MathBlocker vs ChessScroll
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MathBlocker
This app places a math problem between you and apps you overuse. Solve a math question to regain access to blocked applications, with difficulty levels and problem sets from standardized tests.
- Block any app or category
- Adjustable math problem difficulty
- Choose from various standardized test problem sets
- Earn back app time by solving problems
- Set daily, weekly, and per-app limits
- Schedule blocks by time of day
- Usage dashboard
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MathBlocker puts a math problem between you and the apps you open too much. You pick the apps you want blocked. When you try to open one after your time's up, a math question shows up instead. You answer it, you get a few minutes back. You don't, the app stays closed. The questions are real. They come from the same problem sets people use to study for the SAT, ACT, AMC, and AIME. You can set the difficulty. Easy questions if you just want a speed bump. Harder ones if you actually want to stop scrolling. Features - Block any app or category — social, video, games, news, browsers - Pick your difficulty, from warmup arithmetic to competition-level - Choose your problem set: SAT, ACT, AMC, AIME, Putnam, or general practice - Earn time back per problem solved (you set how much) - Daily, weekly, and per-app limits - Schedule blocks by time of day (bedtime, study hours, work hours) - Dashboard with usage broken down by app, hour, and day - Custom block screen so it actually feels like a stop sign - Works with Family Sharing if you're setting it up for someone younger A few ways people use it: blocking social apps during work hours. Locking everything after 10pm with hard math. Pairing it with actual SAT prep so the time you would've spent scrolling becomes practice instead. Everything stays on your phone. No account, no login, no data sent anywhere. iOS 16 and up. iPhone only.
ChessScroll
This app locks distracting applications behind chess puzzles. Solve a puzzle to earn minutes of screen time for your chosen apps. It aims to reduce screen time by integrating practice into existing habits.
- App locking with chess puzzles
- Customizable scroll time per puzzle
- Offline puzzle functionality
- Personalized puzzle difficulty
- Privacy-focused, no account needed
- Reduces screen time through habit integration
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Your feed costs a move now. ChessScroll seals the apps that eat your evenings — Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whichever you choose — behind a chess puzzle at your level. Solve it and you earn minutes of scroll. Fail it and the position waits. That's the whole app. That's the whole deal. THE DEAL 1 puzzle = minutes of scroll. You set the exchange rate. HOW IT WORKS 1. Seal your apps. Pick the ones that eat you. 2. Reach for one, and a puzzle appears instead. 3. Solve it. The app opens and your clock starts running. 4. Minutes run out mid-scroll? In chess we call that flagging. Solve another. WHY IT WORKS You already reach for your phone dozens of times a day. ChessScroll doesn't fight that urge — it reroutes it. Every reach becomes one tactic at your level: twenty to forty seconds, and a real fight. It's the training every coach prescribes and nobody actually does, attached to a habit you already have. TWO NUMBERS, FACING EACH OTHER — Your puzzle rating, climbing. — Your daily screen time, falling. Everything else is supporting cast. REAL PUZZLES, AT YOUR LEVEL Nearly fourteen thousand positions from real games, each one rated by the players who tried it before you, and served at your rating rather than under it, so the rating you build is earned. Works fully offline. From 400 to 2700, the puzzle fits. THE CLIMB Fourteen chapters, one for each master: Morphy, Anderssen, Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Nezhmetdinov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov. Every six puzzles you solve lays a stone on their road, and the one you solved at midnight to get into Instagram counts the same as the one you chose to play. The road stops at twenty-eight of their own games, and every one you solve goes into your album as a card. You never have to open the tab for it to move. NO NEW ADDICTION Training sessions end by design. No infinite puzzle feed, no guilt notifications, no nagging. Paul Morphy said in 1859 that chess should never engross the mind. We're inclined to agree. PRIVACY Your app choices and screen-time data never leave your device — Apple's Screen Time framework enforces that by design. No account needed. MEMBERSHIP ChessScroll requires a membership: yearly with a 7-day free trial, or monthly. Subscriptions auto-renew until cancelled in Settings. Terms: https://chessscroll.com/terms — Privacy: https://chessscroll.com/privacy Earn your scroll.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: MathBlocker at 5.0 against ChessScroll's 3.0. MathBlocker also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2). ChessScroll's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support 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. ChessScroll sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. MathBlocker asks for nothing beyond the download.
MathBlocker holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.
| Parameter | MathBlocker | ChessScroll |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 3.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 100 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andy Phu | MICHAŁ ROSTKOWSKI |
Customer experience
MathBlocker
ChessScroll
In-app purchases
MathBlocker
No in-app purchases
ChessScroll
- Monthly Membership$7.991 Month
- Annual Membership3 Days trial$39.991 Year








