Comparison

EarnLock vs ScrollKarma

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

Head to head
About

EarnLock

Features
Read full description

It's 11pm again, and you couldn't name a single thing you saw. You didn't decide to spend two hours there. Nobody does. Those apps are built by people whose whole job is to decide it for you, and they are very good at it. So EarnLock takes the decision out of the moment and hands it to the one thing that can't be talked around: your body. MOVE FIRST. SCROLL LATER. Pick the apps that keep eating your evenings. Pick what a day of effort looks like โ€” steps, active minutes or calories. Until you get there, those apps don't open. When you get there, they open by themselves, for the rest of the day. No timer to wait out. No "five more minutes." No argument at all, because there's nobody to argue with. Apple Health keeps score, and steps are hard to fake from the sofa. WHY THE LAST ONE STOPPED WORKING Every blocker you've tried left the key in your pocket: a password you chose, a delay you can sit through, a screen you dismiss twice and never see again. It holds for a week โ€” until the one night it doesn't. After that it never holds again. EarnLock puts the key where your 11pm self can't reach it: a few thousand steps away. You can still get in. You just have to briefly become the kind of person who goes outside. That's the whole idea. Not discipline. A price. WHAT ACTUALLY CHANGES For the first week, EarnLock blocks nothing. It watches, so you see the real number before you judge yourself by it. Most people are surprised, and not pleasantly. Then the locking starts, and something quiet happens. You head out at 8pm meaning to check one thing, and come back having forgotten. Days stack into a streak. The grid on your Home Screen fills in, square by square, with proof that isn't a feeling. Half-days count too: reach 50% and an hour opens immediately. Effort always buys something. HONEST BY DESIGN Nothing leaves your iPhone. Not a step, not an app you locked, not a streak. No account, no login, no server, no analytics โ€” there is nowhere for it to go. Health data is read-only and stays where it was. The free tier is a real one: one blocked app, real step tracking, your streak and every widget, forever. No trial that bills you on day three. No countdown invented to hurry you. If you upgrade, it's on a day you chose. WHAT'S INSIDE ยท Lock any app or category with Apple's own Screen Time controls ยท Earn with steps, active minutes or active calories ยท Halfway to your goal opens an hour, right now ยท Separate goals for workdays, evenings and weekends ยท Rest days you bank by going further โ€” a streak that survives real life ยท A contribution grid of every day you earned, on your Home Screen ยท Apple Watch app, Live Activity and a Dynamic Island countdown ยท One tap to answer "what am I actually looking for right now?" ยท Siri, Shortcuts and a Control Center button for today's progress ยท 39 languages, full VoiceOver, text that scales to the largest sizes IF YOU'VE UNINSTALLED ONE OF THESE BEFORE Then you know how it goes: two good weeks, one bad night, gone. That isn't a character flaw. It's what happens when the only thing standing between you and the app is you. Put something real in the way โ€” something you can always get past, on foot. Move first. Scroll later. โ€”โ€” Free forever: one blocked app, steps, streaks and every widget. Premium adds unlimited apps, every activity unit, Apple Watch, Live Activity, Smart Schedules, insights and rest-day shields โ€” monthly, yearly, or one payment for life. Family Sharing included on every paid plan, for up to 6 people. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel anytime in Settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

ScrollKarma

Features
Read full description

ScrollKarma blocks the apps that eat your day until you do one real thing first. Twenty push-ups buy you twenty minutes of TikTok. A walk to the corner buys ten minutes of Instagram. The phone gates itself behind the better version of you. Apple Screen Time shows you "You've used Instagram for 2 hours" and hands you an Ignore button. ScrollKarma does the opposite. The block holds until you finish the action, counted live on your device. ScrollKarma is a subscription app. A ScrollKarma Pro subscription is required to set up app blocking and to use every earn-your-scroll action below. It starts with a 7-day free trial. WAYS TO EARN YOUR SCROLL (included with ScrollKarma Pro) - Push-ups and squats, counted by the camera on your device - A short walk to a spot we drop on the map - More actions on the way: learning sets, a breathing session, a photo of the chore you said you'd do WHY IT WORKS Soft reminders stop working the day you start ignoring them. ScrollKarma adds friction you actually feel, then gets out of your way the moment you have earned your time. WHO IT IS FOR People who already tried Screen Time, Forest, or another habit tracker and want something with teeth. ScrollKarma is a self-control tool you set up for yourself. It is not a parental-control app. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Camera frames are processed on your device and never uploaded. We don't sell your data and there are no ad trackers in the app. ScrollKarma Pro is an auto-renewable subscription: $49.99/year after a 7-day free trial, or $9.99/month. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. It renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period, and you can manage or cancel it in your App Store settings. Privacy Policy: https://scrollkarma.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://scrollkarma.com/terms

Screenshots

EarnLock4 screens
ScrollKarma4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: EarnLock at none against ScrollKarma's shown. ScrollKarma's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. EarnLock sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and ScrollKarma 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

EarnLock ships an update every 2 weeks, ScrollKarma every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
EarnLock versus ScrollKarma: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEarnLockScrollKarma
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 days โ€” better
AdsNo โ€” betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.016.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size12 MB111 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAntti AittamaaOleksandr Karpinskyi

In-app purchases

3 purchases

EarnLock

Subscriptions2
  • EarnLock Premium Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • EarnLock Premium Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • EarnLock Premium Lifetime$19.99
2 purchases

ScrollKarma

Subscriptions2
  • ScrollKarma Pro Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • ScrollKarma Pro Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is EarnLock free?
EarnLock is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ScrollKarma free?
ScrollKarma is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do EarnLock or ScrollKarma have ads?
ScrollKarma shows ads; EarnLock does not.
Which is updated more often, EarnLock or ScrollKarma?
EarnLock ships an update every 2 weeks, and ScrollKarma every 2 days. Most recently, EarnLock was updated on October 25, 2026 and ScrollKarma on October 24, 2026.

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