Health, home and travel decision
KeepFocus
A single capable iOS developer can reproduce the core app-blocking, scheduling, and local analytics functionality (prior open-source blockers exist), so building a minimal replacement is realistic; you trade off polish, cross-device sync, and the existing user base.
View on the App Store↗Not priced
No pricing page we fetched carried a figure, so there is nothing to compare against. The build side is still real.
$100one-off120 h to build
$0/mo5 h/mo upkeep
No published price to break even against.
Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All KeepFocus alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Block selected apps/sites on the device, schedule recurring focus sessions or start quick timers, and view local usage insights.
What it still won’t have
- Cross-device cloud sync and account-backed settings
- Polished analytics/dashboard and editorial UX refinements
- App Store reputation, reviews, and existing user base
- Any proprietary server-side features (notifications, remote overrides, analytics aggregation)
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
No published price
KeepFocus does not publish a price we could read, so there is nothing to compare against. What building costs is below.
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 single‑device iOS app (Swift + SwiftUI) that blocks apps and websites using Apple's DeviceActivity / ManagedSettings or Screen Time APIs, includes a schedule engine for recurring focus hours and ad-hoc QuickBlock timers, stores usage aggregates in CoreData, exposes a SwiftUI settings UI for selecting blocked apps/sites and Strict Mode, and integrates StoreKit for a Pro unlock. Out of scope: multi‑device cloud sync, server-side analytics, marketing website. Include error handling for API failures, unit tests for scheduling and persistence, and a basic UI test suite.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 4 cited sources+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score64
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 · 4
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productKeepFocus: Block Apps & Sites - App Store
- official pricingCalendar Schedule - App Store (pricing source provided)
- open sourcecurbox-app/curbox-android
- open sourceSelfControlApp/selfcontrol
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
