An alternative to Opal, Jomo and Freedom

There are two families of tools for taking your screen time back, and they answer different questions. This page says what each does well, where Tempo sits, and what Tempo did not invent — the niche is occupied, and claiming otherwise takes three seconds to disprove on the App Store.

Ordinary blockers: willpower, with tooling

Opal, Jomo, Freedom, one sec and their neighbours all do one thing well: they put friction where there was none. Scheduled sessions, time windows, a wait before an app opens, and for some of them a block synced between phone and computer. If your problem is holding to a frame you set in the morning, these are good tools, and they’re enough.

Their limit is structural, and it’s the same everywhere: they pit your willpower against temptation. Nothing is asked in exchange for the exit. When the block lifts, it lifts because the hour passed or because you insisted — never because you did something.

Step-based apps: the same idea, already here

A second family trades movement for screen time, and Tempo did not get there first. Steppin is the best known; StepStore, Stepsy, WalkBlock, Walk to Unlock and others share the ground, most crediting screen time against a step count, some asking for exercises validated through the camera.

So the comparison is about execution, not about the idea.

What Tempo does differently

• Workouts, not just steps. Tempo reads workouts recorded in Health or Health Connect and credits them with a per-sport rate: an hour of cycling and an hour of walking don’t pay the same. Steps remain the fallback currency when there’s no watch.
• Hand-entered workouts don’t count. A workout typed into Health is left out of the totals. It’s the most obvious way to cheat this model, and it’s closed.
• One shared balance, not per-app unlocks. Minutes earned open all your blocked apps at once, and real usage spends them — the count follows the system’s own Screen Time: 43 minutes debited for 44 counted by iOS, measured on device.
• Credit doesn’t sit forever. Minutes earned expire after 24 hours: you don’t build a stockpile for a Sunday.
• No account, no server. Nothing leaves the device, there are no analytics, and there’s nothing to create to get started. The App Store listing carries the “Data Not Collected” label.

And if exercise isn’t the right key for you

Worth saying plainly: if you’re trying to mute work notifications in the evening, or block a site on your computer, an ordinary blocker will do better. Tempo assumes that moving more is part of what you want. Without that assumption, its mechanism is just one more constraint.

Pricing across all of these changes often: check it on each listing rather than in a comparison page — this one included.

Frequently asked questions

Was Tempo the first to trade exercise for screen time?

No. Several apps credit screen time for steps — Steppin is the best known. What Tempo does differently is credit workouts read from Health or Health Connect with a per-sport rate, and leave out workouts entered by hand.

Do I need a subscription?

Not to use Tempo: the free version blocks as many apps as you want and lets you spend 60 screen minutes a day. Tempo Pro exists as a monthly or yearly subscription and as a lifetime purchase; current pricing is on the App Store and Play listings.

What happens to my block if my subscription ends?

Nothing is taken away: your apps stay blocked. Expiry only restores the 60-minute daily cap and automatic sport weighting, and closes strict mode, the full journal and the widgets.