Lockify vs Sanctum
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lockify
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LOCKIFY — APP BLOCKER & FOCUS TIMER You open your phone to check one thing. Ten minutes later you're on Instagram. Twenty minutes after that, TikTok. An hour gone. Nothing done. This isn't a willpower problem. It's a design problem. Every app on your phone is engineered by a team of thousands to keep you scrolling. You're fighting billion-dollar algorithms with good intentions alone. Lockify changes the game. It locks the apps you choose — for real. Not a reminder. Not a nudge. A real lock, enforced at the system level, that stays on until your session ends. No sneaking. No cheating. Just focus. FOCUS MODE — POMODORO THE WAY IT SHOULD WORK Choose your apps. Set your duration. Hit start. Lockify locks every selected app and starts your countdown. Work in focused sprints — 25, 40, or 60 minutes, whatever fits your brain. Take short or long breaks between sessions. Your apps stay locked through breaks too, because we know exactly what happens the moment you unlock them. When your session ends, see how long you focused, how many sessions you completed, and what your current streak looks like. Then decide: keep going, or call it a great day. LOCK MODE — HOURS, DAYS, YOUR CALL Sometimes you need more than a work session. Sometimes you need to lock Twitter for a week. Or Instagram for the entire weekend. Or every social app until you finish that project. Lock Mode lets you set a lock for any duration — from one hour to seven full days. The lock stays active even if you close Lockify, restart your phone, or reinstall the app. It lives at the operating system level. It means business. Want to unlock early? You can. But you'll have to confirm it deliberately, and Lockify will record it. Accountability is part of the product. POMODORO TIMER — BUILT FOR REAL SESSIONS The classic Pomodoro technique works, and Lockify builds on it. Set your session length, your short break, your long break, and how many sessions before a long break kicks in. Everything adapts to how you actually work — not how productivity gurus think you should. The timer runs in the background. Your phone stays locked, your apps stay blocked, and the clock keeps ticking. STREAKS & STATISTICS — NUMBERS THAT MOTIVATE What gets measured gets done. Lockify tracks everything: Daily focus minutes Weekly totals and trends Monthly progress charts Session completion rate Your longest streak ever Average session length Check your stats after a productive day and feel proud. Use them as fuel after a rough week. The numbers are honest — and honesty drives real change. PRESETS — ONE TAP TO LOCK IN You have a morning deep work routine. An afternoon study block. An evening wind-down. Stop rebuilding them from scratch every single time. Save any session as a preset — apps to block, duration, break settings, everything. Give it a name. Next time, one tap and you're locked in. Your best configurations, always one tap away. BUILT FOR ADHD BRAINS If you have ADHD, you already know: knowing you should focus and actually focusing are two completely different things. The standard advice — "just put your phone down" — doesn't work when your brain is wired to seek novelty every thirty seconds. Lockify creates the external structure your brain needs. When an app is locked, the dopamine loop is broken before it starts. There's nothing to open. Nothing to scroll. The decision has already been made — you made it when you started your session, at your best, before the distraction even had a chance. Thousands of people with ADHD use Lockify every day to study, work, write, code, and create. Not because they fixed their brains. Because they stopped fighting them and gave themselves the right tools. Lockify uses Apple's Screen Time API to enforce blocks at the OS level. Your data stays on your device. No account required. Download Lockify. Block the apps. Do the work. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Sanctum
This app helps you regain focus by locking your phone during designated sessions with no easy bypass. It offers scheduled blocking and daily limits to manage app usage and includes a reflective practice for early exits.
