PeerPause vs Couples Screen Time
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PeerPause
This app helps you manage screen time by requiring a trusted friend to approve any extensions to your daily app limits. It prevents self-override, ensuring you stick to your goals and reclaim your time.
- App blocking for social, video, games, and shopping
- Daily screen time limits
- Time extension requests to a trusted friend
- Buddy confirmation for limit changes
- Streak tracking and improvement insights
- No instant self-override
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Screen time limits only work when you can't quietly undo them. PeerPause fixes that by putting one person you trust between you and the "just five more minutes" button. Set a daily limit for the apps that eat your day. When the time is gone, the app locks. If you genuinely need longer, you send a request to your Time Buddy — a friend, partner, or sibling who taps accept or deny. No secret override, no deleting the limit at 1am. HOW IT WORKS 1. Pick the app that distracts you most. 2. Set its daily limit. 3. Add a Time Buddy. 4. When you hit the limit, the app locks. 5. Ask for more time, with a note if you want. 6. Your Time Buddy decides. WHAT YOU GET • Blocking for social, video, game, dating, and shopping apps • Daily limits built on Apple's Screen Time • Time extension requests, answered by a real person • Buddy confirmation before a limit is changed or removed • Streaks and insights that show what's actually improving • No instant self-override when you hit the limit WHY A BUDDY BEATS WILLPOWER Every other blocker lets you turn it off. That is the whole problem — the moment you want to break the limit is exactly the moment you are least able to argue with yourself. Handing that one decision to someone else takes about two seconds and changes the outcome. Your Time Buddy is not a parent or a monitor. They see the app name, how much time you asked for, and any note you send. They cannot see your messages, your browsing, your photos, or what you do inside any app. Your Screen Time data stays on your device. BEING SOMEONE'S TIME BUDDY Answering requests for a friend costs nothing — install PeerPause, get added, and tap accept or deny when they ask. A PeerPause Pro subscription is what lets you create and manage your own limits. Pause first. Scroll less. Take your time back. TERMS OF USE https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Couples Screen Time
This app helps couples manage screen time and tasks together. By sharing a screen time pool and to-do lists, users earn minutes back by completing tasks, keeping a shared flame alive. It encourages accountability and shared goals for digital well-being.
- Shared screen time pool
- Shared to-do lists
- Earn screen time by completing tasks
- Visual flame indicator
- App locking when time is up
- Individual and couple modes
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Screen time for couples. Cut it together. Burn is a screen time app for couples. Invite your partner, share one pool of screen time, and share whichever to-do lists you like. Finish tasks to earn logs and feed them to Burn, a little flame you keep lit together. Doomscroll the pool dry and both of your distracting apps lock. No willpower required. Just someone in your corner, and a flame worth keeping lit. BURN DUO: SHARE IT WITH YOUR PARTNER (FREE) • One shared screen time pool, with a daily goal either of you can change • Share any to-do list: groceries, chores, date night plans. Everything else stays private • Either of you ticks a shared task off, it's done for both • One log pile: tasks either of you finishes refuel you both • See your partner's day: how much they burned, and where it went by the app groups they name • Get a heads-up when your partner adds or finishes a shared task • One flame, one streak. It breaks the moment either of you burns the last minute • Own Burn+? Your partner gets it too while you're in a Duo • Syncs through your own iCloud. No Burn account, no sign-in HOW IT WORKS • Start each day with a screen time budget • Scrolling the apps you pick burns through it, minute by minute • Hit zero and those apps lock • Finish tasks to earn logs • Feed logs to Burn: every log buys 10 more minutes Rather go solo? Burn works just as well on your own. GET STUFF DONE • Give every task its own log reward, so big jobs pay more • Daily, weekday, or custom repeating tasks for your habits • Plan Today, Tomorrow, and the days ahead • Sort tasks into color-coded categories, private or shared • Shake to undo if you tap too soon A FLAME WORTH KEEPING LIT • Burn reacts to your day: happy when you're on track, worried when time runs low, out cold when it's gone • Tap, pet, and drag logs in to feed him • Dozes off at night with a sleepy face • Keep Burn lit all day to build your streak YOU'RE IN CONTROL • Choose exactly which apps and categories burn fuel • Everything else stays open • Set your own daily budget • No account, no sign-in, no ads. BURN+ (ONE-TIME PURCHASE) • 13 flame colors, each with a matching app icon • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, including a task list you can check off without opening the app • Live Activity: watch your fuel count down in the Dynamic Island • Low fuel warnings before your apps lock • Screen Time Insights: see which apps ate your time, by day, week, and month Burn uses Apple's Screen Time to track and limit only the apps you choose. What you do in them never leaves your device. In a Duo, your partner sees only your totals, the app groups you name and your shared lists, synced through your iCloud.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: PeerPause at 5.0 against Couples Screen Time's 4.7. On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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. PeerPause sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days and Couples Screen Time sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PeerPause holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 7 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
PeerPause ships an update every 8 days, Couples Screen Time every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PeerPause | Couples Screen Time |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.7 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andrei Tarce | Vincent Nguyen |
Customer experience
PeerPause
Couples Screen Time
In-app purchases
PeerPause
- PeerPause Weekly$3.997 Days
- PeerPause7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- PeerPause3 Days trial$24.991 Year
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- PeerPause Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Couples Screen Time
- Burn+$9.99









