Comparison

Bear Focus Timer vs Flow

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

Head to head
About

Bear Focus Timer

This app helps you stay focused by using a unique face-down timer. It incorporates forest-style white noise to enhance concentration and rewards you with praise cards upon completion of focus sessions. Customize your work and break times for optimal productivity.

Highlights
  • Face-down focus mode
  • Pomodoro focus and break cycles
  • White noise sounds
  • Customizable durations
  • Praise cards
  • Apple Watch support
Features
Read full description

Turn your phone over. Leave the screen behind. Focus with Tom. Bear Focus Timer is a simple Pomodoro timer for work, study, reading, writing, and everyday tasks. Choose a session, place your iPhone face down, and let Tom the bear keep you company while the timer runs. When focus time ends, take a break and receive an illustrated praise card. FLIP TO FOCUS • Choose your focus time and place your iPhone face down to begin • Keep the screen out of sight while you work or study • Build a small physical ritual around starting a focused session CUSTOM POMODORO CYCLES • Alternate focus sessions with breaks • Adjust focus and break durations • Choose a rhythm that fits the task in front of you FOREST-STYLE WHITE NOISE Add an optional nature-inspired background sound to your session. The calm audio and hand-drawn black-and-white design create a simple setting for time spent on one task. TOM AND PRAISE CARDS Tom is friendly, but he notices when it is time to concentrate. Complete a session to receive an illustrated praise card, then save a favorite card to Photos. Praise cards are available in English, Korean, and Japanese. APPLE WATCH SUPPORT Use the Apple Watch version when you want focus and break timing on your wrist. Available alerts and session behavior can vary according to your device and operating system settings. USE IT FOR • Study sessions and exam preparation • Reading, writing, and creative work • Work sprints and personal projects • Chores or any task that benefits from a defined focus period and break Bear Focus Timer keeps the experience straightforward: set your time, turn the phone over, focus, and take a break with Tom. Support: BearFocusTimer@gmail.com

About

Flow

Enhance your concentration and productivity with a scientifically proven method. This app divides your workflow into focused work intervals and scheduled breaks, helping you reduce stress and stay motivated. Ideal for work, study, or any task requiring deep focus.

Highlights
  • Pomodoro timer with work intervals and breaks
  • App and web blocking
  • Statistics tracking
  • Commitment mode
  • Inspirational quotes
  • Home & Lock Screen Widgets
Features
Read full description

Join hundreds of thousands of happy users who enjoy this simple way to stay focused and productive. Use Flow to get things done. Flow is a tiny but mighty app that helps you work on a task, study for school or simply stay focused without being distracted for a certain amount of time. Flow divides your workflow into sections with defined breaks, making it easy to stay focused. This method has been scientifically proven to be an effective way to increase your concentration and motivation while reducing your stress levels. The use of a Pomodoro timer can be a huge boost to your productivity. Use Flow to ... ... concentrate ... work on a task ... study for school ... code all night ... work from home Benefits of this technique • Improved focus and motivation • Increased productivity • Less stress and better health • Better management of interruptions Features • Pomodoro timer with work intervals and breaks • Statistics to keep track of your completed sessions • Notifications to remind you of short breaks • App and web blocking to combat distractions • Commitment mode for self-control • Inspirational quotes for motivation • Metronome for deep focus • Multiple duration options • Custom session title • Apple Calendar sync • Apple Health sync • iCloud sync of stats • Home & Lock Screen Widgets • Support for Live Activities & Dynamic Island YOU MATTER TO US We want to make Flow even better! Please give us your honest feedback in order to help us fix bugs and improve the app. We will regularly update Flow based on your feedback. Thank you! ABOUT US Yugen is a small independent developer studio based in Frankfurt, Germany. Our team is devoted to making great apps that we want to use ourselves. We strive to create products that help people in their everyday life with intuitive user experiences and minimalistic design. QUESTIONS? If you have any questions or problems, feel free to email us. We provide awesome support and love to help! www.flow.app support@flow.app Twitter: flow__app Facebook: flowapp.info Instagram: flowapp.info FLOW PRO Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period through your Apple account. For more information, see our Terms of Use at https://www.flow.app/legal and Apple's Terms of Use (EULA) at https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/.

