Calmgate vs Deadbolt
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Calmgate
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Reclaim Your Attention with Calmgate Willpower alone is rarely a sufficient defense against highly optimized algorithmic distractions. Calmgate is a rigorous digital well-being utility engineered specifically to break the cycle of mindless scrolling and restore your capacity for deep, uninterrupted focus. Built from the ground up for individuals navigating ADHD, chronic procrastination, or severe screen fatigue, Calmgate shifts your relationship with personal technology from reactive consumption to intentional engagement. Mindful Pauses to Break the Autopilot Loop Before you are permitted to access your most distracting applications, Calmgate intervenes with a mandatory, guided breathing exercise lasting between 10 and 60 seconds. This engineered psychological friction intercepts the immediate dopamine-seeking impulse, providing a critical window of mindfulness. This brief pause breaks the autopilot scrolling loop and allows you to consciously evaluate whether opening the application aligns with your current goals. Strict Mode and Unbreakable Deletion Protection For moments of severely depleted willpower, personal accountability must be outsourced to unyielding software. Calmgate utilizes advanced restriction architecture to enforce a true digital lockdown. When Strict Mode is activated, active block sessions cannot be bypassed, and Deletion Protection actively prevents the uninstallation of the application until your scheduled focus period is entirely complete. Emergency unlocks are strictly guarded and only granted after submitting a written declaration of intent, forcing cognitive engagement over impulsive overrides. Targeted Scheduling and the Sleep Shield Structure your day proactively with highly dynamic scheduling parameters. Activate the Morning Block routine to prevent the habit of waking up to overwhelming social media feeds, utilize Monk Mode for intense, distraction-free study sessions, or engage the Sleep Shield to automatically restrict access to stimulating applications between 10 PM and 7 AM, promoting vastly improved sleep hygiene. Behavioral Tracking and Dynamic Focus Scores Sustainable behavioral transformation requires accurate measurement. Calmgate calculates a dynamic daily Focus Score by analyzing the ratio of your intentional, productive application usage against the time lost to digital distractions. Monitor your behavioral patterns over time, identify your most common distraction triggers, and celebrate tangible, data-driven improvements in your daily attention span. Strictly On-Device Privacy Architecture Your behavioral data is fundamentally personal and must remain entirely under your control. Calmgate operates with a strict, zero-transmission privacy architecture. All application processing, usage tracking, and local limits are executed entirely on your device utilizing secure local storage frameworks. Absolutely no analytics are transmitted off-device, ensuring complete confidentiality for your digital habits and routines. โ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Deadbolt
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Your phone works for you now. Deadbolt locks away the apps that eat your day โ Instagram, TikTok, whatever your poison is โ for exactly as long as you choose. Turn the dial, tap "Bolt it", and they're gone until the timer runs out. NO WILLPOWER REQUIRED That's the point. When you try to open a blocked app, Deadbolt turns you away โ with a dry one-liner instead of a lecture. STRICT MODE No early exit, no "just five minutes." Sessions end when they end. AN EMERGENCY EXIT THAT COSTS YOU Really need out early? Request an emergency exit โ then wait out a 10-minute cooldown while Deadbolt asks if you're sure. Impulses don't survive ten minutes. Emergencies do. DAILY BLOCKS Lock the same hours automatically, every day. Nights, work mornings, study blocks โ they run even when Deadbolt is closed. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Built on Apple's Screen Time framework. The apps you block and how you use your phone never leave your device โ we can't see them, and we never track them. No account required. Deadbolt is free to try. Deadbolt Pro ($4.99/month or $29.99/year with a 3-day free trial) unlocks strict mode, long sessions up to 8 hours, and daily blocks. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://akshitkanaujia.github.io/deadbolt/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Calmgate at daily against Deadbolt's every 4 days. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Calmgate sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and Deadbolt sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Calmgate ships an update daily, Deadbolt every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 10, 2026 and August 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Calmgate | Deadbolt |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Daily โ better | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad โ better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Polash Chandra Das | Akshit Kanaujia |
In-app purchases
Calmgate
- Calmgate Premium Weekly$0.997 Days
- Calmgate Premium Monthly$3.991 Month
- Calmgate Premium Annual3 Days trial$24.991 Year
Deadbolt
- Deadbolt Pro$4.991 Month
- Deadbolt Pro$29.991 Year









