Most of these apps pay screen time out in minutes: do a chore, bank some time, spend it later. taskr takes the other route — apps stay unlocked until a chore goes overdue, then lock until you approve a photo. Here is how both work, and which one suits which family.
Every app in this category is one of two things, and the label on the App Store rarely tells you which.
Each chore is worth a number of minutes. The child completes chores, the balance goes up, and screen time draws it down. Good for capping a day. The catch is the negotiation — every chore now has a price, and a child who banks a big balance on Saturday has no reason to help on Sunday.
Apps are simply available, the way they already are. Each chore has a due time, and when that time passes the apps you picked lock until the chore is done and approved. Nothing to price, nothing to bank, nothing to argue about. This is how taskr works.
Where the two models genuinely differ — including where the minutes bank is the better tool.
Feature
taskr
Minutes-bank apps
Keeping the apps they already have — nothing to bank or spend
A balance of minutes earned per chore, spent later
The apps you picked lock automatically at the deadline
They simply earn nothing — today's balance may already cover them
None — the chore has a due time and the apps go away when it passes
Ongoing — how many minutes each chore is worth is a live debate
Not its job — pair it with Apple Screen Time limits for that
Yes — a minutes budget is a natural daily cap
Photo proof you approve or reject before apps unlock
Varies — many rely on the child ticking a box
You set the chore and its deadline
Pick the chore, the due time, and exactly which apps or categories should lock if it slips. School apps, calls, and messages can stay open.
The deadline passes, the apps lock
Apple Family Controls blocks the apps you chose on the child's device. Nothing for you to enforce and nothing to argue about.
They finish it and send a photo
The child snaps a photo of the finished chore in taskr and submits it for review.
You approve, the apps come back
Approve from your own phone and Screen Time updates instantly. Reject it and the apps stay locked.
If what you actually want is a hard ceiling on total daily screen time, taskr is not that tool on its own — it decides whether apps are available, not for how long. Apple Screen Time already does the daily cap well and free, and the two run side by side, so most families use Screen Time for the ceiling and taskr for the chores.
taskr is also iOS-only. It is built on Apple Family Controls, which has no Android equivalent, so a mixed-device household will need something else for the Android phones. We wrote up the full taskr vs. Apple Screen Time comparison if you want to see exactly where each one stops.
Yes, and they come in two shapes. Minutes-bank apps pay out screen time per completed chore, which the child then spends. Deadline apps like taskr skip the currency entirely: apps stay available and lock when a chore passes its due time, unlocking when you approve a photo of the finished chore. Both connect chores to screen access; they just disagree on whether screen time should be a balance or a default.
They work while the child still values the currency. The common failure is that a kid banks a large balance early, then coasts — the chore stops mattering because today's screen time is already paid for. Deadline models avoid that because there is no balance to run ahead on: every chore has its own due time, and missing it has an immediate effect. Whichever model you choose, the one that works is the one where something actually changes on the device without you enforcing it.
taskr is free on the App Store with no subscription required for its core chore and Screen Time features. Several minutes-bank apps are free to download but put the useful parts behind a subscription, so check what the free tier actually includes before you set your family up on one.
The trustworthy ones use Apple's Family Controls framework, the same system behind Screen Time. It runs on the child's device inside Apple's sandbox and needs no VPN or device-management profile. taskr is built on Family Controls. If an iOS app asks you to install a configuration profile or route traffic through a VPN to block apps, that is a sign it is working around Apple rather than with it.
In taskr, yes — that is the whole loop. When a chore goes overdue the chosen apps lock, and the moment the child submits a photo of the finished chore and you approve it, the apps come back. There is no waiting period and no minutes to re-earn; approval restores access immediately through Apple Family Controls.
Compare the closest alternative in taskr vs. Choreio, browse the best chore apps for kids, or follow the setup guide for blocking apps until chores are done.
Free on the App Store. iOS only. Built on Apple Family Controls.