OffScreen: Screen Time Control Reviews

by Danabarnum5

I am very disappointed in this application. I selected limited access from midnight to 8am for 8 social media apps that I use regularly and for personal business. I then decided that I don’t want to limit them and changed my mind. I deleted OffScreen because I don’t like it anymore. I canceled my subscription and it will end on Sep 1 but I am still “locked out” of these 8 social media apps of great importance until sep 1. I feel controlled and betrayed by OffScreen. I do not recommend using this app. Grammar isn’t proper in OffScreen and OffScreen developers are screwing you over. Even after deleting OffScreen , you should be able to change the limits on the apps you recently disabled. Please don’t download OffScreen if you use your socials seriously for personal business. Total waste of $1 a month. 😡

by Good Job Roblox Creators!

I got OffScreen with the assumption that it would be easy to use and actually work for blocking apps. When you add a schedule 1.) it rarely lets you add all of the groups of apps that you want without the “done” button becoming grey (this could be some kind of glitch and it is very frustrating) and 2.) the apps that are added to your off schedule don’t even get shut down! I added a schedule of off time for social from 12 am to 11:59 pm on weekdays but I can still use OffScreen as much as I want. OffScreen is overall not good if you are trying to cut down screen time by forceful shut down and discipline. Do not recommend.

by AceDsk

I would say I love it but it has downsides. I love the features because it’s what I have been searching for my iPad for a month now.

I hate that it does NOT work while OffScreen is closed, even if it is added to my widgets, because I don’t like having apps open. Also you have to be careful because every time you open OffScreen , open apps within OffScreen , or check the widget on an iPad thru the notifications tab it WILL count it as a ‘pickup’, meaning you checked your phone. So if you have a goal to pickup your phone or iPad 20x, these clicks or misclicks will give you inaccurate results and affect your goal.

I will change my review and give 5 stars once this is fixed and once we can get results without needing to have OffScreen open if it is added to widgets

by Thedogshouterer

Unfortunately, a dud for me. And I paid for the year 😭. I have my screen lock set to “never” because I have a microprocessor knee and when I work out for an hour, I need the screen on so I can change knee modes. I also teach mindfulness courses to professionals and need to be able to see my timer so I can stay on task with the different activities OffScreen logs that all as screen time. So my phone can lay on a table, completely still, for two hours and as long as the screen is on, it’s logged as usage. Silly. What would have been most useful was to see how much time I’m spending on each app— OffScreen doesn’t do that. I liked OffScreen block after a certain time, but that’s it. Otherwise, not smart enough to really track legitimate usage.

by J O E L L E I S M E

I got OffScreen because I wanted to work on my screen time. It was great for a while, but it was also very annoying because you always HAD to keep it open, and I for one like to have all my tabs closed on my phone. When you tried to close it, it would literally something like, “don’t force quit me or I will stop logging your screen time”. It was so annoying and I had to hold up with it. And yes, I tried to keep it closed and it did NOT track my screen time, just like it threatened me through a notification. Soon enough I realized that my phone battery was going from 100% to 20% in nearly 30 minutes, and of course it was the stupid app. I am disappointed and I deleted that app after I figured out this infuriating fact.

by Ryryspy

Loved OffScreen (especially for sleep since I work on my phone and am on it most of my waking hours) till the new update requires users to have location tracking set to ALWAYS allowed. They claim this only affects 1% of battery life. What a joke. I offloaded OffScreen for a week to test and my battery life lasted like 4x as long!!! Such a waste of potential.

Please, developer, for people who don't give a crap about the walking while holding their phone challenge, DISABLE the REQUIREMENT to have location tracking. It's not needed and is shady. Like other reviewers have said, you're probably selling our data.

Also, my screen needed to be always on when I was driving Uber and Lyft, which seriously messed up my screen time log, making it grossly inaccurate. Fix these things and I'll be a happy returning customer and recommend to friends. Till then, I'm out and getting a refund!

by Youhgftf

I loved OffScreen for the first 3 minutes (when I was deciding whether to keep it or not) and bought the pro version for $3. I only wish I could have my money back. OffScreen sends a zillion notifications (no I do not need to be recommended to put my phone down while using it for a work calls). It’s just not intuitive enough to be useful. If you use your phone like a gameboy and your goal is to completely use it less then yeah OffScreen is for you. If you have to use your phone for work or anything else at all that you find productive, you will hate OffScreen.

