Sand Timer vs Time’s Up!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sand Timer
This app provides a visually engaging and intuitive way to track time with realistic sand flow animations. It's perfect for various activities like studying, workouts, or cooking, offering customizable themes and sound alerts to keep you on track.
- Realistic sand flow animation
- Adjustable timer settings
- Multiple timers management
- Customizable themes
- Sound alerts
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Looking for a simple, reliable timer for your activities? Whether you’re timing a study session, a workout, or simply need a quick way to track time, Sand Timer has you covered! With its realistic sand flow animation, you’ll experience the soothing and intuitive feel of a traditional hourglass, right on your phone. Sand Timer offers a simple, visually engaging way to keep track of time, whether you’re managing your productivity, setting a cooking timer, or just need a quick countdown. It’s easy to set, fun to use, and helps you stay on track for all your timing needs. Top Features You’ll Love: Sand Animation – Watch the sand flow smoothly through the timer, providing a calming and visually pleasing experience while you track your time. Adjustable Timer Settings – Set the timer for any duration you need, from seconds to hours, with the ability to quickly adjust for all types of activities. Multiple Timers – Create and manage multiple timers at once to keep track of various tasks simultaneously. Customizable Themes – Choose from a variety of themes to match your style, whether you prefer a minimalist design or a more vibrant look. Sound Alerts – Get notified when your time is up with a sound alert, making sure you never miss an important moment. Who Can Use Sand Timer? Sand Timer is perfect for anyone who needs a simple, elegant timer. Whether you’re a student needing a Pomodoro timer, a cook timing recipes, or someone just needing a visual countdown, Sand Timer is easy to use and designed to fit your needs. Download Sand Timer today and add a little more calm and focus to your day! EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Time’s Up!
This app offers a fun and engaging way to track time with visually appealing countdowns. It's perfect for managing tasks, study sessions, or bedtime routines for both children and adults. Choose from unique visual styles or traditional clocks, and customize alerts for a personalized experience.
- Visual countdown styles (Reveal, Pixelate, Puzzle)
- Customizable alert sounds and colors
- iCloud timer syncing across devices
- Live Activities for Lock Screen and Dynamic Island
- Guided Access for child lock
- AirPlay and tvOS support for TV display
- Minute-by-minute audio updates
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Time’s Up! is a fun, visual timer that you’ll actually want to use. Whether it’s for you, your kids, or someone else, Time’s Up! will make counting down much more engaging. Timers can be used at work and at home, whether you’re making sure you take a break or telling kids it’s bedtime. Timers exist everywhere, but none of them are fun and visually appealing — and that can be important when you’re dealing with kids big and small! Time’s Up! has the features you need to make time fun again — try it for free, NO ADS. Time’s Up! isn’t just for kids and workaholics, though. The possibilities are endless: • Adults who need to set timers to stop them from working for too long without a break. • Kids who don’t want to do their homework but can be convinced to work in smaller chunks. • Setting reading or other activity timers before bed time. • Helping bigger kids focus on an activity for a set amount of time. • Setting timers for exercises — put Time’s Up! on your TV screen using AirPlay and turn a timer into the focal point for your exercise group. • Anything that’s based on a specific amount of time! What makes a timer fun? Time’s Up! has 5 fun styles to choose from, including: • “Reveal” a photo from your Photo Library as the seconds tick down. • “Pixelate” makes a photo more clear as a timer gets closer to completion. • “Puzzle” breaks a photo into jigsaw puzzle pieces and then puts the pieces into their places as time progresses. Alternatively, there are more traditional clock faces if you just want a simple timer. Timers can be customized with their own alert sound and color, too. Other key features include: • Sync your timers between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV using iCloud. • See your timers on your Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, and Apple Watch with Live Activities (requires iOS 18). • Guided Access to prevent kids from switching apps and changing timers, making sure only you have the power to control time. • Airplay and tvOS support so you can put a timer up on a TV screen. • Get audio updates each minute or countdown the last 10 seconds. • On macOS, you can float the timer window above other apps so it’s always visible. Time’s Up! is a free download with a trial limit of five countdowns. After that, there is a small one-time purchase that unlocks the app on all your devices, forever. ——————— What’s the difference between “Time’s Up! — Visual Timer” and “Time’s Up! Timer (VPP)”? You are looking at the free-to-download version of Time’s Up! that lets you try the app five times before upgrading via in-app purchase. “Time’s Up! Timer (VPP)” is the same app but available paid-upfront with no limits in the app itself. “Time’s Up! Timer (VPP)” exists so educators can purchase the app through Apple’s Volume Purchase Program (VPP) for Education. ——————— Time’s Up! has no ads or data trackers. We believe your data is your own and we don’t collect any of it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Time’s Up! at 84% against Sand Timer's 6%. Time’s Up! also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.8) and ads (none vs shown). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Sand Timer sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and Time’s Up! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Time’s Up! holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 150 and 435 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 6% of Sand Timer's written reviews are positive against 84% of Time’s Up!'s.
Sand Timer ships an update every 8 months, Time’s Up! every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sand Timer | Time’s Up! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (150 ratings) | 4.6 (435 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 6.5% of reviews | 84.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 150 | 435 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 15.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vicki Partridge | Overdesigned, LLC |
Customer experience
Sand Timer
Time’s Up!
Bugs and requests
Sand Timer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Time’s Up!
Reported bugs
3 issues- Hotkey functionality broken after update
- Timer not working after app update
- No sound at the end of timer
Requested features
5 requests- Allow longer timer durations
- Add ability to set multiple timers
- Improve customization options
- Provide more sound/alert options
- Add child-proof timer lock feature
In-app purchases
Sand Timer
- Weekly Subscription7 Days trial$0.997 Days
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Remove Ads$1.99
Time’s Up!
- Time’s Up! Unlimited$5.99









