DOTS vs deskip
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DOTS
Visualize your finite time and protect it from distractions. Set daily app limits, schedule downtime, and track reclaimed hours to live more intentionally. Features include a life grid, focus mode, and weekly reflections.
- Life grid visualization
- Focus mode to block distractions
- Daily app time limits
- Scheduled downtime
- Weekly reflections
- Time reclaimed tracking
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You have one life. About 4,000 weeks, if you're lucky. DOTS shows you every single one - as a grid of dots - so the time you have stops being an abstraction and starts feeling real. Then it helps you protect it. THE LIFE GRID Each dot is one week of your life. See the weeks you've already lived, the one you're in right now, and the ones still ahead. It's a quiet, powerful reminder that your time is finite - and worth defending. FOCUS MODE Start a focus session and DOTS shields the apps that pull you away. No willpower battles, no endless scrolling. Just the space to do what actually matters to you. DAILY LIMITS Set a daily time budget for the apps that eat your hours. When you hit your limit, DOTS steps in with a calm reminder of the commitment you made to yourself not a guilt trip, just a nudge back to your intentions. MINDFUL BLOCKING Choose the apps and categories you want to manage. DOTS uses Apple's Screen Time technology to block them on your terms, for the time you decide. Everything is opt-in and fully in your control. WEEKLY REFLECTIONS Look back on how you spent your time, notice your patterns, and set intentions for the week ahead. Small, honest check-ins that compound into real change. BUILT FOR YOU, AND ONLY YOU DOTS manages your own device, for your own goals. It is not a parental-control or tracking app. Your usage data stays private - stored on your device and synced only to your personal iCloud. We don't collect it, sell it, or share it. WIND-DOWN The "just ten minutes" that becomes two hours, fixed. Set a bedtime window and a short allowance. You get your few minutes, a gentle heads-up as the time runs low, then your apps wind down until morning. Keep it and your sleep streak grows. SCHEDULED DOWNTIME Block the apps that pull you away on a schedule that fits your life - work hours, school, dinner, deep work. Set it once and it runs every day, on its own. PER-APP LIMITS Give each app its own daily budget instead of one shared timer. Keep essentials like Maps, your bank, and Messages always allowed, and get a heads-up a few minutes before a limit is reached. TIME WON BACK See the hours you reclaim from focus sessions and protected nights add up as a growing field of green dots. The cost of a screen is easy to feel - now the winnings are too. LIFE LIVED A ten-second daily check-in: did you actually use the time you saved the way you meant to? It builds a quiet record of the days you showed up for your own life, not just the time you saved. MILESTONES Count down to the dates that matter - a birthday, a goal, a someday - in weeks. Seal a letter to your future self that opens on the very day it arrives. ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN AND WITH SIRI Follow your focus countdown live on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, and start or end a session hands-free with a Shortcut. WHY DOTS IS DIFFERENT Most screen-time apps treat the symptom. DOTS starts with the why: a clear, visceral picture of how precious your time is. Once you feel that, blocking an app stops feeling like a restriction and starts feeling like a choice - your choice. Privacy Policy: https://novarch.lol/dots-privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://novarch.lol/dots-terms Your life. Your time. Your choice. Download DOTS and start protecting the weeks you have left.
deskip
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A habit is a row of days. deskip draws them as dots of light - a dateless grid, a liquid check-in, and nothing else in the way. EVERY DAY IS A DOT No numbers, no labels, no charts shouting at you. Each habit is a scrolling grid of days whose appearance says everything: a ring is an empty vessel, the fill is liquid light, a solid dot is a day you kept. Rest days stay small and quiet. Scroll up and your whole history is just there. CHECK IN WITH A FLICK Tap today's dot and it melts into a living blob of light. Flick a drop into it for every rep - the blob grows brighter with each one, and when you reach your target it crystallizes into a checkmark. Doing your habit should feel like something. HOLD A DOT TO TRAVEL BACK Forgot to log Tuesday? Hold its dot and slide to the exact count. The only date you'll ever see in the grid appears right there, whispered. FLIP FOR STREAKS Stats live on the back of the card - flip it over for your streak, your keep rate, and your weeks drawn as a curve of dots. Then flip back to today. QUIET REMINDERS Draw a window on the day's clock - 6 to 10 pm, say - and deskip spreads its nudges inside it, only while the day isn't done. No 9am guilt trips. ON YOUR WRIST AND YOUR HOME SCREEN The Apple Watch companion is the check-in distilled: your habits at the wrist and the same flick to complete one, synced back before you lower your arm. Widgets put your dot grid on the home screen, small or wide - a tap drops you straight into the check-in. EVERYTHING SOUNDS LIKE WATER Each rep is a rising droplet; completing a day resolves the chord. Synthesized live, never louder than your music, silenced by the mute switch. PRIVACY No account. No analytics. No tracking. deskip talks to exactly one party: your own iCloud, to sync between your devices. The whole privacy policy fits on a page. PRICING deskip is free forever: three habits, the full dot grid, check-in, streaks, every solid color, the watch app, widgets, and reminders. deskip plus is a single one-time purchase for unlimited habits, multicolor schemes, and custom app icons. A dollar for the iPhone app, a dollar for the watch. No subscription.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: deskip at 18.1 against DOTS's 26.1. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. DOTS sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and deskip sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | DOTS | deskip |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 26.1 | 18.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Novarch LLC | Kaloyan Lachezarov |
In-app purchases
DOTS
- Weekly Premium$1.997 Days
- Monthly Premium$4.991 Month
- Yearly Premium$29.991 Year
- Lifetime$49.99
deskip
- deskip plus$1.99









