Nerve vs Tally
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Nerve
Transform unproductive app usage into a brain-training challenge. Answer logic puzzles and brainteasers to earn back access to blocked apps, with higher difficulty offering greater rewards and risk.
- App blocking via Apple Screen Time
- 6 difficulty tiers with escalating rewards
- Pick Your Risk and Gauntlet modes
- Double-or-Nothing gambling mechanic
- 1000 handcrafted brainteaser questions
- ELO-inspired Brain Score tracking
- Daily quests and achievements
Read full descriptionHide full description
Nerve turns screen time into a game of brains and risk. Block the apps you waste time on, then answer brainteaser questions to earn your screen time back. Harder questions unlock more time — if you have the nerve to try them. HOW IT WORKS Pick the apps you want to block. When you try to open one, Nerve challenges you with a brainteaser. Answer correctly and the app unlocks. Answer wrong and you're locked out on a cooldown. It's that simple. PICK YOUR RISK Choose from 6 difficulty tiers — Gimme, Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert, and Genius. Gimme questions earn you a few minutes. Genius questions earn you hours. But if you get it wrong, harder questions have shorter cooldowns while easier ones make you wait longer. Risk and reward, every time. DOUBLE OR NOTHING Got it right? Gamble your winnings on a harder question for double the screen time. Keep going until you cash out or lose it all. THE GAUNTLET Think you can go all the way? Start at Gimme and climb through all 6 tiers. Every correct answer adds time. One wrong answer and you stop — but you keep what you've earned. Complete all 6 for the ultimate payout. 1000 BRAINTEASER QUESTIONS Logic puzzles, lateral thinking, pattern recognition, wordplay, math tricks, spatial reasoning, number sense, sequencing, deduction, and visual puzzles. These aren't trivia — they're brainteasers designed to make you think. BRAIN SCORE Track your intellectual growth with an ELO-inspired rating system. Start at 1000 and climb through 7 ranks: Novice, Student, Scholar, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, and Genius. See your strengths and weaknesses across 10 question categories. DAILY QUESTS & ACHIEVEMENTS Three new quests every day to keep you on track. Earn streak multipliers for consecutive days. Unlock 20+ achievements as you progress. The more you play, the more screen time you earn per question. FEATURES - Block any app using Apple Screen Time - 6 difficulty tiers with escalating rewards - Pick Your Risk and Gauntlet challenge modes - Double-or-Nothing gambling mechanic - 1000 handcrafted brainteaser questions - 10 question categories - ELO-inspired Brain Score tracking - Daily quests with bonus rewards - 20+ unlockable achievements - Streak tracking with time multipliers - Per-category performance analytics - Weekly progress reports - Cooldown skip packs - Works entirely on-device — no account required SUBSCRIPTION Nerve requires a subscription. Plans: - Monthly: $7.99/month - Yearly: $34.99/year (save 63%, includes 3-day free trial) Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://www.bestdaylabs.com/nerve/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://www.bestdaylabs.com/nerve/terms.html Support: https://www.bestdaylabs.com/nerve/support.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Tally
This app helps you understand where your time goes by gently prompting you to log activities throughout the day. It provides visual breakdowns of your time, allowing you to identify patterns and achieve a better balance between productivity and rest.
- Gentle daily prompts for logging
- Quick-log from notifications
- Customizable categories with icons
- Visual daily timeline
- Balance bars for productivity and rest
- Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly insights
- Offline functionality
Read full descriptionHide full description
You know the feeling. It's 9 PM and you're wondering where the day went. You were busy — but doing what, exactly? Tally answers that question. Not with timers or complicated tracking. Just a gentle nudge throughout the day: "What did you just do?" Tap a category and you're done. Three seconds, tops. Do this for a few days and something shifts. You stop guessing and start seeing. The afternoon you thought was productive? Mostly phone. The evening you felt was wasted? Actually a solid mix of cooking and reading. Tally doesn't judge. It just shows you the picture. YOUR DAY AT A GLANCE Your daily timeline is a visual map of how your hours were spent, color-coded by category. At a glance, you see the shape of your day — what you did, and what slipped by unlogged. LOG WITHOUT THINKING - A gentle nudge at the interval you choose - Quick-log directly from the notification — no need to open the app - Pick from your most-used categories with a single tap - Only active during your waking hours — you set the schedule CATEGORIES THAT FIT YOUR LIFE Tally comes with 10 default categories: Work, Rest, Exercise, Social Media, Reading, Commute, Cooking, Entertainment, Social, and Other. Add your own — unlimited, with custom icons and colors. Your categories should reflect how you actually spend time, not how you wish you did. BALANCE, NOT JUST DATA Tally tracks four dimensions of a well-spent day through balance bars: - Create: time spent on focused, productive work - Recharge: rest, exercise, cooking — recovery that actually counts - Focus: your day minus the distractions - Awareness: how much of your day you've accounted for Each bar has a personal target. When all four close, you've had a balanced day — by your own definition, not anyone else's. SEE THE PATTERNS The Insights tab breaks down your time across four views: - Daily: where today's hours went, charted by category - Weekly: seven days side by side — spot the rhythm of your week - Monthly: trends that only emerge over longer stretches - Yearly: the full picture of how your time adds up No scores designed to guilt you. Just clean data about your own life. BUILT TO STAY OUT OF YOUR WAY - iCloud sync keeps your data across all your devices - Dark mode that follows your system setting - Works offline — your data is local first, always - No account required. No sign-up. No analytics tracking you. Tally is completely free. Every feature, every insight, every category — no paywalls, no limits, no "upgrade to unlock" screens. WHAT TALLY IS NOT Tally is not a Pomodoro tool. There are no work/break cycles. Tally is not a billing tracker. There are no projects or clients. Tally is a mirror. It shows you where your time goes. What you do with that information is entirely up to you. Terms of Use: https://www.theblackholecompany.com/termsConditions.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Tally at free against Nerve's subscription. Nerve's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (15 vs 5). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Nerve sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and Tally sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Nerve against 4.8 for Tally. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 5 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Nerve ships an update every 4 days, Tally every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Nerve | Tally |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (15 ratings) — better | 4.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 18 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Best Day Labs, LLC | Youssef Ismaili |
Customer experience
Nerve
Tally
In-app purchases
Nerve
- Nerve Weekly$0.997 Days
- Nerve Monthly$2.991 Month
- Nerve Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Cooldown Skip Pack$0.99
- Nerve Pro Lifetime$14.99
Tally
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$2.99
- Large Tip$4.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Generous Tip$9.99
- Crazy Tip$49.99








