Clearspace vs Jomo: Which Is Better?

Clearspace vs Jomo is a comparison between two Screen Time API blockers that reach opposite conclusions about what should happen when you hit your limit. Clearspace gives you a ritual to perform. Jomo gives you nothing to negotiate with.

Quick Verdict

• Choose Clearspace if: you want a pause you can complete rather than a wall you cannot, you like the idea of push-ups as an unlock, or you want someone else notified about your usage
• Choose Jomo if: you want the cheapest genuinely strict lockout on iPhone, and you already know that any ritual you can complete is a ritual you will complete at 11pm

Jomo vs Clearspace: Same Comparison, Reverse Order

If you searched "jomo vs clearspace" instead, this is the same page. Both names point to the same pair of iOS blockers, and everything below applies whichever you typed first.

Clearspace in 30 Seconds

Clearspace, from Clearspace Technologies, runs on iOS, Android, and as a Chrome extension. On iOS it uses Apple's Screen Time API to measure and gate app access, then puts a forced pause screen of one to ten minutes in front of a restricted app. Per-app time budgets, an optional push-up challenge as an alternative unlock, accountability partner notifications, screen time reporting with streaks, and a Strict Mode lockout make up the feature set. The Android version's underlying blocking mechanism is not confirmed by the sources checked. Per its App Store listing checked 2026-08-15, pricing is $6.99 per month, $44.99 per year individual, or $79.99 per year family, with a free tier limited to blocking a single app.

Jomo in 30 Seconds

Jomo, from Jomo SAS, is a freemium iOS, iPad, and Mac blocker built on Apple's Screen Time API. It blocks apps and websites across all browsers by schedule, by usage limit, or "until you take an action," with category blocking for social media, games, and shopping. Strict Mode adds an adjustable multi-day lockout with no early opt-out and enables anti-uninstall protection while active. Analytics stay on device, journaling is built in, and Jomo states it does not sell usage data. A family plan exists. Per its App Store listing checked 2026-08-15, Jomo Plus runs $5.99 per month, $29.99 per year, or $99.99 lifetime.

Feature Comparison

	Clearspace	Jomo
Price	$6.99/month, $44.99/year individual, $79.99/year family per the App Store listing checked 2026-08-15; free tier blocks one app	$5.99/month, $29.99/year, $99.99 lifetime per the App Store listing checked 2026-08-15
Platforms	iOS, Android, Chrome extension	iOS, iPad, Mac
At the limit	Forced pause screen of 1 to 10 minutes, or a push-up challenge	The app is blocked outright
Can you overrule yourself	Yes; an independent review calls user-editable budgets its main structural weakness	Not while Strict Mode runs, which has no early opt-out
Accountability	Partner notifications, though they fire only after a limit is broken	None; the lock is the accountability
Reported reliability issue	Reviewers report inaccurate screen time tracking and push-ups failing to register roughly a quarter of the time	Its own help center documents blocks failing to engage or release on schedule

Key Differences

What Happens at the Moment of the Limit

Clearspace's answer is a task. A pause screen of one to ten minutes, or a set of push-ups the phone counts. The theory is sound: make the cost of entry physical or temporal, and most impulses do not survive it.

Jomo's answer is nothing. There is no screen to sit through and no reps to perform, because Strict Mode does not open the app at any price for the duration you set.

Which is better depends entirely on your failure pattern. If you reach for the phone without deciding to, a ten-minute pause is a genuinely effective interruption. If you have already decided you want Instagram, you will sit through the pause, and Clearspace's own reviewers report the push-up challenge failing to register completed reps roughly a quarter of the time, which turns the ritual into an argument with the app.

Winner: Jomo for people who have already lost this argument with themselves, Clearspace for people whose problem is genuinely absent-minded.

Whether You Can Raise Your Own Limit

This is the section that decides most comparisons of these two.

An independent review of Clearspace flags that ordinary time budgets can be edited by the user at any time and calls this the app's main structural weakness. The same review notes accountability notifications fire only after a limit has already been broken, so a partner cannot approve or refuse an override in the moment; they simply learn about it afterwards. Clearspace does offer a separate Strict Mode as a harder, warning-gated lockout, but reviewers describe everyday use as a light-touch nudge.