- Unbreakable session lock
- Scheduled blocking
- Daily app limits
- Reflective early exit practice
- Immersive themes
- Zero configuration
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Two months. That's what four hours of screen time a day costs you every year. Sanctum sets you free. Press start and your phone locks. No pause. No snooze. No "five more minutes." There is no button that lets you back in. Most app blockers leave an easy back door. A skip. An "extra time" unlock. So the scroll always wins, because it always can, in one tap. Sanctum has no quick exit. Leaving early takes a short mindful practice first. Weakness is never one tap away. WHY THE COMMITMENT MATTERS Willpower fails when you need it most. Cutting screen time is a decision your phone makes you re-take every minute. Sanctum moves the choice to before you start, then holds the line. HOW IT WORKS Choose a duration. Press start. Sanctum will block apps system-wide until the timer runs out. Leaving early means completing a short reflection first, and by then the urge has usually passed. No categories, no decisions once you begin. Need one app for a few minutes? Unblock it: it opens, the timer runs, and the app blocker comes back on its own. It is the simplest way to block apps you will ever use. BLOCK APPS ON AUTOPILOT Beyond one-off locks, Sanctum can block apps and cut screen time on its own: - Schedules. Block apps automatically on the days and hours you choose. Work mornings, study blocks, sleep. - Daily App Limits. Set app limits that cap screen time on the apps you pick. Shared budget or one each. When the time runs out, they close until midnight. SOCIAL MEDIA SCREEN TIME, HANDLED Social media is engineered to beat your willpower. Block social media for an hour, put social media behind daily app limits, and your screen time falls without a fight. BUILD BETTER PHONE HABITS Every lock you finish and every urge you resist scores five traits: Stillness, Discipline, Restraint, Grounding and Breath. Watch them rise as your screen time falls. WHEN AN URGE HITS Reach for a blocked app and Sanctum meets you with a moment, not a wall: a short practice. Sit in stillness, breathe it out, walk it off, or write the urge down and watch it burn. By the time it is done the pull is usually gone, and the stress with it. YOU'RE NEVER TRAPPED Calls, the camera and the essential system apps iOS protects keep working, so you can reach someone anytime. Sanctum adds friction to a habit, never a lock on your life. BEAUTIFUL LIVING THEMES Sanctum is built to be experienced. New immersive scenes arrive regularly, each one transporting you into a living natural world, with a large ambient clock that helps calm the mind. Lock your screen time and your phone becomes a beautiful desk clock with calming sleep sounds, not a thing to escape. WHO IT'S FOR - Anyone whose focus is stolen by social media and doomscrolling - ADHD and executive-function struggles, where "just put it down" never works - Anyone whose screen time keeps climbing no matter which app blocker they try PRIVATE BY DESIGN Offline-first and ad-free. No account, no cloud. Sanctum is built on Apple's own Screen Time framework, and your screen time data never leaves your device. FEATURES - Uncompromising system-wide screen time blocker. No pause, no snooze, no one-tap exit - Block apps right now, on a schedule, or behind daily app limits - Hard Mode: the strictest app blocker setting, no unblocks until the timer ends - Timed unblocks: one app opens for a few minutes, then the block returns by itself - Block social media on the days and hours you set - Cap screen time per app with shared or individual app limits - Streaks, medals and five traits that track your progress - Live Activity: your countdown and your unblock, right on your Lock Screen Sanctum is the screen time app for people done negotiating. Block apps, set daily app limits, tame social media, and watch your screen time finally drop. Not just an app blocker. Your sanctuary from your screen. Learn more at https://sanctum.clovinyx.io Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Sanctum at 16.4 against Lockify's 18.5. 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
Both are free to download. Lockify sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days and Sanctum sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lockify ships an update every 10 days, Sanctum every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lockify | Sanctum |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.5 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 134 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Safak Selim Sofioglu | Clovinyx |
In-app purchases
Lockify
- Weekly7 Days trial$3.997 Days
- Lockify Pro Monthly7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Lockify Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Sanctum
- Sanctum Pro Weekly$4.997 Days
- Sanctum Pro Monthly3 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Sanctum Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
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- Sanctum Pro Yearly3 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Sanctum Pro Yearly$59.991 Year
- Sanctum Pro Lifetime$179.99








