C
Cole Thomas
Hello, brand new user here. I am currently comparing SHIFT with Techlockdown. I have SHIFT installed on my wife's phone and am using Techlockdown on mine to compare. There are a few things I think could be added that would make Techlockdown the superior platform.
  1. The ability to schedule a "permanent" block: On SHIFT, you can "shift" your phone (removes a preset list of distracting apps), and schedule that to end at a predetermined time. During this scheduled time, there is no way to undo the "shift". I understand you can set an unlock delay up to 24 hrs, so maybe this could be accomplished by making it possible to set that delay out to an infinite duration. Additional verification from the user could prevent someone from accidentally locking themselves out.
  2. Scheduled app blocking: This is probably way more complicated. On Techlockdown, you can use the content policy to schedule downtime from apps or websites. On SHIFT, you can simply schedule the phone to be "shifted". There is no linking to Cloudflare and/or a content policy. I'm not sure how they do it, and I would assume it is very complicated. Everything can be done wirelessly on SHIFT so I'd guess it's a fully managed device rather than supervised.
  3. One-time payment: Self-explanatory. SHIFT is a one-time payment of $99 forever. Like Cold Turkey, this is very attractive.
SHIFT does not currently allow a user to customize their blocks. The list of blocked apps is preset and unchangeable (for now). This is the biggest disadvantage of their platform imo. If they add this however, it will be hard to justify the subscription. Maybe a tiered approach could work? If you just want to block your phone that could be one price, and if you want to go next level and do some network stuff, that could be an ongoing subscription. Just a thought.
Thanks!
Cole