by Millyyy1013

OffScreen at first it was okayish, but each day it just got worse. It was so annoying how everytime I shut off my phone or closed the tab it says "don't force quit me or I'll stop logging your time" like? Then the 1% thing is a joke, since you are required to have it open all times it takes up so much battery. Also, the worst thing is the location thing. At first it was already terrible. Theres no reason for you to have your location for this. But then I noticed it required you to? Super fishy and like another review said it should be investigated. Probably selling our data and tracking us. Also not to mention the fact this does NOTHING to help you with your screen time and to limit it. If you pass your goal nothing happens besides a notification saying "uh oh you passed your limit" or something. I understand they have challenges But like it does nothing to enforce it. So overall, DONT GET IT!!

by YT Sknygames

I would say I love it but it has downsides. I love the features because it’s what I have been searching for my iPad for a month now.

I hate that it does NOT work while OffScreen is closed, even if it is added to my widgets, because I don’t like having apps open. Also you have to be careful because every time you open OffScreen , open apps within OffScreen , or check the widget on an iPad thru the notifications tab it WILL count it as a ‘pickup’, meaning you checked your phone. So if you have a goal to pickup your phone or iPad 20x, these clicks or misclicks will give you inaccurate results and affect your goal.

I will change my review and give 5 stars once this is fixed and once we can get results without needing to have OffScreen open if it is added to widgets

by Chini Baba

What I needed was an app that would track my screen time and allow me to whitelist certain apps, which this does.

But I can’t do this because it requires me to share my location at all times, tracking my physical location and killing my battery!

Chances are they’re selling the data (even if it’s not linked to personal info) and passing it off as a “fitness tracker”. Literally no need for location tracking on a screen time app.

by Khammmmmy

I LOVED OffScreen. I love the concept, functionality, ease of use so I went ahead and bought the lifetime subscription. What is awful is you can’t use the full app unless you share your location ALL THE TIME. This drained my phone and watch so fast everyday. Also if you don’t allow sharing of your location you can use the full app features including app blocking during a focus time. Other apps have this capability so I’m switching to use something else. Unfortunately due to the location share I won’t be able to use OffScreen long term.

by Just Got Free 10 Bucks

App was working as advertised but some immediate things I noticed were: It wasn’t simple to turn off anything that you turned on.
Notifications or disabling the restriction on an app. Even after location was accessed (which is not needed for this apps purposes) it kept asking for more. I turned it off because I got worried but it kept bugging me. Eventually I deleted OffScreen because it wasn’t that helpful in decreasing my screen time. A few hours after I did that some of my apps started completely blocking me from accessing them saying that “app is restricted”. I got extremely confused and turned off screen time and on airplane mode but nothing was turning it off. Then I went to iCloud and looked everywhere to find restrictions, until I finally found something under Screen Time. There was a setting that allowed OffScreen to “restrict this iPhone”. AFTER I DELETED OffScreen . How is OffScreen allowed to access and even control your phone after you supposedly “deleted OffScreen and all of its data”? Please make OffScreen more restricted and, users, don't allow OffScreen all permissions. It’s kind of shady.

by TipsyElepahnt

I’ve really enjoyed the detailed date beyond the simple screentime stats that Apple provides but the location requirement and the need to always have OffScreen open is antiquated, other apps are able to integrate with the screentime API. Currently I’m concerned they’re selling location data since they’re a Chinese company, we’ve seen the news related to TikTok. If they integrate with apple’s screentime api and kill off the requirement for OffScreen to always be open and for location data to always be on, I would update this review to 5 stars. Until then I’m not comfortable using it.

by P2s2y2

OffScreen like other screen time apps constantly uses your location because apparently it needs it to track your screen time, but when I checked in settings it completely took away my screen time data. It shows that I didn’t have any screen time when I actually did, including the days from before I even had OffScreen . It obviously has way more access to your phone than it should if it can do that so I definitely do NOT recommend

by Ohlael1

OffScreen is a great tool to reduce screen time but i’ve noticed it keeps jumping back to where it’s inaccurate from the system screen time. just today it said 2 hours and i reopened it to find it saying 1 hour. A couple time i’ve seen the time reduced in app. this defeats the purpose of limits and stuff which is really annoying. I may delete it if it continues to be inaccurate.

by Cmburgess5

I liked OffScreen , but even with the paid version, a recent update forces you to provide your location at all times or OffScreen won’t work. Having it set to “while using” isn’t even enough. It’s unnecessarily invasive privacy-wise, and I hope they change it. I’d definitely recommend a different app for screen time if that’s something you care about

by Tiny Wilding

I LOVED OffScreen the first few days I used it. Totally manageable level of notifications and it really did keep me off my phone, paired with other techniques like deleting social media apps for periods of time, etc.

