Math Gate vs Rulely
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Math Gate
This app allows parents to control their children's screen time by requiring them to solve age-appropriate math problems before accessing selected apps. It tracks progress and offers customizable profiles for each child, making learning a prerequisite for playtime.
- Math problems unlock app access
- Customizable app and category locks
- Automatic screen time expiration
- Detailed progress tracking
- Age-appropriate math challenges
- Individual child profiles
- Parent-locked settings
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Screen time, finally on your terms. Math Gate turns "five more minutes!" into real learning. Before your kids can open the apps you choose, they answer a few quick, age-perfect questions in the subject you pick: math, reading, grammar, science or art. Get them right, earn the time — and when it's up, the apps lock again automatically. Learning first, screen time second. Meet the penguin crew! Five friendly guides turn practice into play and cheer kids on through every challenge: • Cosmo — Math: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division • Juno — Reading: stories, phonics, word meaning and inference • Quill — Grammar: parts of speech, punctuation and sentences • Nova — Science: living things, the human body, Earth, space and energy • Iris — Art: color, the elements of art, tools and artists WHY PARENTS CHOOSE MATH GATE • Five subjects, one app — pick a subject for each child and switch anytime. • You decide what's locked — any apps or whole categories. The lock holds even when Math Gate is closed. • Auto-unlock on your terms — set the reward time; apps re-lock when it runs out. • Real progress, at a glance — accuracy by topic, daily streaks, most-missed questions, and reward badges. • Always age-perfect — five levels from age 5 to 13+ in every subject. • Read it to me — kids can hear reading, grammar, science and art questions read aloud. • Truly private — no ads, no trackers, no accounts, no data collection. Everything stays on your device. • Built for families — a separate profile, subject, difficulty, and time limit for each child. • Parent-locked — your settings sit safely behind Face ID. HOW IT WORKS Set it up once — create a profile, choose a subject, pick the apps to lock, and set difficulty and reward time. Kids learn to unlock — their penguin guide serves a short set of questions; correct answers earn the screen time. Time's up, learning's back — apps re-lock on their own; a quick new challenge unlocks them again. Turn everyday screen time into a daily learning habit — without the nagging. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS Math Gate is free to set up. Any plan unlocks all five subjects: • Weekly — $0.99/week • Monthly — $1.99/month • Lifetime — $19.99 one-time Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions auto-renew unless turned off at least 24 hours before the period ends; your account is charged within 24 hours prior to renewal. Manage or cancel anytime in Settings → Apple Account → Subscriptions. Privacy Policy: https://mathgate.onbaseiq.com/privacy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Rulely
This app helps parents enforce screen time limits and bedtimes without being the constant enforcer. It automates rule adherence, allowing for deliberate overrides and time requests, reducing nightly conflicts.
- Automated screen time limits
- Customizable school/weekend schedules
- Deliberate override system
- Child-initiated time requests
- Built on Apple's Screen Time framework
- No monitoring or tracking features
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The "five more minutes" fight. Every night. Rulely ends it — not by watching your kid, but by holding the limit so you don't have to be the bad guy. You already know the rules you want. The hard part is enforcing them at the end of a long day, when you're tired and they're persistent. Rulely takes that job off your plate. HOW IT WORKS Set your rules once, in a calm moment — screen time limits and bedtime, with separate school-day and weekend schedules Your child's phone follows the rules automatically. The limit holds without you saying a word. Need an exception? Real life happens. Overrides exist — they just take a deliberate moment instead of a worn-down "fine." Your child can request extra time through the app instead of negotiating with you at bedtime. DECIDE ONCE, NOT EVERY NIGHT Before the first hard evening, you decide how you want to handle requests for more time — and write yourself a line to read in the moment. When the moment comes, Rulely shows you your own words. Granting extra time takes a deliberate hold and a short pause, so it stays a choice instead of a reflex. WHAT RULELY IS NOT Rulely is not a monitoring app. No message reading, no location tracking, no activity reports on your child. Other apps give you surveillance over your kid. Rulely gives you consistency — the rules you already decided on, enforced calmly, every night. BUILT ON APPLE'S SCREEN TIME Rulely uses Apple's Family Controls framework, so enforcement happens at the system level — not an app your child can swipe away. Works with a child Apple ID in Family Sharing for full protection, or in standard mode on the child's device without one. Designed for parents of kids 10–14. Questions? Reach us anytime through the app or at the support link below.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Math Gate at 5.0 against Rulely's 3.0. Rulely's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months). 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. Math Gate sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Rulely asks for nothing beyond the download.
Math Gate holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
Math Gate ships an update every 3 months, Rulely every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Math Gate | Rulely |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 3.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 20 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | OnBaseIQ, LLC | LLM vertex LLC |
Customer experience
Math Gate
Rulely
In-app purchases
Math Gate
- Weekly$0.997 Days
- Monthly$1.991 Month
- Lifetime Access$19.99
Rulely
No in-app purchases









