Comparison

Focus timer vs Lilo

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Focus timer

Enhance concentration with a Pomodoro-style timer. Choose from various ambient sounds to create a focused work or study environment. Customize focus and break durations, and receive end-of-timer reminders with a selection of sounds.

Highlights
  • Pomodoro timer with customizable intervals
  • Ambient soundscapes for focus
  • Customizable focus and break times
  • End-of-timer reminders with sound options
  • Minimalist interface with flip animation
  • Background running support
Features
Read full description

Focus timer is a tomato timer based app that helps you concentrate on your work and study. When you want to start concentrating on, you can choose an environment, accompanied by beaches, trains, rainy days, bonfire, country cricket sounds, and you will be comfortable concentrating on. Features: - Tomato timer, break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. - Support custom time, easy to set the focus time, rest time. - Set the reminder after the end of the timer, a variety of sounds to choose from. - Minimal interface design, timer display clear with flip animation - Supports background running

About

Lilo

This app transforms solo study sessions into engaging, social challenges. Compete with friends, track your progress, and climb leaderboards to make learning fun and motivating. Build lasting focus habits through friendly competition and visible achievements.

Highlights
  • Focus timer with distraction avoidance
  • Study challenges with friends
  • Live leaderboards for comparison
  • Progress tracking and stats
  • Habit building and streaks
  • Social accountability
Features
Read full description

Lilo is the study timer you use with friends. Start a focus session or a Pomodoro, challenge your friends, climb the weekly leaderboard and keep your study streak alive. 500K+ students have downloaded Lilo and left 200K+ ratings, because studying together works better than studying alone. STUDY TIMER AND POMODORO - Focus timer, stopwatch and Pomodoro with breaks. - Pick a subject and tasks before you start, so every session counts toward a goal. - Timer scenes and a full screen mode keep your phone out of the way. - A Live Activity and a home screen widget show your session and streak at a glance. CHALLENGES WITH FRIENDS - Invite friends to a study challenge: streak, time goal, speed race or ranking battle. - Follow everyone's progress live and see who stays focused the longest. - Join a challenge from a link, even before you create an account. LEADERBOARDS AND STREAKS - Weekly rankings with your friends. - Daily study streak with streak protection, so one bad day does not erase your progress. - Comment on your friends' sessions and keep each other accountable. PLANNER AND STATS - Day planner with tasks and subjects. - Study history, subject distribution, activity heatmap and advanced stats. - Share your weekly results to Instagram Stories in one tap. FOCUS MUSIC AND SCENES - Lofi, nature sounds and white noise inside the timer. - Choose a timer scene and an accent colour that matches your mood. WHO IS LILO FOR High school and university students, exam season, homework, language learning, thesis writing, and anyone who focuses better with a bit of friendly competition. Lilo is free to use. Lilo Premium adds Pomodoro and stopwatch modes, the full focus music library and extra scenes. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Terms: https://lilostudytimer.com/terms/ Privacy: https://lilostudytimer.com/privacy/

Screenshots

Focus timer4 screens
Lilo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Lilo at none against Focus timer's shown. Lilo also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 weeks). Focus timer's advantage is review sentiment (77% vs 68%). On price, rating, ratings volume and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Focus timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Lilo sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Focus timer against 4.7 for Lilo. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.9K and 4.6K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of Focus timer's written reviews are positive against 68% of Lilo's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Focus timer ships an update every 5 weeks, Lilo every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Focus timer versus Lilo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocus timerLilo
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (1.9K ratings)4.7 (4.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews — better67.7% of reviews
Number of ratings1.9K4.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB170 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer书敏 贾Pawel Gladysz

Customer experience

Focus timer

All ratings1,829 ratings
Positive89.4%
Neutral3.8%
Negative6.8%
Written reviews571 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral6.8%
Negative16.3%

Lilo

All ratings4,498 ratings
Positive92.1%
Neutral2.5%
Negative5.4%
Written reviews62 reviews
Positive67.7%
Neutral3.2%
Negative29.0%

Bugs and requests

Focus timer

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Timer stops when device is locked or app is minimized
  • Inconsistent timer behavior when switching between apps

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to set custom alarm/notification sounds
  • Option to disable background sounds
  • Automatic start/stop of focus and break timers
  • Customizable timer duration
  • Dark mode or theme options

Lilo

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Focus timer

One-time1
  • Professional Version$2.99
5 purchases

Lilo

Subscriptions5
  • Premium Access Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Premium Access$6.991 Month
  • Premium Access Yearly$25.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Premium Access Yearly$29.991 Year
  • Premium Access3 Days trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Focus timer free?
Focus timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Lilo free?
Lilo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Focus timer or Lilo?
Lilo is rated higher. Focus timer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.9K ratings, while Lilo averages 4.7 from 4.6K ratings.
Do Focus timer or Lilo have ads?
Focus timer shows ads; Lilo does not.
Which is updated more often, Focus timer or Lilo?
Focus timer ships an update every 5 weeks, and Lilo every 9 days. Most recently, Focus timer was updated on November 2, 2026 and Lilo on November 4, 2026.

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