But force quitting it doesn’t work; I tried this while working for Ubereats which requires hours of phone use. I get notifications saying force quit will cause OffScreen to stop logging my screen time; it does not. During my Ubereats shift I kept getting notifications that I had passed my limit. I’m disappointed because I love OffScreen but this problem makes it basically useless to me. Maybe there’s a pause button I’m missing?

by ImWc.Me

Since almost a year before, OffScreen will crash when I open it. Thought all these update, tried many of versions, still not fix the issue. Maybe I just not allowed to use it, by some reason. Tried to email them for support at few months ago, the response was “they also don’t know how to fix it”. If it caused by iCloud, I think maybe they could send me a TestFlight version with iCloud sync function disable? And try to flush my old datas (I said that I’m accept to drop old datas in the email)? But, the problem is, after all these time, seems their developer doesn’t interested to fix this anymore. Ehhh, just because I’m the just one user? not that important to them. Even I install it and bought it from very beginning after OffScreen released. Whatever, that’s what I want to say. Bit of sad.

by Jeff_finley

I use three different apps to track my screen time: this app, RescueTime, and iOS ScreenTime. They all report different amounts of pickups and total usage time. For instance, this app ( OffScreen) reports 2 hours 50 min with 31 pickups. RescueTime reported 4 hours 27 min with 53 pickups, and iOS ScreenTime reported 3 hours 22 min with 47 pickups. Why are they so wildly different? Which one is correct??

Aside from that, OffScreen is actually really cool. I paid for the pro version and love the stats it gives me as well as the helpful notifications. I just hope it’s actually accurate.

by Ozzyrelius

I was able to significantly reduce my screen time and focus on work thanks to OffScreen .
There’s two glaring issues however each cost one star.
1. The background usage of OffScreen drains the battery like a fully open faucet. There’s no way it’s 1% an hour when 90% of the usage when I sleep is OffScreen and I’d sleep at 80% batter only to wake up and find it’s at 60%.

2. The location logging is a bit creepy. Looking at the map OffScreen pings my location I get chills I’d usually get from murderous stalkers. I’ll opt out of it from hereon out.

by GabeMartins

OffScreen experience at first sight is beautiful, I even purchased the lifetime subscription. Until you start seeing little annoying things on your phone. OffScreen requests permission for every aspect of the phone, which is a bit extreme but can be tolerated. But the battery is drained and this app requestes constant use of local, which is terrible for the battery life.
In general, a good app for those that are addicted to their phones, a bad app for those that just want a pomodoro timer that locks the apps, instead, purchase Forest.

by TheXsnaruto

Since almost a year before, OffScreen will crash when I open it. Thought all these update, tried many of versions, still not fix the issue. Maybe I just not allowed to use it, by some reason. Tried to email them for support at few months ago, the response was “they also don’t know how to fix it”. If it caused by iCloud, I think maybe they could send me a TestFlight version with iCloud sync function disable? And try to flush my old datas (I said that I’m accept to drop old datas in the email)? But, the problem is, after all these time, seems their developer doesn’t interested to fix this anymore. Ehhh, just because I’m the just one user? not that important to them. Even I install it and bought it from very beginning after OffScreen released. Whatever, that’s what I want to say. Bit of sad.

by TheAnastasia

OffScreen is really great but it dings me when I’m on a phone call. Makes the screen time accuracy pretty unreliable because I’m using it on, guess what….a phone! This has been very helpful in curbing my screen time. I also don’t like the reminders for having the screen on while walking….I pace while I’m talking on the phone so yah, the screen is going to be on.

by Klperry 07

I love OffScreen I really do. But there should be a setting where you can have it not track certain apps. I use my phones GPS ALOT at work. And I wish it didn’t include that in my readings. Because it’s about 1.5-2 hours a day. And I wish my readings were more accurate.

by Bunnyberry Art

OffScreen is very easy and straightforward, but I wish some apps didn’t count towards my overall screen time, such as the camera app. I’m an art YouTuber so I film drawings for up to a few hours some days. Does anyone know how to take the camera app off of the overall screen time?

by Soba Noodle ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I went ahead and bought the lifetime subscription because it would save me money in the long run, and I figured if I spent ten dollars on it, I had better use it.

