Health, home and travel decision
Blockit
A narrow replacement (local blocking UX, rep counting, basic subscription and leaderboards) is realistic for a technical user, but matching the full App Store product—especially native Screen Time integration and polished on-device rep-detection at scale—likely requires platform APIs or extensive CV work the pages suggest the vendor already solved.
View on the App Store↗$12.99/mo
$156/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off108 h to build
$30/mo6 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 3 seats.
No open-source build does this yet
Nothing published replaces this one, so a replacement starts from an empty file. Here is what it would have to cover.
What a replacement has to do
- Lock selected apps via iOS Screen Time, detect and count physical reps (pushups/squats/planks) on-device, and grant earned screen-time/unlock apps plus local stats and leaderboards.
What it still won’t have
- Polished, battle-tested on-device rep detection and accuracy improvements
- App Store distribution history, ratings, and existing user base
- Built-in privacy claims and App Store managed subscription handling
- Founder badges, curated leaderboards and cross-user social features at scale
- Ongoing product polish and small UX/engagement tweaks visible in app updates
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 3 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal iOS replacement of BlockIt using SwiftUI for the client and a small Node.js + Express + Postgres backend. Core features in scope: (1) local app-blocking UX that prevents launching configured apps and provides an unlock flow after earned time, (2) on-device rep detection using Core Motion and optional camera-based validation, (3) session UI (pushups/squats/plank), streaks and detailed local stats stored in CoreData, (4) in-app purchases via StoreKit with receipt validation endpoints, (5) a lightweight backend API for leaderboards and friend/clan joins, (6) push notifications for challenges. Out of scope: publishing to the App Store, advanced computer-vision model training, and large-scale matchmaking. Include error handling, input validation, unit tests for detection and receipt validation, and end-to-end integration tests for client-backend flows. Document build, deployment, and required Apple entitlements.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score59
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 1
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productBlockIt - Pushups Screen Time - App Store
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
