Points, streaks, quests, and leaderboards work for a lot of people. This page is for choosing a lighter version of that motivation, a completely free baseline, or a blocker with no scoreboard at all.
BePresent isn't usually the problem when people look elsewhere. Its points, quests, streaks, leaderboards, and partner rewards genuinely help people who respond to visible progress. People search for an alternative either because that system became its own thing to check, or because they never wanted a scoreboard attached to their phone use in the first place.
This page compares options by that split. For the direct product-to-product breakdown, read Fella vs BePresent. Below, alternatives are grouped by how much motivation and feedback you still want built in.
| Option | Best reason to consider it | Core approach | Main tradeoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Screen Time | You want a free option with no game layer at all | App Limits, Downtime, reports, device controls | No streaks, rewards, or social accountability |
| Forest | You want a lighter, visual form of motivation | A tree that grows while you stay off distracting apps | Not a hard block; a broken streak can feel like a minor loss, not a stop |
| ScreenZen | You want a free toolkit without points or leaderboards | Delays, limits, schedules, goals, and stricter blocks | Still real setup, just without gamification |
| Fella | You want the scoreboard removed entirely | Selected apps blocked by default, one controlled exception | No feedback, streaks, or progress tracking at all |
The useful question isn't which app has better rewards. It's whether checking your progress, streak, or rank is helping you stay off your phone, or has become one more reason to pick it up.
A leaderboard or streak is still a reason to open an app. Checking a rank, maintaining a streak, or seeing what a friend did today is a small habit loop of its own, one that exists specifically because you were trying to spend less time checking things.
The reward system depends on what's currently available. BePresent's points can be redeemed for partner rewards, but availability and partners can change over time, which means the motivation isn't entirely in your control.
Some people already track enough. If work, sleep, exercise, and habits all already have a dashboard, adding a screen-time score can feel like more administration rather than less distraction.
Forest swaps points and leaderboards for one visual metaphor. Stay off your phone and a tree grows; leave the app early and it dies. That's real feedback without BePresent's fuller system of quests, friends, and redeemable rewards.
It's motivation without a social layer. There's no rank to compare against other people and no group challenge to check in on, which removes one of BePresent's specific pulls back into the app itself.
It's not a hard block either way. A dead tree is a visual consequence, not a locked app. If BePresent's blocking, not its motivation system, was the part that worked for you, Forest won't replace that.
Apple Screen Time costs nothing and needs no separate account. It won't gamify anything, but App Limits and Downtime are a real, free starting point if the game layer was never the draw.
ScreenZen's current listing describes it as free and donation-supported. It offers more configuration than Screen Time, delays, limits, schedules, and goals, without BePresent's points or leaderboards. See the wider field in the best free iPhone app blockers guide.
Fella removes streaks, scores, and rewards entirely. There's no rank to defend, no partner reward to chase, and no dashboard to review. Selected iPhone apps stay blocked by default, and each session includes one 5-minute emergency unlock before automatic relocking.
That also removes BePresent's Beast Mode question. Beast Mode is BePresent's stronger opt-in commitment session. Fella has no unlocked starting state to opt in from, since the block is simply the only mode the app has.
It's the wrong pick if visible progress genuinely keeps you going. If a streak or a friend's leaderboard position is what gets you through a hard day, BePresent's system is doing real work. Fella is for the specific case where that system started pulling you back into checking an app.
Choose Screen Time when you want the simplest free option. It won't motivate you the way BePresent does, but it needs no separate app and adds nothing to check.
Choose Forest when a lighter visual metaphor is enough. It keeps a version of motivation without BePresent's social and reward layers.
Choose ScreenZen when you want a free, more configurable toolkit. It gives you more structure than Screen Time without gamifying the process.
Choose Fella when the motivation system is what you're trying to escape. It trades BePresent's feedback loop for one fixed rule and nothing to check. For the direct comparison, continue to Fella vs BePresent. For the wider market, see the best app blockers for iPhone.
It depends on whether you want to keep the motivation layer or drop it. Forest keeps a lighter version of gamification. Screen Time and ScreenZen are free, ungamified baselines. Fella removes streaks, points, and leaderboards entirely and blocks selected apps by default.
Apple Screen Time is included with iPhone at no cost. ScreenZen's current listing describes it as free and donation-supported. BePresent itself is already free to download with optional Pro purchases, so confirm what's actually gated before assuming you need to pay elsewhere.
For a lot of people it genuinely works, and staying is the right call. Some people switch because a streak or leaderboard becomes its own habit loop, a reason to open the app that has nothing to do with resisting a distraction.
Forest keeps a visual, lower-key form of motivation, a tree that grows or dies, without BePresent's points, quests, and social leaderboards. It's a middle option between BePresent's full system and Fella's no-feedback default block.
Not directly. Beast Mode is BePresent's opt-in stronger commitment session. Fella has no unlocked starting state to opt in from: the block is the only mode, active by default, with one 5-minute emergency unlock per session.
