App Blocker & Focus vs Precursor
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
App Blocker & Focus
This app helps you stay focused by blocking distracting apps and websites. It offers customizable reminders and scheduled focus sessions to build better screen habits. Track your progress and maintain accountability with gentle nudges.
- Block distracting apps and websites
- Customizable reminder tones
- Scheduled focus sessions
- Quick Focus sessions
- Progress tracking and insights
- Parent Mode for child accountability
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Simba is more than an app blocker. It's a gentle reminder to stay true to the focus you promised yourself. Most blockers just say no. Simba goes further: when you try to open something you've blocked, a friendly cat named Simba shows up with a personal reminder in your own tone of voice, motivational, honest, playful, or brutally direct, so you pause, remember why you blocked it, and choose focus instead of distraction. BLOCK WHAT PULLS YOU AWAY - Block distracting apps: social media, games, video, or anything that steals your time - Block websites too, not just apps - Group apps into folders like Social Media, Games, or Work Distractions, and reuse them everywhere CHOOSE HOW SIMBA REMINDS YOU - Pick your tone: Motivational, Honest, Playful, Brutal, or Mixed - Simba's shield replaces the default block screen with something that actually makes you think twice FIT FOCUS INTO YOUR REAL LIFE - Set schedules for work hours, school time, or nightly wind-down, enforced automatically even when the app is closed - Start a Quick Focus session anytime, timed or open-ended - Use ready-made routines like Deep Work, Gym, Pre-Sleep, and Reading - Track your session on your Lock Screen with Live Activity STAY ACCOUNTABLE, GENTLY - Turn on Hard Mode when you know a simple Stop button won't be enough - Emergency Unlock is there for genuine reasons, with just enough friction to make you certain FOR YOU OR YOUR FAMILY - Myself Mode for personal focus, no restrictions on you - Parent Mode with a PIN, so you can help your child build better screen habits SEE YOUR PROGRESS - Daily streaks, focus minutes, and the apps that tempt you most - Simple insight cards that celebrate progress, never guilt Premium unlocks unlimited focus sessions, Hard Mode, full schedules, and complete Insights. Remember why you blocked it, before you open it. That's Simba. Privacy Policy: https://www.simbafocus.com/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.simbafocus.com/terms.html
Precursor
This app offers a unique approach to screen time management by setting hourly limits for app usage. It aims to break the cycle of daily limit exhaustion and impulsive overrides by providing a sustainable, guilt-free solution that resets limits every hour.
- Set hourly app limits
- Automatic hourly limit resets
- Customizable limits by day
- Friction to prevent impulsive overrides
- Private by design, on-device processing
- Optional Precursor+ upgrade
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Most screen time solutions give you one daily limit. Often we spend the whole limit by late morning, leaving us locked out of our apps for the rest of the day and feeling stranded; all it takes is one vulnerable moment and we hit that tempting "Ignore Limit For Today" button. That one impulsive moment costs you not only your time, but also the motivation to keep working on whatever it is you meant to do. PRECURSOR BREAKS THE CYCLE With Precursor you can finally set an hourly app limit. For example, you allot yourself five minutes of social media scrolling per hour, and you can trust that Precursor will reset that limit at the top of the next hour. Every hour, all day, automatically. You get the brainrot break you needed, but the scroll ends right before it turns into a mindless habit. Your brain doesn't panic because you know you'll get more time to scroll in just a short hour. So you never have to feel guilty for ignoring a limit ever again. No streaks. No guilt. No shame. Just a sustainable screen time solution your day can lean on. HOW IT WORKS - Pick the apps (or group of apps) that you'd like to limit and give them an hourly allowance: 5, 10, or 15 minutes (Precursor+ extends limits up to 30). - Pick the specific days you want your limits to run (for example, on weekdays you can set stricter limits and on weekends you can set more lenient limits). - When the allowance is spent, those apps get blocked. - At the top of the next hour, your limit resets. - You set your limits once and that screen time rhythm repeats every hour, all day, automatically; so you never have to think about them again. - Precursor also allows you to stop your limits, for whatever reason, but we add some friction to help you in those impulsive moments: 1) Before stopping your limits Precursor will prompt you to write a short reflection on why you need to in this moment. 2) You can add a passcode to lock in your limit (consider allowing a trusted person in your life to set it for you if you know you'll likely bypass it). 3) Unlike other screen time solutions that give you an "ignore limit" prompt right there in the blocked app screen, Precursor requires that you intentionally open the Precursor app to stop your limits. Restrictions and punishments don't work. They never have. Precursor is built on one principle: Real change comes from one's own ability to be honest and accountable. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Precursor is built on Apple's Screen Time technology. Your app choices are opaque tokens: we never see which apps you pick, and neither can anyone else. Your usage history stays on your phone, and Insights are computed on-device. There are no accounts and no ads. Optional, anonymous usage analytics are off unless you turn them on, and they still never include which apps you choose. HONEST BY DEFAULT Precursor is free to use, with an optional Precursor+ upgrade for more groups, other reset windows, longer limits, scheduled active hours, and Deep Focus sessions. Available as a one-time Lifetime purchase if you prefer to own your productivity tools rather than subscribe. Monthly and Yearly both start with one month free. No subscription is required to keep the core, and the terms are spelled out plainly before anything renews. Please note: Deleting Precursor removes every limit. Precursor is an independently developed app by a one-person studio, Precursor Labs. Precursor+ Monthly and Yearly are auto-renewable subscriptions. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the current period ends, and you can manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings. Lifetime is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://precursorlabs.studio/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Apple's Terms and Policies: http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services
Screenshots
Verdict
App Blocker & Focus and Precursor are too close to call on the numbers: across 10 compared parameters — price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. App Blocker & Focus sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and Precursor sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
App Blocker & Focus holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 13 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
App Blocker & Focus ships an update every 10 days, Precursor every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | App Blocker & Focus | Precursor |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better | 4.8 (13 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 13 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.2 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 181 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fatih Demir | Precursor Labs |
Customer experience
App Blocker & Focus
Precursor
In-app purchases
App Blocker & Focus
- Simba Premium - Weekly$4.997 Days
- Weekly Subscription$4.997 Days
- Simba Premium - Annual$9.991 Year
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- Monthly Subscription$14.991 Month
- Simba Premium - Annual$19.991 Year
- Annual Subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Simba Premium - Annual$69.991 Year
Precursor
- Monthly1 Month trial$4.991 Month
- Yearly1 Month trial$49.991 Year
- Lifetime$99.99








