DrillLock vs Focus
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 • Typing and PIN challenges: type out a sentence exactly as shown, or enter a 4- to 8-digit PIN you set. Give the PIN to a family member, and unlocking is out of your hands While a lock is on, including during a temporary unlock, your rules and PRO settings are locked too. You can't add unlocks, make them longer, or switch to an easier challenge right when you want out. When nothing is locked, any change 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/
Focus
This app helps you stay focused by blocking distracting applications for set periods. It uses your own words as reminders and offers features like scheduled focus windows and detailed screen time insights. An emergency pass allows brief access to a blocked app once per session.
- Strict app blocking sessions
- Scheduled focus windows
- Live Lock Screen countdown
- One emergency pass per session
- Screen time insights
- Standalone timer and alarms
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Focus is the app blocker that keeps your word for you. Pick a task, set a duration, and hold to commit. From that second, your chosen apps are locked behind a shield — and there is no snooze, no "remind me in 15 minutes", no way around it. The only way out is through. WHY FOCUS WORKS WHEN WILLPOWER DOESN'T Every distracting app is built by teams whose whole job is to keep you scrolling. Focus levels the field: once you commit, the decision is out of your hands. Open a blocked app and the shield answers with your own words — "I committed to finish my thesis until 21:30." Not a system warning. Your promise, held up to you. STRICT SESSIONS • Choose a task, a duration, and hold to start — a deliberate gesture, not an accidental tap • Blocked apps stay blocked until time is up; the session cannot be cancelled • A live countdown on your Lock Screen keeps the goal in sight • One Emergency Pass per session: unlock a single app for five minutes, then the wall returns FOCUS ON A SCHEDULE • Recurring focus windows for work, study, or sleep — your mornings block themselves • Real alarms that ring from a locked phone, so a schedule is a commitment, not a suggestion • Each rule runs on Apple's Screen Time system, enforced by iOS itself SEE THE PAYOFF • Watch your screen time fall week by week, right next to your focus hours • Per-app insight: what an app cost you before Focus, and what it costs now • Streaks and lifetime stats that never judge, only count TIMER & ALARMS • A clean standalone timer with proper, full-volume alarms • Pick a classic ring or search a song you love as your alarm sound PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account required. Blocking runs on Apple's Screen Time framework, and your activity never leaves your iPhone. We couldn't read it even if we wanted to, because iOS doesn't allow anyone to. The only thing we keep is anonymous usage statistics, never your content. WHO IT'S FOR Students who lose evenings to their phone. Writers, developers, and makers guarding deep work. Anyone who has deleted an app on Sunday and reinstalled it on Monday. Your time is the only thing you truly spend. Focus makes sure it goes where you promised. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ · Privacy Policy: https://itsfocusapp.github.io/focus-legal/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Focus at every 2 days against DrillLock's weekly. On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. DrillLock sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month and Focus sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per 7 days. 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 DrillLock against 5.0 for Focus. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.
DrillLock ships an update weekly, Focus every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | DrillLock | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | FRONTLINE LLC | Mustafa Anıl Kaya |
Customer experience
DrillLock
Focus
In-app purchases
DrillLock
- DrillLock PRO Monthly3 Days trial$6.991 Month
- DrillLock PRO Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
Focus
- Focus Pro Weekly$5.997 Days
- Focus Pro Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year









