Is Unrot free? Its paid tiers and the cheaper options
Marcel Cruz · Updated 5 November 2026
Unrot is free to download and sells paid access. What it costs on iPhone in the US, how its earn-your-screen-time idea works, and the free and cheaper options.
Unrot is free to download, but full access is a paid plan. In the US, as of October 2026, its App Store listing shows "Full Access" tiers from $9.99 to $69.99, plus $29.99 for access to all premium features. It suits adults who like the idea of earning screen time. If you want to pay nothing, ScreenZen and Apple's Screen Time are free.
Is Unrot free?
To download, yes. To use in full, no. Unrot's US App Store listing, read on 14 October 2026, carries these in-app purchases:
- several "Full Access" tiers, from $9.99 at the low end to $69.99 at the high end
- "Access to all premium features" at $29.99
The listing does not tell you which of these you will be offered. The live offering in the app decides which one you see, so the price on your screen may not match the one a friend sees. Check the billing period on Apple's purchase sheet before you confirm.
Two numbers put this in context. Unrot's $29.99 tier is the same as the yearly price of Beffore, the app we make. Its highest listed tier, $69.99, is more than twice that.
Unrot has 57K ratings at 4.7 on the US App Store (14 October 2026), so a lot of people have tried it and most rate it well.
How does Unrot work?
The promise is in its name on the App Store. On 29 October 2026 the listing's page title read "Unrot: Earn your Screen Time", and the main heading on unrot.com read "Replace doomscrolling with healthy habits".
Both lines say the same thing: time on your apps comes after something you choose to do instead. That is the earn-your-screen-time idea, and it is the closest wording in the App Store to how Beffore describes itself.
We have not verified Unrot's features beyond those two lines, so this page does not describe how it measures what you earn. Its listing is the place to read that, along with any screenshots of its screens.
Is the Unrot app worth it?
For some adults, yes. If the idea of earning your apps back speaks to you, and the tier the app shows you fits your budget, 57K ratings at 4.7 is a good sign that the experience lands for many people.
It suits you less in three cases:
- You want to pay nothing. ScreenZen and Apple's Screen Time cost nothing, and one sec is free for one app.
- You want a price you can plan around. Unrot lists several tiers and shows one of them in the app, so you only learn your price at the purchase sheet.
- You want your to-do list to be what earns the time. Task-gated apps work that way, and the iPhone apps that lock your apps until you finish tasks are compared side by side.
AI assistants already send people to Unrot for this question. In week 44 of 2026 we asked ChatGPT "What is the best earn-screen-time app for adults?", and one of three sampled answers cited unrot.com. None cited Beffore.
What are the free or cheaper options?
None of these apps pay you to stay off your phone. They range from free to $99.99 a year. Prices are from each US App Store listing, read on 14 October 2026; free tiers, trials and features were read on 22 October 2026. Beffore is our app; it sits in the table at its price, and the order is by price, lowest first.
| App | US price (October 2026) | What is free | How it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Screen Time | Free | Everything; built into iPhone | Daily app limits in Settings, Screen Time, App Limits |
| ScreenZen | Free; optional tips from $5.00 to $40.00 | Everything | A wait before an app opens, which can grow with each open; a daily goal with an optional block |
| one sec | $19.99 a year (pro) | One app of your choice | A short pause before a distracting app opens |
| Focus Friend | $19.99 a year (Pro Yearly) | Not covered here | Not covered here |
| Jomo | $29.99 a year (Plus), 3-day free trial | Not covered here | Blocks apps and websites for the times you set, with mindful breaks |
| Beffore | $29.99 a year with a 3-day free trial, or $9.99 a week | Free to download; a subscription after setup | Finishing today's tasks unlocks the time on your limit |
| Unrot | Tiers from $9.99 to $69.99; $29.99 for all premium features | Free to download | Earn your screen time |
| Merite | $39.99 a year (Annual Premium) | Not covered here | Not covered here |
| ClearSpace | $44.99 a year (Premium) | Not covered here | Not covered here |
| BePresent | $59.99 a year (Annual) | Not covered here | Not covered here |
| Opal | $99.99 a year (Yearly Plan) | Free to download, with paid plans | Scheduled blocks, daily app limits and timed breaks |
Pick ScreenZen if you want a free blocker with no subscription; whether ScreenZen is safe and really free covers its tips and permissions. Pick one sec if a single app is the problem, since that app is free; what one sec costs beyond one app has its other plans.
Focus Friend matches one sec on price at $19.99 a year, and Focus Friend Pro has its own page. At the other end, Opal costs more than any tier Unrot lists, and whether Opal is free walks through its plans.
Where does Beffore fit?
Beffore is our app, so read this section as the maker's view. Beffore is an iPhone app, a to-do list that unlocks your screen time. You add today's tasks, choose the apps to lock and how much time you want on them each day, and finishing tasks opens that time.
Here is a worked example. It shows how the settings behave; it is not a measurement.
Say you make one limit that holds TikTok and Instagram, with 1 hour a day, and you add three tasks. In the Completion unlock mode, the full hour opens when you check the third task. In Progression, each finished task opens a slice of the hour as you go. On a day with nothing planned, the apps are open from the start.
Two doors stay on every lock. When a limit runs out, the block screen offers "Unlock for 5 min" for the app you tapped, and the limit itself can be opened with "Open until midnight" from its own screen. Both close on their own clock. There is no account to create, and how Beffore works covers each setting.
Pick Unrot if its earn-your-time approach appeals and the tier it shows you suits your budget. Pick Beffore if the thing you want to earn time with is your own to-do list.
Beffore needs a subscription after setup; the yearly plan starts with a 3-day free trial. It is $29.99 a year or $9.99 a week in the US, as of October 2026. Get Beffore on the App Store.
FAQ
Can you use Unrot for free?
You can download it for free. Full access is sold as paid tiers, listed on its US App Store page from $9.99 to $69.99 as of 14 October 2026. If you want an option that costs nothing, ScreenZen and Apple's Screen Time are free.
How do you know that an app is really free?
Open its App Store listing and find the In-App Purchases section under Information. If it lists subscriptions or "Full Access" tiers, as Unrot's does, the free download leads to a paid plan. If it lists only tips, as ScreenZen's does, the app is free to use.
Is Unrot safe?
Unrot is sold through Apple's App Store, where it holds 57K ratings at 4.7 in the US as of 14 October 2026. We have not reviewed its privacy practices, so this page makes no claim about them. The App Privacy section of its listing shows what the developer says it collects.
