Comparison

Tonic vs Focus Drift

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Tonic

This app helps you build good habits by making them unlock your other apps. It allows you to set limits on distracting apps and rewards productive behavior. You can customize rules to integrate with your existing life and achieve your goals.

Highlights
  • Habit-based app unlocking
  • Customizable screen time limits
  • Integration with Apple Health
  • Flexible rule setting
  • Productive minute banking
  • Escalating pause feature
Features
Read full description

Your phone works in the wrong order. Tonic isn't just another app blocker: your good habits unlock your apps, and the ones that only need boundaries get limits that fit. You bought the books. You downloaded Duolingo. You signed up for the meditation app. Tonic puts those things first, and lets your phone cooperate with the life you're already building. HOW IT WORKS Set any app as a reward for your good habits. Tonic tracks what would be too hard to log yourself: your progress in apps like Kindle or Duolingo, calories burned, whether you meditated this morning, even whether you've gotten outside. Require your habits each day, or bank productive minutes to spend later. For apps that only need boundaries, Tonic adapts to the problem: screen time limits by hours or by visits, cooldowns between sessions, or moments of pause that escalate the more you reach for it. You choose what locked looks like: a gentle nudge toward the good thing, a strict wall, or a pause that grows each time you haven't earned it. WORKS WITH THE APPS YOU ALREADY LOVE Reading, workouts, meditation, steps, sunlight, and sleep come straight from Apple Health and your Apple Watch, or from time spent in the productive apps you choose. No logging, no proof photos, no check-ins. And the unlock is real: when your habit counts, the shield lifts on its own. You don't open Tonic to prove anything or unlock anything by hand. Finish your reading, and your apps are simply open when you reach for them. WHAT YOU CAN SET UP Every app is a different problem. Rules can look like: "Don't let me into social media for longer than five minutes at a time until my watch has registered 20 minutes of sunlight." "Make it harder each time I reach for Instagram if I've used it more than Duolingo today." "After 5 visits on the weekend, make me pause when I reach for Slack or Teams." "When I reach for social media in the morning, redirect my phone to my journaling app." "Hard block mobile games until I've worked out three times in the last week, then give me an hour each earned day." YOURS TO CONTROL Tonic is self-directed and built for adults. You pick the apps, you set the rules, and you can change them whenever you want. No account. No parent. No lock you can't open. Your habits stay on your device. Tonic never sees which apps you chose, and your rules never leave your phone. Pick one app that gets in your way and one habit you keep meaning to do. Start there. A tonic for your habits. Break the bad, build the good. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://tonichabits.com/privacy

About

Focus Drift

Read full description

Focus Drift isn't another to-do list, and it isn't another time tracker. It tracks the gap between the day you planned and the day you actually had — so you can finally see where your time goes and take it back. Plan your day with priorities. Log interruptions the moment they hit, with their source and real cost. Reflect at day's end. Then let AI turn it all into a report that actually tells you something. FREE TO USE • Plan your day with time estimates and a real capacity bar • Log interruptions and unplanned work — who or what caused it, and what it cost • End-of-day reflection and a daily Focus Score • Today's report, ideas, and deadlines • Works fully offline, single device, no account needed UPGRADE TO PRO • Sync across your devices • Cloud backup and restore • Weekly and custom-range reports with trends • Full report history, plus PDF and image exports • Connect your AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, any MCP client) to read your plan, add tasks, and pull your reports — hands-free WHY FOCUS DRIFT To-do apps track what you planned. Time trackers total your hours. Focus Drift tracks the difference: interruptions and their sources, unplanned work and its cost, your real daily capacity, and what carries over — then explains the patterns. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your data lives on your device. No ads, no trackers, nothing sold. Sync is optional and encrypted in transit. Tasks you mark private are never shared with AI or in reports. Plan your day. Then see what actually happened. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Tonic4 screens
Focus Drift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Tonic at 17.4 against Focus Drift's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Tonic sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Focus Drift sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tonic ships an update every 4 days, Focus Drift every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Tonic versus Focus Drift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTonicFocus Drift
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (29 ratings) — better
Positive reviews94.7% of reviews
Number of ratings29 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.4 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSets Studio LLCNico Poorta

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Tonic

Subscriptions2
  • Tonic Unlimited7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Tonic Unlimited7 Days trial$29.991 Year
2 purchases

Focus Drift

Subscriptions2
  • Focus Drift Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Focus Drift Annual7 Days trial$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Tonic free?
Tonic is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Focus Drift free?
Focus Drift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Tonic or Focus Drift have ads?
Neither Tonic nor Focus Drift shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tonic or Focus Drift?
Tonic ships an update every 4 days, and Focus Drift every 2 days. Most recently, Tonic was updated on September 20, 2026 and Focus Drift on September 14, 2026.

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