Smiloo vs Pull to Refresh
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Smiloo
This app helps you regain control of your screen time by introducing brief mindfulness exercises before you open distracting applications. Choose from various focus actions like studying or breathing to create a pause and encourage intentional phone use.
- Six focus types for unlocking apps
- Real-time facial recognition for expression mode
- On-device facial data processing for privacy
- Progress tracking and statistics
- Flexible difficulty modes (Gentle, Strict, ADHD)
- Block unlimited apps (Premium)
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Take back control of your screen time with Smiloo, the app blocker that makes focus fun and engaging. HOW SMILOO WORKS Choose the apps that distract you most. When you try to open them, Smiloo asks you to complete a short focus action before unlocking. You pick how you want to unlock: Studying, Breathing, Prayer, Intention, Pause, or Expression. That brief moment creates mindfulness and helps you decide if you really need that app. It sounds simple because it is, and it works. A DIFFERENT KIND OF APP BLOCKER Traditional blockers just lock you out completely. Smiloo takes a smarter approach. Instead of harsh restrictions that you eventually disable, it adds a meaningful step that interrupts automatic scrolling. Users report saving hours each day by becoming more intentional about their phone use. FEATURES Six focus types to unlock. Choose how you want to pause before opening blocked apps. Studying for a quick study checkpoint. Breathing for a calming breath. Prayer for a moment of reflection. Intention to set your purpose. Pause for a beat before you decide. Expression with over 15 facial expressions like smile, wink, or surprised face. Each type becomes a small moment of mindfulness. Real time detection for expression mode. When you use expressions, advanced facial recognition works accurately in various lighting and responds instantly. Your privacy matters. All expression detection happens on your device. Your facial data is never stored or transmitted. We cannot see your face, and we designed it that way. Track your progress. View detailed statistics showing your focus streaks, blocked attempts, and weekly progress reports on your digital wellbeing journey. Flexible difficulty modes. Choose between Gentle, Strict, and ADHD modes to match your needs. Each mode adjusts challenge levels and how long apps stay unlocked. PREMIUM INCLUDES Block unlimited apps instead of just one. Access all six focus types including all expressions. Get priority support when you need help. BUILT FOR Students preparing for exams. Professionals seeking productivity. Anyone reducing social media time. Parents modeling healthy habits. People with ADHD managing impulses. THE APPROACH Adding small friction before habitual behaviors helps break automatic patterns. The moment it takes to study, breathe, pray, set an intention, pause, or make an expression engages your conscious mind, giving you the chance to make a real choice about how you spend your time. Download Smiloo and start your journey toward more mindful phone use today. Privacy Policy: https://smiloo.vercel.app/privacy-policy.html Terms of Service: https://smiloo.vercel.app/terms-of-service.html
Pull to Refresh
This app locks your most time-consuming applications until you complete physical exercises. Earn back minutes for your apps by doing push-ups, sit-ups, or other movements, with the camera accurately counting your reps. Your exercise data can be saved to Health.
- App time allowance setting
- Exercise-based rep counting
- Pose detection for accurate reps
- Health app integration
- Optional public leaderboard
- Strict mode for enhanced blocking
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Pull to refresh. Actually pull. Pick the apps that eat your day, give them an allowance, and when it runs out they lock. To get back in, you do reps. The camera counts them on your phone. HOW IT WORKS 1. Choose the apps. Instagram, TikTok, X, games — whatever you actually lose hours to. 2. Set the allowance. So many minutes a day, a few minutes an hour, or nothing at all. 3. Run out, and they shut. 4. Do a set. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, pull-ups or jumping jacks. 5. Spend what you earned, on whichever app you were reaching for. THE COUNTING IS HONEST Reps are scored from your body's joint positions, not from your phone shaking in a pocket. A rep only counts on a full movement — down to depth and back — so half-reps score nothing, and the app tells you why instead of leaving you guessing. Shaking the phone pays exactly zero. Time is measured in real use of those apps, not on a clock. Put the phone down mid-scroll and the minutes you paid for wait for you — for at least half an hour, and four times as long as the unlock for bigger ones, up to 22 hours. NO VIDEO LEAVES YOUR PHONE Pose detection runs on the device. No video is recorded, stored or uploaded, and there is no account to make. iOS hands the app opaque tokens rather than names, so it can tell that you picked an app — never what you do inside it. What does leave goes through Apple: rep counts and badge progress to Game Center once you say yes, your name and numbers to the iCloud board if you join it, and a copy of your history to your own iCloud. IT COUNTS TWICE Finished sets can be saved to Health as workouts, so reps done here go to your Move ring and show up in Fitness with everything else. RACE SOMEONE Signed in to Game Center, you get its leaderboards — this week and all time — and nine badges to earn, under your Game Center name. Nothing is sent until you say yes. On iOS 26 and later, start a Rep Race with a friend from Game Center: the biggest single set done during the race wins. Not on Game Center? Join the iCloud board under any name you like; leaving deletes your row. PRO Free covers a whole working loop: one group of apps on a daily allowance, every exercise, rep counting, Health and the leaderboards. Forever. Pro makes the lock harder — it never makes it softer: - Strict mode. A rule you cannot switch off the moment you want to. Changing it costs a cooling-off period first, which is exactly when you would have caved. - Minutes per hour. Short check-ins instead of one long sitting. - As many rules as you like, with different limits for different apps. - Your whole history, with streaks. Money never buys screen time here; reps do. Pro is a subscription, renewing until cancelled, or a one-off payment for good. Manage or cancel any time in Settings. WORTH KNOWING Blocking uses Apple's Screen Time. You will be asked to grant it on first launch, and the camera when you do your first set. Deleting the app removes every lock, whatever you have bought — this is a speed bump you chose, not a cage. Terms of Use (EULA): https://pull-to-refresh.pages.dev/terms Privacy Policy: https://pull-to-refresh.pages.dev/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Pull to Refresh at 8 against Smiloo's 2. On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Smiloo sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Pull to Refresh sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Smiloo against 5.0 for Pull to Refresh. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 8 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Smiloo | Pull to Refresh |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 8 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.2 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 77 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nikko Ferwelo | Ivan Chernoknizhnikov |
Customer experience
Smiloo
Pull to Refresh
In-app purchases
Smiloo
- Smiloo Monthly3 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Smiloo Yearly3 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Smiloo Lifetime V2$5.99
- Smiloo Lifetime$99.99
Pull to Refresh
- Monthly$12.991 Month
- Yearly$44.991 Year
- Pro Forever$49.99