Jomo's Strict Mode is an adjustable multi-day lockout with no early opt-out and anti-uninstall protection while it runs. There is no budget field to edit at midnight.

Winner: Jomo. A limit you can raise is a suggestion with a progress bar.

Reach, Accountability, and Price

Clearspace wins on breadth. It covers iOS, Android, and Chrome, while Jomo covers iOS, iPad, and Mac only. It is also the only one of the two that loops in another person at all, even if that notification arrives late.

Jomo wins on price, and by more than the monthly figures suggest. At $29.99 per year against Clearspace's $44.99, and with a $99.99 lifetime option Clearspace does not match, the gap widens the longer you keep either app.

Winner: Clearspace on platform reach and accountability, Jomo on price.

Honest Concessions

Clearspace's push-up unlock is the most interesting mechanic in this category, and accountability partner notifications are rare outside dedicated monitoring products. Its App Store reviewers do report inaccurate screen time tracking, with one describing days that jump "from one hour to 20 without opening my phone," alongside difficulty reaching the developers about it, and reviewers call Premium expensive.

Jomo is not the more reliable product just because it is stricter. It maintains a public troubleshooting article for blocking that fails to engage or fails to release on schedule, opening with "we understand your frustration and share it," and attributing the failures to conflicts with other Screen Time apps, Low Power Mode, and outdated software. A published review also found its free version too limited, with scheduled sessions, advanced groupings, and usage insights paywalled, and noted Jomo cannot block Safari at the granular level Apple's own tools allow.

Which Should You Choose?

You want a limit you cannot edit at midnight: Jomo.

You want a ritual instead of a wall: Clearspace, especially if the push-up unlock appeals to you.

You are on Android: Clearspace. Jomo does not cover Android at all.

You want someone else to know: Clearspace, with the caveat that they will find out after the fact rather than in the moment.

You want the lowest annual cost, or a one-time purchase: Jomo, at $29.99 per year or $99.99 lifetime per its App Store listing checked 2026-08-15.

Accurate reporting is what you are buying: neither, comfortably. Clearspace's tracking accuracy is questioned by its own App Store reviewers, and Jomo documents its own blocking failures.

Frequently Asked Questions

Clearspace vs Jomo: which is stricter? Jomo. Its Strict Mode is a multi-day lockout with no early opt-out and anti-uninstall protection. Clearspace's everyday mode uses editable time budgets, which an independent review calls its main structural weakness, though a harder Strict Mode does exist there too.

Is Clearspace or Jomo cheaper? Jomo, on both the monthly and annual figures checked on 2026-08-15, and it also offers a $99.99 lifetime purchase that Clearspace does not match. Clearspace does offer a $79.99 per year family tier, which changes the calculation for a household.

Does Jomo have an accountability partner feature? No. Jomo's model is a lock rather than a witness. If having another person notified matters to you, Clearspace is the one of these two that offers it, though its notifications arrive only after a limit has already been broken.

Can I trust the screen time numbers these apps report? Treat them as directional. Clearspace App Store reviewers report inaccurate tracking, including days jumping from one hour to twenty. Jomo keeps analytics on device and states it does not sell usage data, but its own help center documents blocks failing to engage or release, which affects what gets recorded.

Is there an option where the unlock is something other than a pause or a push-up? FaithLock uses the same Apple Family Controls (Screen Time) API both of these run on, and gates the unlock behind a Bible verse and a question about what you just read, drawn from the complete BSB library of 31,000+ verses. It is iOS only and it is a self-accountability tool rather than a parental control, so it is a narrower product than either app here. If Clearspace's push-up ritual appeals to you conceptually but you would rather the ritual be Scripture, it is the closest equivalent. See also Opal vs Clearspace, one sec vs Clearspace, and our roundup of apps that limit screen time.

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Sources: Clearspace on the App Store, Clearspace App Store reviews, Lockpact Clearspace review, Clearspace official site, Jomo, Jomo on the App Store, Jomo help center, blocking issues, rtriv.io Jomo review