Year
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- Monkeyless Pro Monthly$12.991 Month
- Monkeyless Pro Monthly1 Month trial$17.991 Month
- Monkeyless Pro Monthly1 Month trial$19.991 Month
- Monkeyless Pro Annual$34.991 Year
- Monkeyless Pro7 Days trial$34.991 Year
- Monkeyless Pro7 Days trial$72.991 Year
- Monkeyless Pro Annual$89.991 Year
HoldUp
No in-app purchases









