Comparison

Scrollbye vs ScreenTimeGuard

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

Head to head
About

Scrollbye

Features
Read full description

Stop losing hours to β€œjust 5 minutes.” ScrollBye blocks your most addictive apps β€” exactly when you need it. No guilt. No hacks. Just control. Break the scroll loop Social media is designed to keep you stuck. ScrollBye helps you step out on your terms. Block distracting apps, schedule focus time, and finally feel in control of your phone. What makes ScrollBye different? Most apps rely on willpower. ScrollBye removes the decision entirely. Set it once β†’ it works automatically. Smart App Blocking Block any app that steals your time β€” social media, games, anything. Scheduled Focus Time Create daily β€œno-scroll” periods that run automatically. No impulse unblocking Add friction between you and distractions β€” so you don’t relapse in 2 taps. Lightweight & fast No clutter. No complicated setup. Just works. Built for real life Working? Stay focused Studying? Remove distractions Sleeping? Stop late-night scrolling Living? Be present again Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

ScreenTimeGuard

Features
Read full description

ScreenTimeGuard is a calm, minimal screen-time app for people who want fewer impulse opens. It is built around three ideas most blockers get wrong. You earn a budget of real app time. Most blockers start a countdown the moment you unlock, and the timer keeps running while your phone sits in your pocket. ScreenTimeGuard grants a usage budget instead: 1, 3, 5, or 10 minutes of actual app time, counted only while a blocked app is open. Reply to the message, put the phone down, come back later. One allowance can be spread across several openings until it is spent. Access is earned, not waited out. The signature unlock is a zip puzzle: draw one continuous line through every cell of a grid, passing numbered checkpoints in order. It asks for a moment of real attention β€” enough to interrupt autopilot, never enough to punish a genuine need. If you prefer arithmetic, switch to a math challenge instead. Both come in three difficulty levels. Your data stays yours. No account. No sign-up. No backend. No analytics or tracking SDKs. Your app groups, schedules, unlock history, and insights are stored on your device, never on a server of ours. Your groups, schedules, and preferences are also backed up to your own iCloud account so a reinstall or a new iPhone does not cost you your setup β€” we cannot read that copy, and your unlock history and insights are left out of it entirely. The app makes exactly one kind of network request: fetching the attributed daily quote on the dashboard, once a day. Without a connection, everything still works. Around those three ideas, an explicit rule system: - Recurring schedules block selected app groups during work, study, sleep, or any routine that matters to you. - During scheduled hours, each group is either fully blocked or set to solve-to-open. - Outside the schedule, leave apps free, or require a challenge and a time budget for every visit. - Block Now starts an immediate block, for a fixed duration or until you end it. - Emergency unlock stays available during a full block, with deliberate friction: an optional reason, a cooldown between uses, and an optional daily limit. Every use is recorded in your history. - Insights stay on the device: unlock attempts, emergency unlocks, and protected time. ScreenTimeGuard is built on Apple's Screen Time technology, using only Apple frameworks. Free for up to 3 apps. ScreenTimeGuard Premium is an auto-renewable subscription billed yearly, unlocking unlimited apps, whole app categories, and website blocking. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. It renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://joepbruin-hue.github.io/screentimeguard-privacy/ Friction here is intentional, never punitive. Pause the impulse, then choose.

Screenshots

Scrollbye4 screens
ScreenTimeGuard4 screens

Verdict

The call

Scrollbye and ScreenTimeGuard are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters β€” price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them β€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Scrollbye sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and ScreenTimeGuard sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $8.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Scrollbye ships an update every 2 weeks, ScreenTimeGuard every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Scrollbye versus ScreenTimeGuard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScrollbyeScreenTimeGuard
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks β€” betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad β€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.517.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size6 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKAREL ZAHRADNICEKJoep Bruin

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Scrollbye

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription$19.991 Year
1 purchases

ScreenTimeGuard

Subscriptions1
  • ScreenTimeGuard Premium$8.991 Year

Questions

Is Scrollbye free?
Scrollbye is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ScreenTimeGuard free?
ScreenTimeGuard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Scrollbye or ScreenTimeGuard have ads?
Neither Scrollbye nor ScreenTimeGuard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Scrollbye or ScreenTimeGuard?
Scrollbye ships an update every 2 weeks, and ScreenTimeGuard every 4 weeks. Most recently, Scrollbye was updated on October 28, 2026 and ScreenTimeGuard on October 24, 2026.

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