Comparison

Lighthouse vs Shift

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

Head to head
About

Lighthouse

Features
Read full description

Stop doomscrolling one small challenge at a time. Lighthouse turns a dopamine detox into a daily game you can actually finish. Every day you get at least three short, screen-free challenges: an app-free hour, a no-social-media morning, a phone-free meal, a mindful walk, grayscale mode, a digital sunset, five minutes of breathing. Complete them and the fog around your lighthouse clears. Keep going and its beam grows brighter. HOW IT WORKS • Choose a daily commitment between 10 and 60 minutes. • Get today's challenges, picked from a set of 25. • Finish all of today's challenges to keep your streak alive. • Log your mood, energy and screen time in a few seconds. Lighthouse is a habit coach, not a gatekeeper. It never takes control of your phone or your other apps, and screen time is a number you enter yourself. The change comes from you; Lighthouse makes it easier to show up every day. FREE: INCLUDED FOR EVERYONE • Daily detox challenges (at least 3 a day, from 25) • The living lighthouse on your Today screen • A 25-minute focus session, with Siri and Shortcuts support ("Start a focus session in Lighthouse") • Daily log: mood, energy and self-reported screen time • XP, 10 levels (from Foggy to Crystal Clear) and 30 medal badges • Daily quests and a 7-day daily reward track • Streaks, streak freezes that protect a missed day, and a streak calendar • Progress charts for the last 7 days • Shareable progress cards • Home Screen widgets (streak and daily tip) LIGHTHOUSE PRO: OPTIONAL PAID UPGRADE • Focus presets: Deep Work 90, Pomodoro 25, Reading 30, Meditation 15, Exercise 45 • Custom focus sessions • Weekly quests • 30-day and 90-day progress charts • PDF report export WHO IT'S FOR • You pick up your phone without deciding to, and want that to stop • You tried a digital detox and it lasted two days • Students and remote workers who want a simple focus timer with a reason to come back tomorrow • Anyone who does better with small daily wins and streaks than with strict rules PRIVACY No account. No ads. Your challenges, logs and focus sessions are stored on your iPhone. Purchases are handled by Apple; our subscription provider, RevenueCat, processes purchase history and an anonymous ID so Pro stays active. Lighthouse is a self-improvement tool and does not provide medical advice. PRICING Lighthouse is free to download and use. Lighthouse Pro is optional: • Monthly: $6.99, with a 3-day free trial • Yearly: $39.99, with a 3-day free trial • Lifetime: $99.99, one-time purchase Prices are in USD for the United States and may vary by country. The free trial is available to eligible new subscribers. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase, or when the free trial ends. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://gwlabs.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://gwlabs.app/privacy

About

Shift

Features
Read full description

Shift helps you plan light, sleep, and caffeine timing around trips across time zones. PLAN YOUR TRIP Choose your airports and enter your flight times — or find the flight in your calendar. Add connections if you change planes. Shift picks the faster way to shift your body clock: for big eastward jumps it can be quicker to go the other way round. For short stays, choose "Stay on home time" so there is nothing to undo when you fly back. Shift builds a schedule before, during, and after your flight around your own usual sleep times. FOLLOW YOUR PLAN • Your next step comes first, with a live countdown. • Light windows fall only in your waking hours, and say whether to get outside or use bright indoor light. • On the plane, sleep when it is night at your destination. • A 24-hour timeline shows sleep, light to seek, and light to avoid. • Mark cues complete, skip a cue, or set a reminder. • Live Activity and Dynamic Island show an open light window. • Optional wake alarms ring at your planned wake time (iOS 26). • Ask Siri "What's next in Shift". • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, and a countdown with a Done button on Apple Watch. • Landed early or late? Shift notices the time-zone change and offers to update your arrival. BETWEEN TRIPS Shift+ includes an everyday light, sleep, and caffeine schedule, cue-completion summaries, an adaptation profile, and PDF export. APPLE HEALTH With your permission, Shift reads wrist temperature, sleep, heart-rate variability, and resting heart rate from Apple Health. Sleep at home sets your usual sleep window. After you arrive, your nights can show whether your body clock is ahead of or behind the plan, and later light windows move to match. Without data, Shift uses your usual sleep times and typical adaptation rates, and labels the body clock as an estimate. Body-clock positions and timelines are estimates, not direct measurements of recovery. PRIVACY No account is required. Health, calendar, and trip data stay on your iPhone. Schedule and completion data are shared on-device with Shift widgets; health readings are not included in widgets. Cue snapshots can be shared with your paired Apple Watch. Shift reads from Apple Health and does not write health data back. ACCESS • Free access includes a trip-plan preview. • Trip Pass unlocks the full trip protocol and cue logging for 14 days on this iPhone, with individual cue reminders. It is a one-time consumable purchase; completed purchases cannot be restored after reinstalling or on another device. • Shift+ offers monthly or yearly subscriptions with unlimited trips, Everyday mode, reports, PDF export, and opt-in automatic cue reminders. Shift keeps up to 48 upcoming reminders scheduled and refreshes them when you use the app. Family Sharing is supported where available. • Any eligible free trial, the price, and the billing period are shown with the plan. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled in your App Store subscription settings. Shift is a wellness planning tool. It does not diagnose or treat medical conditions, and optional melatonin timing is not medical advice. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://w3h9uf.github.io/shift/privacy.html

Screenshots

Lighthouse4 screens
Shift4 screens

Verdict

The call

Lighthouse and Shift are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Lighthouse sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month and Shift sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lighthouse ships an update fortnightly, Shift monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Lighthouse versus Shift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLighthouseShift
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size100 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGW Capital Partners LLCHashing LLC

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Lighthouse

Subscriptions2
  • Lighthouse Monthly3 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Lighthouse Yearly3 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lighthouse Lifetime$99.99
3 purchases

Shift

Subscriptions2
  • Shift+ Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Shift+ Yearly$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Trip Pass$6.99

Questions

Is Lighthouse free?
Lighthouse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shift free?
Shift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lighthouse or Shift have ads?
Neither Lighthouse nor Shift shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lighthouse or Shift?
Lighthouse ships an update fortnightly, and Shift monthly. Most recently, Lighthouse was updated on October 24, 2026 and Shift on October 25, 2026.

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