Comparison

Precursor vs inkhour

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Precursor

This app helps you manage your screen time by setting hourly limits for specific applications. It resets your allowance each hour, preventing you from exceeding daily limits and promoting sustainable usage habits without guilt.

Highlights
  • Set hourly app limits
  • Automatic hourly reset
  • Customizable daily limits
  • Friction to prevent impulsive overrides
  • Privacy-focused design
  • Optional premium features
Features
Read full description

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

About

inkhour

This app helps you reclaim time from your phone by scheduling protected reading sessions. During these times, distracting apps are blocked, allowing you to focus on reading and build a habit of consuming content from books instead of endless scrolling.

Highlights
  • Schedule protected reading times
  • Block distracting apps
  • Keep up to two essential apps available
  • Track reading time and streaks
  • Record books read
  • Integrate with Apple Health sleep data
Read full description

Don’t put the phone down. Pick up something better. Remember when you could disappear into a book for hours? That person is still in you. The scroll just gets there first. Willpower asks you to win the same argument all day. inkhour lets you make the decision once. Choose when you want to read. When the ink falls, the distracting apps you selected go dark, and your phone has only one useful thing left to say: Go read. No guilt. No grey warning to swipe past. No promise to be better tomorrow. Just a quiet stretch of time where the easier choice is finally the one you wanted to make. Each day you return leaves a mark. Your streak grows. The page fills with ink. Your shelf becomes a record of what you read and the time you took back from the feed. At first, it is one protected sitting. Then you notice the pages adding up. Then the books. Then the time that used to disappear into a feed has begun turning into something you can hold. That is the whole idea. Scroll less. Read more. Let the books add up. HOW INKHOUR PROTECTS THE RITUAL • Schedule up to three protected reading times each day • Choose 30 minutes, one hour, or up to three hours • Read on waking, before bed, or at your own time • Use recent Apple Health sleep data to suggest times, only if you choose • Block distracting apps while keeping up to two essentials available • Record your reading time, streak, milestones, and books No account. No advertising. No developer tracking. Your schedule and reading history stay on your device. The feed will still be there later. Your unread books have already waited long enough. inkhour. Give the hour to something better. Terms of Use: https://inkhour.xyz/terms Privacy Policy: https://inkhour.xyz/privacy

Screenshots

Precursor4 screens
inkhour4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Precursor at freemium against inkhour's subscription. Precursor also leads on ratings volume (17 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Precursor sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and inkhour sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Precursor against 5.0 for inkhour. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Precursor has 17 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Precursor ships an update weekly, inkhour every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Precursor versus inkhour: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPrecursorinkhour
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (17 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings17 — better1
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPrecursor LabsNima Yahyaabady

Customer experience

Precursor

All ratings14 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

inkhour

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Precursor

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$99.99
3 purchases

inkhour

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$79.00

Questions

Is Precursor free?
Precursor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is inkhour free?
inkhour is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Precursor or inkhour?
inkhour is rated higher. Precursor averages 4.9 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while inkhour averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Precursor or inkhour have ads?
Neither Precursor nor inkhour shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Precursor or inkhour?
Precursor ships an update weekly, and inkhour every 9 days. Most recently, Precursor was updated on November 5, 2026 and inkhour on October 31, 2026.

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