Comparison

Focus timer vs Radical Timer

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

Radical Timer

Read full description

Radical Timer is a focus timer that actually holds you to it. Set a session from 5 minutes to 8 hours. You get a short grace period to lock your phone and put it down. After that the rule is simple: pick up the unlocked phone or leave the app, and the timer fails. No honour system. No "are you sure?" dialog. The phone has to stay put. HOW IT WORKS • Set your session — 5 minutes to 8 hours • Use the grace period to lock your phone and set it aside • Motion detection watches for the phone being picked up • Quit the app while a timer runs and the session fails • Finish it and your phone tells you KARMA Every session you abandon costs a karma point. Lose all ten and your timer options are limited until you earn one back by completing a full hour. It is a small price that turns quitting into an actual decision instead of a reflex. LOCK SCREEN A Live Activity keeps the countdown on your Lock Screen, so you can see the time left without unlocking anything. FOR PARENTS Turn on Parental Control and each session shows a random emoji pair. Ask your child which emojis appeared — if they changed, the timer was restarted. CALLS STILL WORK This is not a lockdown app. Your phone stays a phone. Nothing is blocked, nothing is taken away. You simply have a reason not to reach for it. PRIVACY No account. No tracking. No analytics. Nothing leaves your device. Settings and karma sync through your own iCloud, and that is all. PRICING Seven days free, then a one-time purchase. No subscription, ever.

Screenshots

Focus timer4 screens
Radical Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Radical Timer at none against Focus timer's shown. Radical Timer also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 5 weeks). Focus timer's advantage is device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). On price 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 Radical Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Focus timer ships an update every 5 weeks, Radical Timer every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Focus timer versus Radical Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocus timerRadical Timer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (1.9K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.9K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer书敏 贾Andrii Lytovchenko

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

Radical Timer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Focus timer

One-time1
  • Professional Version$2.99
1 purchases

Radical Timer

One-time1
  • Unlock forever$2.99

Questions

Is Focus timer free?
Focus timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Radical Timer free?
Radical Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Focus timer or Radical Timer have ads?
Focus timer shows ads; Radical Timer does not.
Which is updated more often, Focus timer or Radical Timer?
Focus timer ships an update every 5 weeks, and Radical Timer every 5 days. Most recently, Focus timer was updated on October 24, 2026 and Radical Timer on October 13, 2026.

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