How is Paused different from Apple’s Screen Time?
Short answer: Apple’s Screen Time is free and powerful but fiddly, easy to tap past, and easy to forget. Paused is built for one job — actually stopping the scroll — with one-tap focus sessions, schedules that stick, and streaks that make it a game.
Apple's Screen Time is free, built in, and genuinely capable — if you're weighing Paused, try it first. Here's the honest comparison.
Where Apple Screen Time wins
- Free, and already on your iPhone.
- Deep reporting on where your hours go.
- Family Sharing controls for kids' devices.
Where it falls short (and Paused helps)
- Too easy to bypass. "Ignore Limit" is one tap. Paused is built to make skipping a block a deliberate choice, not a reflex.
- Fiddly. Limits and Downtime are buried in Settings. Paused is one screen: pick apps, set a schedule or hit Focus.
- No momentum. Screen Time reports the damage; Paused adds a streak so sticking with it feels like a win.
Both use the same underlying Apple framework, so blocking is equally private. Paused just makes it stick. See what happens when you open a blocked app.
