Refocus is an app and website blocker whose signature is Strict Mode: a passcode, an NFC tag, a wait, a copy-text challenge or a Pomodoro cap stands between you and unblocking. Paused is a different shape of app, so this is a comparison rather than a pitch — the table starts with what Refocus does better.
| Refocus | Paused | |
|---|---|---|
| Known for | Refocus is an app and website blocker whose signature is Strict Mode: a passcode, an NFC tag, a wait, a copy-text challenge or a Pomodoro cap stands between you and unblocking. | Block Schedules that switch your chosen apps off at set times and back on afterwards, one-tap Focus sessions for right now, and a streak that counts the days you kept the block. |
| Genuinely better at | Un-bypassability. Refocus lets you choose exactly how hard it is to lift a block — including location-based blocks and per-app time limits — which is more locks than Paused offers. | Paused makes the block automatic instead of adversarial: it switches off at the time you chose and back on afterwards, and the streak does the persuading. |
| Day to day it feels like | You pick apps and rules — times, sessions, sometimes a daily allowance — and the app shields them. The differences are in how strict the rules can be made and how hard they are to undo. | A small, boring wall. You pick the apps, pick the hours, and they stop opening — no coins, no plants, no hardware, no reasons to type. A calm Paused screen where the app used to be. |
…you know you will disable any blocker that lets you, and you want a challenge or tag in the way. Refocus is built for exactly that person.
We would rather you kept an app that fits than switched and quietly turned it off after a fortnight. A blocker you have disabled is not a blocker.
Said up front, because this is the part comparison pages usually leave out.
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