Nerve vs Dotly
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
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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/
Dotly
Visualize your year with a beautiful dot grid, ring, or arc that fills up daily. Track important events with smart countdowns and build lasting habits with powerful daily tracking and insights. Personalize your experience with various styles, colors, and widgets.
- Visual year progress (grid, ring, arc)
- Event countdowns with reminders
- Daily habit tracking
- Progress insights and streaks
- Home screen widgets
- Customization options
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Dotly turns every day into visual progress. See your entire year as a beautiful dot grid, ring, or arc — and watch it fill up as each day passes. Track the events that matter most with smart countdowns, and build lasting habits with powerful daily tracking. YOUR YEAR, VISUALIZED Choose from 7 stunning progress styles: Classic Grid, Ring, Matrix, Month Blocks, Sleek Line, Segmented Arc, and Precision Text. Each one gives you a unique way to see how far you've come — and how much is ahead. TRACK WHAT MATTERS Create countdowns for birthdays, vacations, deadlines, or any date you're looking forward to. Pin your favorites, set reminders, and import events directly from your iPhone calendar. BUILD BETTER HABITS Add daily habits like drinking water, meditating, reading, or exercising. Set goals, track completions, and see your consistency grow over time. View your habits in four beautiful ways: list, cards, monthly calendar, or a GitHub-style heatmap. POWERFUL INSIGHTS Discover your streaks, completion rates, best day of the week, monthly trends, and more. Understand your patterns and stay motivated with data that actually helps. WIDGETS THAT INSPIRE Add beautiful widgets to your Home Screen — progress rings, habit heatmaps, event countdowns, and daily trackers. See your progress without even opening the app. MAKE IT YOURS Personalize with 13 accent colors, 5 icon shapes, 3 sizes, custom habit icons with emojis, and full light and dark mode support. Your app, your style. DOTLY PREMIUM Unlock everything with a single lifetime purchase — unlimited events, unlimited habits, all progress styles, signature colors, every widget, habit insights, calendar sync, smart reminders, and more. Pay once, keep forever. Download Dotly and start making every day count.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Dotly at free with in-app purchases against Nerve's subscription. Nerve's advantage is ratings volume (15 vs 3). On price, rating, update cadence 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 Dotly 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 5.0 for Dotly. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nerve has 15 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Nerve ships an update every 4 days, Dotly weekly. The most recent releases landed on August 16, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Nerve | Dotly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (15 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Best Day Labs, LLC | VANIA SALES DE MESQUITA |
Customer experience
Nerve
Dotly
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
Dotly
- Small Coffee$0.99
- Dotly Premium$1.99
- Medium Coffee$2.99
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- Large Coffee$4.99
- Coffee Party$9.99





