Focus Timer vs OnLock
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Focus Timer
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Lock In is a beautifully simple app designed to help you focus with intention and track your time meaningfully. Whether you're studying, working, or building better habits, Lock In keeps you grounded, one session at a time. Features at a Glance:Use our dual-mode Focus Timer or Stopwatch, manage your daily tasks, and visualize your time with powerful progress views that show every minute you’ve earned back. From Live Activities to deep session history, Lock In is built for momentum, not distractions. Features at a Glance: Daily Task Manager • Add, reorder, and group tasks by day • Swipe to create subtasks or remove items • Completion toggles with smart parent/child sync • Keyboard-aware quick add bar Focus Sessions: Timer or Stopwatch • Lock in your time with countdown or count-up modes • Animated progress ring with pause/resume controls • Use while editing tasks • Session time is saved, second-accurate Session History • View detailed logs per day: task completion, start-end times, durations • Swipe to delete any session Life & Time Statistics • See how many days you’ve been alive • Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly heatmaps • Visualize progress across the year Smart Reminders & Notifications • “Session Complete” and 8 PM check-in reminders • Never forget to lock in again Home & Lock Screen Widgets • Live Activity tracking via Dynamic Island and StandBy • Control widget to start/stop focus sessions Fully Themed & iPad Ready • Clean dark/light mode toggle • Optimized layout for iPhone and iPad Private by Design • Everything is stored locally using Core Data • No accounts, no ads, no distractions Start small. Stay consistent. Lock in, get out.
OnLock
This app enforces focus by locking distracting applications at the operating system level. It uses AI to verify study sessions with photos, ensuring your progress is genuine and building an earned streak. Features include scheduled blocks, intent journaling, and focus intelligence insights.
- OS-level distraction blocking
- AI-verified study sessions
- Streak building
- Scheduled recurring blocks
- Intent journaling
- Focus intelligence insights
- Home screen widgets
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Studying doesn't fail because you're lazy. It fails because Instagram is one swipe away, and willpower is not a strategy. OnLock is the block you can't talk yourself out of. When a session starts, OnLock locks your distractions at the operating system level using Apple's Family Controls. No "5 more minutes." No uninstall trick. The shield holds until you finish. But blocking is the easy part. The hard part is proving the work was real. Before any session counts toward your streak, OnLock's AI reviews a photo of what you did. No proof, no credit. THE SHIELD • Un-bypassable OS-level enforcement built on Apple's Family Controls • Locks the apps that derail you: social, games, browsers, anything • Holds through restarts, app deletion, and panic uninstalls • Schedule recurring blocks for the hours you always slip AI PROOF • Submit a photo of your notes, work, or finished problem set • AI verifies the session was genuine study before your streak counts • Catches the "I just sat there" sessions you'd rather forget • Builds a streak you actually earned THE INTERVENTION • A quiet pause before every session to ask if this is really study time • Journal your intent so distraction has to argue with your own words • Reflect after to see what is actually working THE WHY ON A TIMER • Plot your exams on a real countdown • Every session lands against the clock • See what each lost hour costs you FOCUS INTELLIGENCE • Learns your peak hours, worst blockers, and patterns • Tells you when to study and when to stop pretending • Your data, your insight, never shared ALWAYS ON • Home screen widgets in three sizes • Lock screen complications for glanceable streaks • Quick Study: one tap and you're locked in THE AESTHETIC A calm, editorial interface designed to feel nothing like the apps it replaces. No infinite scroll. No screaming notifications. No dopamine arcade. Just focus. PRIVACY • Screen time data stays on your device • Built on Apple's native Family Controls and Screen Time APIs • Photos for AI proof are reviewed and discarded • No tracking, no sale, no leak FREE Every feature above is included, free. No subscription, no upsells, no locked tools. Stop trying harder. Start being unable. OnLock. The focus you can't undo. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://onlock-api.joshuawang2048.workers.dev/legal/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: OnLock at every 5 weeks against Focus Timer's every 6 months. OnLock also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Focus Timer ships an update every 6 months, OnLock every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on October 2, 2026.
| Parameter | Focus Timer | OnLock |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.5 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Elementra LLC | Ting Ting Xu |
In-app purchases
Focus Timer
No in-app purchases
OnLock
No in-app purchases