Screenshots

Bear Focus Timer4 screens
Flow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Flow at Free against Bear Focus Timer's $2.99. Flow also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (86% vs 70%). Bear Focus Timer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On update cadence and ads 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

Flow is free to download; Bear Focus Timer costs $2.99 up front. Flow sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Bear Focus Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Flow holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Flow has 1.7K ratings behind it against 155, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of Bear Focus Timer's written reviews are positive against 86% of Flow's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bear Focus Timer ships an update fortnightly, Flow every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Bear Focus Timer versus Flow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBear Focus TimerFlow
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (155 ratings)4.8 (1.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.3% of reviews85.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1551.7K — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size119 MB80 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEUIHYUNG JUNGYugen GmbH

Customer experience

Bear Focus Timer

All ratings155 ratings
Positive83.2%
Neutral5.8%
Negative11.0%
Written reviews407 reviews
Positive70.3%
Neutral13.8%
Negative16.0%

Flow

All ratings1,746 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews566 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral4.9%
Negative9.4%

User reviews

Bear Focus Timer

From 155 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🐻 Cute and charming bear design
  • 🔕 Ability to disable phone notifications during focus sessions
  • 🎨 Soothing background sounds/white noise
  • ⏱️ Simple and effective Pomodoro timer
  • 🎉 Motivational reward cards after completing sessions

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Difficulty seeing timer/time remaining when phone is face down
  • 🔋 Timer stops when phone is locked or app is in background
  • 🔇 Weak/inaudible alerts for break time ending
  • 🤔 Lack of customization options (e.g. timer durations)
  • 📊 No history or tracking of completed sessions

Flow

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🚀 Minimalist and uncluttered design
  • 💡 Customizable work and break durations
  • 🔒 No ads or unnecessary features
  • 🤖 Responsive and helpful developers

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔇 Notification sound could be louder
  • 📊 Lack of detailed statistics and analytics
  • 🔀 Inability to pause or resume a flow session
  • 🖥️ Inability to minimize the timer window

Bugs and requests

Bear Focus Timer

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Timer not starting reliably when phone is flipped
  • Settings menu not functioning properly after updates
  • Compatibility issues on certain devices/iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to start/stop timer without flipping phone
  • Ability to customize white noise/background sounds
  • Sync and history tracking across devices
  • Notifications/alerts for break time ending
  • Detailed usage statistics and progress tracking

Flow

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Live activity feature not working consistently
  • Timer not recording sessions accurately
  • App blocking functionality not working as expected
  • Crashes and freezes on certain macOS versions

Requested features

6 requests
  • Allow custom work and break durations
  • Add option to pause and resume flow sessions
  • Implement real-time sync across devices
  • Provide more detailed productivity tracking and reporting
  • Include an Apple Watch app with complication support
Show 1 more
  • Add ability to block notifications from certain apps during flows

In-app purchases

None

Bear Focus Timer

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Flow

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Plan7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Plan14 Days trial$17.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Pro Access$39.99

Questions

Is Bear Focus Timer free?
Bear Focus Timer costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Flow free?
Flow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bear Focus Timer or Flow?
Flow is rated higher. Bear Focus Timer averages 4.3 out of 5 from 155 ratings, while Flow averages 4.8 from 1.7K ratings.
Do Bear Focus Timer or Flow have ads?
Neither Bear Focus Timer nor Flow shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bear Focus Timer or Flow?
Bear Focus Timer ships an update fortnightly, and Flow every 4 weeks. Most recently, Bear Focus Timer was updated on September 23, 2026 and Flow on September 23, 2026.

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