DrillLock vs MathGate
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DrillLock
This app requires users to solve a math problem before accessing distracting applications, helping to create focused study sessions. It offers scheduled blocking, usage limits, and temporary unlocks for essential apps. A pro subscription unlocks advanced features for serious learners.
- Math challenge to unlock apps
- Scheduled app blocking
- Usage limit blocking
- Temporary unlocks
- Essential app exceptions
- Multiple rule support (Pro)
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Your study hours and your sleep are too important to leave to willpower. DrillLock locks the apps that eat them, and nothing opens again until you solve a math problem. You choose the apps that pull you away, and the hours they stay shut. Reach for one anyway and the math is waiting. Your hand stops, and the moment passes. IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE YOU • You sit down to study, open one app for a second, and the next hour is gone • You get into bed on time and you're still awake at 1 a.m., scrolling • You have a deadline this week and keep drifting away from the work • You're studying for an exam, a license, or a degree while working full time • You've tried Screen Time and found it far too easy to tap right past WHAT YOU CAN DO Everyone starts with the same rule set: one lock — Instant or Schedule — the math challenge, and three ten-minute unlocks a day. • Start focusing right now (Instant) Choose 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour, and the noisy apps are out of reach for exactly that long. Made for the moment you finally sit down. • Decide once when the phone goes down (Schedule) Set the days and the time windows a single time. Your study block and your bedtime then hold on their own, so you're not renegotiating with yourself at midnight. • One question stands between you and the app (Math Challenge) Nothing opens until you solve a math problem and get it right. It's a small enough step to clear when you truly need the app, and just enough friction that most of the time you set the phone down instead. • Ten minutes, three times a day (Temporary Unlock) Get the challenge right and the app opens for ten minutes, then re-locks itself — no timer to watch, and one tap ends it early when you're done sooner. You get three a day. Once you've used the third one, the challenge stops appearing until tomorrow, and the lock simply holds. GOOD TO KNOW • DrillLock needs Screen Time permission to lock and release apps • Phone and other essential apps are never locked, so you can always reach help in an emergency • Locking runs on Apple's Screen Time system, so iOS decides part of how a blocked app looks and behaves • Every locking decision is made on your iPhone. DrillLock does not send your browsing history or the names of the apps you restrict. DrillLock collects anonymous usage data to improve the app. PRO: WRITE THE RULES YOURSELF • Run several locks at once, so your study block, your work hours, and your bedtime each get their own • Allowlist mode: shut everything except the handful of apps you name • Lock by usage instead of by the clock (Time Limit): give an app a daily allowance, and the moment you pass it, it closes for the rest of the day • Design the temporary unlock yourself: one to ten a day, at five, ten, twenty, or thirty minutes each • Hard challenges, with your own choice of digit count and number of questions Loosening a rule — more unlocks, longer ones, easier math — takes effect at midnight, never in the moment you want it. Tightening one takes effect right away. PRO is about setting your own terms in advance, not about getting out of them later. PRO is an auto-renewing subscription, monthly or yearly. You can cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Deciding once is easier than deciding fifty times a day. Set the rule tonight, and take back the hours that were quietly going missing. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
MathGate
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Pick the apps that eat your day. MathGate puts a math problem in front of them. Tap one and you get a question instead of a feed. Solve it and the app opens for as long as you chose. Close it and walk away, and MathGate counts that as a win. FREE Three problems per session, across all five subjects. MATHGATE PRO, A ONE TIME $2.99 PURCHASE Set anywhere from 1 to 10 problems per session. Choose how long an unlock lasts: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours. Pick your subjects: fractions, long division, algebra, percentages, geometry. HOW THE PROBLEMS WORK You get three tries. Miss the first and you get a hint. Miss again and MathGate shows you the answer. One skip per session, so waiting out the timer is not a free pass. WHAT IT TRACKS Day streak and best streak, with one grace day a month so a single slip does not wipe the board. Problems solved today and your accuracy. A running count of the times you hit the gate and chose to walk away instead. Optional evening reminder to keep the streak alive, and a Sunday recap of the distracted opens you dodged that week. Everything stays on your iPhone. No account, no sign up, no server, no analytics. MathGate cannot see which apps you picked.
Screenshots
Verdict
DrillLock and MathGate are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. DrillLock sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and MathGate sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | DrillLock | MathGate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | FRONTLINE LLC | Loud Unicorn |
In-app purchases
DrillLock
- Challenge Pack Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Challenge Pack Yearly14 Days trial$19.991 Year
MathGate
- MathGate Pro$2.99






