taskr vs. ScreenCoach

The short version

ScreenCoach, from LifeTech Balance, is the most complete product on this list. Kids earn screen time and optional pocket money for chores, homework and exercise. There's a full allowance manager, savings goals, School, Fun and Sleep modes, and blocking that carries across devices. It can also block apps when an activity isn't done by its due time, which is the closest thing to how taskr works. taskr is much smaller. It has no tokens, no allowance and no modes, and it runs only on iPhone and iPad.

• Pick ScreenCoach if your family uses more than Apple devices, or you want one app to handle earned screen time, allowance and school-time modes together.
• Pick taskr if everyone's on iPhone or iPad, chores are the problem, and you want photo proof and something you can set up in about ten minutes.

Where ScreenCoach is the better pick

Almost everything except simplicity. If your household mixes iPhones with Android, taskr can't help, because Apple's Family Controls only exists on Apple devices. ScreenCoach can, and its point that a kid can't just pick up another device when time's up is a real strength.

Teaching money. Tokens, gems, goals and an allowance account turn chores into a lesson about saving, which taskr doesn't try to do. It also has a longer free trial at 30 days, and lower monthly pricing than taskr Pro.

A system to run vs. one rule to set

ScreenCoach's depth has a cost: there's a lot to set up. Activities, tokens, gems, modes, access times, consequences and bonuses all need decisions, and the payoff depends on you keeping that system running. For families who want a full home economy, that's the appeal.

taskr has one setting that matters: this chore, by this time, or these apps lock. There's nothing else to configure and nothing to maintain, so a parent who's tired of arguing can have it running the same evening. If ScreenCoach's per-activity due-time option is the only part you actually want, taskr is that part on its own, with photo proof added.

Comparing others too?

See taskr vs. ChoreKey, ChoreLocks, Carrots&Cake, Chore Champ, ScreenTreat, Earn Screen Time, Screeni, ScreenChore, Piggy. Or read the full roundup of parental control apps that lock a phone until chores are done, or how taskr works.