OffScreen has done wonders in the past few days for reminding me to limit my screen time and get to bed on time. However, OffScreen does have a problem with buffering and resetting the amount of time spent on the screen right before my eyes, while I am in OffScreen looking at the statistics. Just a few minutes ago, the screen time meter went from twenty minutes on-screen to five… This has happened multiple times from exiting an app and entering this app.
Please fix this.

by ToInfinityandAbroad

I love this app, it helps me be more mindful around my phone use, and I agree that the premium version is well worth it (especially considering it’s a one time payment and not a subscription)! There is one feature I wish could be added - not logging phone calls / FaceTime. I know it’s probably complicated to tell OffScreen to ignore those two uses but, as someone who time zones away from her favorite people, I use both a lot to keep in contact and I wish I didn’t have to cringe at my screen time after a long FaceTime with a friend.

by SplitFire

Update: After a couple of app updates and updates to iOS itself, OffScreen has been stable. I’ve updated my review. I do wish we could exclude phone calls from the total screen time count.

To use OffScreen you have to first set up the times of day you want to block apps. As well as the time, you must also choose what apps should be blocked. All well and good, but almost every time you turn your phone off, you have to recreate your schedule and blocked app list. As is, I can’t recommend OffScreen . If this issues gets fixed, it would be great.

by Mason3k

I wish you could specify certain apps that do not count towards your screen time, like apps you have to use for work, meditation, etc. I see a lot of the other reviews are requesting this as well so I think it would be a very helpful feature!

by Kelly Chen 🐰🌈

I honestly like OffScreen since I wanted to know how much time I go on my phone and etc. I really want Pro, but don’t have the money for it and no friends. Even though it was a few bucks, I couldn’t afford it. Unfortunately, I had to delete OffScreen since it doesn’t offer many features. I wanted to try out different types of screen time apps and this one was the best. Bye!

by Kitty Katie Chloe

Has been an amazing tool to help me stick to my New Years Resolution to reduce my use of technology. This is so useful and good to know. I’ve tried other apps and they are all similar but this one I feel adds more in depth features. It’s worth it to spend the one time 5 dollar update, it’s less money than a cup of coffee but has some great stuff.

by Blind Techie Geek Speaks

Love OffScreen.
I use it to help takle smartphone addiction and it works great.
Can you please add the ability to log screen time while OffScreen is closed.
Also try to add some more detox challenges.
Can you also add a coaching feature to help motivate you to put your phone down.

by Okkollokko

Because of OffScreen I was able to focus all senior year of high school, getting all A+s and now I’m attending Tufts University.

I just have one suggestion. To make users be able to have more than 1 hour of break time per day. I like to block all my apps & give myself more time as the day goes on but only having 1 hour doesn’t allow me to do that

by ZYDK15

I love OffScreen not only for what it does in recording your screen usage but also for the encouragement it offers for timed concentration. After a short while I went for the pro mode which is absolutely beneficial for my goal. I would highly recommend it if you are planning on screen usage management and need some little help.
It also reminds me to sleep when it gets too late. I found that very heart-warming and lovely.

by Saint1of1

Downloaded this to actively do a better job at tracking my screen time. App was amazing and very accesible, and the premium version ($5) was definitely worth the upgrade. You can download widgets to put your screen time stats on your home screen and that helps a million. Also, OffScreen is very active at sending notifications for awareness and focus mode. Focus mode itself is an amazing time-blocking feature, which helps me get more work done on time.

by Hydromea

Great app, potentially life changing. I really love the Dynamic Screen Time Limit feature. I also love the Apple Watch companion app. Very useful and healthy app. Highly recommend.

by Hemet Hockey Gmom

I’m not paying a lot of attention to my screen time but OffScreen does remind me of how often and how long I spend online.
Self-reporting would guess a lot lower usage.

by Submitted By You

It would be nice for the watch app to sync with the phone when using focus timer

by Dgherastovschi

OffScreen is clean, responsive and intuitive. I’d rather pay for something well designed once than pay for corporate crap monthly. Thank you for OffScreen. And others like SquareDude love it too!!