Comparison

Bear Focus Timer vs Focus Tomato

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

Focus Tomato

This app helps you stay focused and productive using a modified Pomodoro technique. It guides you through focused work intervals and short breaks, with features to prevent distractions and allow flexibility in your work sessions.

Highlights
  • Goal setting and breaking down tasks
  • 25-minute focus intervals
  • 5-minute rest periods
  • Extended breaks after 4 cycles
  • Flexible timer duration
  • Do Not Disturb mode
  • Integrates with other productivity tools
Features
Read full description

## App Of The Day - Apple ## New Apps We Love - Apple ## Try These Out - Apple ## Student App of the Month - The App Brewery (London) Focus Tomato is a serious tomato helping you stay focused.  Cheer you up when you succeed. —— Recommended consuming order —— Step 1: Goal setting If the goal is too big, break it down. Step 2: only focus for 25 minutes * Only focus on one thing * Avoid distraction; make efforts to keep the Tomato running (ex. if someone hits you up, tell him/her getting back to you shortly!) * Better to watch the timer counting Step 3: Rest for 5 minutes * Not suitable for mental consuming tasks * Light activities that are good for your mind and body * Pause your work momentarily can help you view things from another perspective and avoid couldn't see the forests for the trees.
 Step 4: Repeat 4 times, then take a more extended rest for 15 to 30 minutes Repeat the previous two steps for 4 times, and take a 15 to 30 minutes long rest —— After taking it, you can gain the following benefits on top of straight As ——
 * Prevent distracting and stay focused more easily: counting down timer brings good stress * Reduce interruptions: postpone other tasks; most things can wait for 25 minutes * Avoid procrastinating: when the timer is running, it means the declaration of a focused time frame * Endure longer: with adequate rest, you can run further
 —— Features of “Focus Tomato” —— Based on the Pomodoro method with new spice-ups and improvements. * Do not force stop; keep the flow Classical Promodoro clock asks you to stop working asap when time is up; Focus Tomato only notifies you with sound and does not force you to stop. You can keep staying in the zone and running the timer. * Fractional time is allowed Classical Promodoro clock requires to maintain 25 minutes duration. Focus Tomato freely lets you count the fractional time as long as it starts running. * Modifiable Timeline It is usual to forget to stop the timer. Focus Tomato allows you to modify the Timeline and make adjustments afterward. * Do Not Disturb mode is available Distracted by too many notifications? Do Not Disturb mode can be enabled when Focus Tomato is running. * Integrate smoothly with other work methods and/or apps Because the app only applies the timing part of the Promodoro technique, in addition to the original Promodoro method, you can also use the Reminder, Trello, or physical notebooks along with it. Good tomato, why not eat it?

Screenshots

Bear Focus Timer4 screens
Focus Tomato4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Focus Tomato at Free against Bear Focus Timer's $2.99. Focus Tomato also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (93% vs 70%). Bear Focus Timer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (fortnightly vs monthly). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Focus Tomato is free to download; Bear Focus Timer costs $2.99 up front. Focus Tomato sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Bear Focus Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Focus Tomato holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Focus Tomato 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 93% of Focus Tomato's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bear Focus Timer ships an update fortnightly, Focus Tomato monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Bear Focus Timer versus Focus Tomato: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBear Focus TimerFocus Tomato
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (155 ratings)4.9 (1.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.3% of reviews93.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1551.7K — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size119 MB132 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperEUIHYUNG JUNGCHIH-SHAN LIU

Customer experience

Bear Focus Timer

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

Focus Tomato

All ratings1,674 ratings
Positive98.0%
Neutral1.0%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews717 reviews
Positive93.3%
Neutral3.9%
Negative2.8%

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

Focus Tomato

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and lovely design
  • 🙏 Motivational messages
  • 🙌 Customizable focus and break times
  • 🎨 Vintage-style illustrations
  • 🔊 Variety of ambient sounds

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs with sound effects and notifications
  • 🔍 Lack of advanced features like tags or categories
  • 📱 No iPad or Apple Watch support

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

Focus Tomato

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Upgrade didn't work as expected
  • Timer stops when switching to other apps

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add a dark mode option
  • Implement a widget for quick access
  • Introduce a leaderboard or progress tracking
  • Allow syncing across devices

In-app purchases

None

Bear Focus Timer

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Focus Tomato

One-time1
  • Tomato King$4.99

Questions

Is Bear Focus Timer free?
Bear Focus Timer costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Focus Tomato free?
Focus Tomato is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bear Focus Timer or Focus Tomato?
Focus Tomato is rated higher. Bear Focus Timer averages 4.3 out of 5 from 155 ratings, while Focus Tomato averages 4.9 from 1.7K ratings.
Do Bear Focus Timer or Focus Tomato have ads?
Neither Bear Focus Timer nor Focus Tomato shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bear Focus Timer or Focus Tomato?
Bear Focus Timer ships an update fortnightly, and Focus Tomato monthly. Most recently, Bear Focus Timer was updated on September 30, 2026 and Focus Tomato on October 1, 2026.

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