Habits First vs What Does This Mean?
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Habits First
This app helps you build healthy habits by blocking distracting social media apps until you complete your daily goals. It uses the Premack principle to reinforce desired behaviors, offering flexible tracking and commitment options. The core functionality is free, with an optional one-time purchase for advanced integrations.
- Blocks social media apps
- Tracks custom habits (walks, workouts, reading)
- Integrates with health trackers
- Flexible blocking schedules and locations
- Commitment locks for long-term goals
- Optional one-time purchase for advanced features
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Do the thing, then scroll. Habits First is the most effective way to reduce your screen time - distracting apps stay blocked until your habits are done for the day. No accounts required and no subscriptions, forever. Willpower shouldn’t cost a monthly fee. HABITS SUPPORTED - Walk 10,000 steps, or any number you like - Work out 45 minutes - integrates with Apple Watch, WHOOP, Garmin, Oura, or any tracker - Meditate 10 minutes, from Calm, Headspace, Insight Timer, or any meditation app - Use an app you pick: read or use Duolingo for 20 minutes - Built in Pomodoro timer or manual habit check off - Review your Anki flashcards (Habits Pro) - Listen or read books on Audiobookshelf (Habits Pro) - Finish a game on Chess.com (Habits Pro) - Apple Shortcuts automations (Habits Pro) - More coming A block can ask for one habit, all of them, or any two of three. HOW IT WORKS Habits are automatically tracked via integrations such as with Apple Health. Apps you select are blocked until you finish your habits. When you're done, open the app to activate your unlock. WHY IT WORKS The idea is based off the Premack Principle - things you do often can help reinforce things that you do rarely. By habit stacking a difficult habit before an app you often use, you also hijack the addictive nature of distracting apps and turn that motivation towards your daily habits. WHEN IT APPLIES All day until your habits are done, on a schedule, only in certain places, or near a device you pick. Habits First helps you wake up into a calm phone screen, only unlocked after you finish your most important habits of the day. PRICING This app will never have a subscription fee. The core app is free forever: Apple Health goals, app timers, schedules, places, commitment locks, widgets, and as many blocks as you like. One small one-time purchase adds the extra integrations. More will be added in the future (feel free to request them SYNCING You can make an account if you would like to sync your habits and blocks across devices. This is not required. Created by @reysu on YouTube
What Does This Mean?
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A sentence you can't parse. An error message. A screenshot. You don't have to switch apps, and you don't have to describe the situation all over again. What Does This Mean? starts from what you deliberately share. Inside the iPhone share sheet it produces one explanation of that content, in a fixed output structure: • Topic • One-line answer • Plain-language breakdown • Example • Key points • Follow-up questions You can keep asking along the same passage. The previous answer stays in context, so you never restate the background. HOW IT WORKS • It receives the text you selected, or a single screenshot, from the system share sheet. • Text recognition and image cues for screenshots are produced on your device. When the evidence is too thin to support an explanation, it stops and says so instead of guessing an answer for you. • Before content leaves the device, the app matches a set of secret patterns locally — private keys, certificates, tokens, API keys, database connection strings, password assignments, email addresses, phone numbers, national ID numbers — and masks them in place. This masking applies to text. • Your understanding ledger stays on your own device. The app does not read the clipboard, does not ask for Photo Library access, and does not capture your screen or watch other apps in the background. • No ads, no third-party trackers, no behavioural analytics, no account, no sign-in. WHO PRODUCES THE EXPLANATION Apple's on-device model is the default and needs no setup — provided your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, has it turned on, and has finished downloading the model. If your device does not qualify, the app tells you which condition is missing. You can instead use your own API key (currently OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI; the provider list may change between versions). Redacted text then goes to the provider you picked. The key stays in the local Keychain (ThisDeviceOnly): not in the ledger, not synced to iCloud. Letting that provider look at the image itself is a separate consent: the app asks for that share alone, and only after you agree does it send a metadata-stripped JPEG with its long edge capped at 1280 — never the original file. Declining costs you nothing; the app answers from the on-device cues instead. OUTPUT LANGUAGES Traditional Chinese, English and Japanese, following the system or set by you. WHAT TO KNOW FIRST Explanations are produced by a generative language model, and the same input may produce different output at different times. What this app performs is this: it produces one explanation of what you shared, in the language you choose, in the fixed output structure above. It does not promise that any particular explanation is accurate, complete or suitable. An explanation is an aid to understanding — not legal, medical, financial, immigration or tax advice. For anything that matters, check it against the source. Image understanding is beta. REQUIREMENTS iOS 26 or later. The zero-setup on-device path needs an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence with it turned on; otherwise you supply your own third-party API key.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: What Does This Mean? at every 3 days against Habits First's weekly. Habits First's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). 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. Habits First sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and What Does This Mean? sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Habits First ships an update weekly, What Does This Mean? every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Habits First | What Does This Mean? |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (180 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 94.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 180 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Eric Su | TitApeX, LLC |
In-app purchases
Habits First
- Habits Pro$9.99
What Does This Mean?
- Full Access$19.99
Questions
Is Habits First free?
Is What Does This Mean? free?
Do Habits First or What Does This Mean? have ads?
Which is updated more often, Habits First or What Does This Mean??
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