Circuit vs Aspen Local AI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Circuit
This app helps you break free from phone addiction by blocking distracting apps and websites. It offers customizable timers, schedules, and strict modes to enforce focus, with motivational rewards for achieving goals.
- App blocking with customizable timers
- Scheduled focus sessions
- Strict mode for uninterrupted focus
- Daily app usage limits
- Always allowed apps
- Focus soundscapes
- Achievement coins and progress tracking
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Your phone is built to keep you scrolling. Circuit is built to stop it. Trip the breaker and the apps you can't put down stop opening. No negotiation, no notification to swipe away — the app just doesn't come up until your time is done. THE BREAKER Hold the dial and your apps close: 15 minutes, 30, an hour and a half, or a whole quiet day. Start it in the app, from Control Center, or by asking Siri. A Live Activity keeps the timer on your Lock Screen the whole time. SCHEDULES Name a set of apps and give it hours. Study on weekday evenings. Sleep from 22:30 to 07:00. Work nine to five. Schedules run themselves, so being disciplined stops being something you have to remember. FRICTION, NOT WILLPOWER Reach for a blocked app and there's a breath to take, a countdown to sit through, or a sentence to type before anything opens. Usually the urge is gone before the timer is. STRICT MODE For the sessions that matter: no early exit, no five more minutes. You set it, and that's that. DAILY LIMITS Give one app a budget — thirty minutes of Instagram a day. When it's spent, it's spent until tomorrow. ALWAYS ALLOWED Some apps are never blocked, whatever else is running. Maps, your bank, whoever you'd need at 2am. SOUND TO WORK TO Rain, a fire, waves, brown noise, or a slow wordless pulse. One at a time, playing under whatever else you're listening to, and it keeps going with the screen off. 28 LEGENDARY COINS Every milestone earns a famous coin of ancient Greece or Rome: the owl of Athens for a schedule kept to the end, Caesar's elephant, the Colosseum of Titus, and for a thousand days in a row the gold EID MAR aureus of Brutus, one of three known. Tap the coin on Home to see all 28 and what each one takes. Every coin you earn opens its story, a few things most people don't know about it, what one sold for at auction, and the museums where you can see one. Real coins, every fact checked against museum and auction records. HONEST NUMBERS Time blocked each day, your streak, this week against last, and a report every Sunday. Your real Screen Time usage sits alongside it, drawn by Apple itself. PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION No account. Circuit blocks through Apple's Screen Time, which means it cannot see which apps you picked — only draw their icons. Your choices, schedules and stats stay on your phone. What leaves it is an anonymous count of which screens get opened — one switch in Settings stops it — and a crash report if Circuit falls over. Circuit Pro is $59.99/year with a 7-day free trial, $12.99/month, or $4.99/week. One subscription covers your Family Sharing group. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless turned off at least 24 hours before the current period ends; manage or cancel it in App Store settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://circuitapp.app/legal#privacy
Aspen Local AI
This AI assistant runs entirely on your computer, offering complete privacy for your conversations. Connect it to your desktop instance to chat with your private AI from anywhere, ensuring your data never leaves your machine.
- Runs AI models locally on your hardware
- Complete privacy, data stays on your machine
- Secure connection to desktop Aspen instance
- Chat with AI from anywhere via companion app
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Aspen is a private AI assistant that runs entirely on your own computer. This app is a companion to Aspen for Mac (free at runonaspen.com). The AI models run locally on your machine — your conversations never touch our servers. Connect this app to your Mac and chat with your private AI from anywhere. Features: - Chat with AI models running on your own hardware - Complete privacy — nothing leaves your machine - Connects securely to your desktop Aspen instance Requires the free Aspen desktop app installed on your Mac.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Aspen Local AI at 100% against Circuit's 0%. Aspen Local AI also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3). Circuit's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Circuit sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Aspen Local AI asks for nothing beyond the download.
Circuit ships an update daily, Aspen Local AI every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Circuit | Aspen Local AI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Vasily Lukin | Mayank Mehta |
Customer experience
Circuit
Aspen Local AI
In-app purchases
Circuit
- Circuit Pro Weekly$4.997 Days
- Circuit Pro Monthly$12.991 Month
- Circuit Pro Yearly7 Days trial$59.991 Year
Aspen Local AI
No in-app purchases









