Comparison

Center Meditation Timer vs Mindful Timer

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

Head to head
About

Center Meditation Timer

A silent meditation timer designed for serious practitioners. It offers a minimalist interface with customizable session lengths, intervals, and sounds. Track your progress without pressure or gamification.

Highlights
  • Silent timer with optional bells
  • Customizable session lengths and intervals
  • Minimalist interface with themes
  • Daily reminders and widgets
  • Apple Watch support
  • iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Center is a silent meditation timer for serious practice. No guides, no voices, no lessons, and no music. Center exists for people who already know why they meditate and want a calm, precise tool to support long-term practice. Start a session in one tap. Practice in silence or with simple bells. Customize session lengths, intervals, sounds, and themes to match your ritual. Center works across all Apple platforms and stays out of your way. # Designed for real practice • Silent timer with optional bells and intervals • Fully customizable session lengths • Minimal interface with multiple themes • Widgets and daily reminders • Apple Watch support • Syncs seamlessly with iCloud # Optional tracking, never pressure • View trends and streaks if you want them • Manually log sessions when needed • No rankings, no goals, no gamification # Built to last • No subscriptions • No ads • No data harvesting • Supported by optional donations Center is not a course, a coach, or a content platform. It is a quiet instrument for mindfulness, offered with restraint and intention. If Center supports your practice, you may choose to support its continued development.

About

Mindful Timer

This app provides a simple, unguided interval timer for self-guided meditation, breathwork, and yoga practices. It features customizable timers, gentle bells, and a distraction-free interface. Save your favorite routines and track your weekly sessions without any ads or subscriptions.

Highlights
  • Multiple automatic timers
  • Customizable interval bells
  • Save preset routines
  • Weekly session tracking
  • Gentle bell sounds
  • Distraction-free design
  • Offline functionality
Read full description

A simple meditation timer for unguided practice. No ads. No subscriptions. No distractions. Just gentle bells to keep time while you practice. Set your session, put your phone down, and let the bells guide you. Mindful Timer is built for people who just want the space to meditate—no courses, no sleep sounds, no content library. Just timers, soothing sounds, and you. Perfect for meditation, yin and restorative yoga, breathwork, zazen, or any self-guided practice. NEW + 20+ curated sounds: singing bowls, bells, and simple voice cues + Choose how many times the bells ring —once, twice, or three times + Practice insights and heat maps to help you build consistency + Sync sessions to Apple Health as Mindful Minutes CORE FEATURES + Sequential timers that flow automatically from one to the next, so you never check the clock + Interval bells at your chosen frequency (e.g. every 5 minutes) + Fully custom timer durations + Save your routines as presets and start them in one tap + Track streaks, weekly and monthly sessions, and lifetime minutes + Play your own music (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) + Runs in the background and while your phone is locked + Large countdown display. DESIGNED FOR CALM FROM DAY ONE + No ads, ever + No subscriptions, ever — one simple purchase, yours forever + No guided meditations, courses, or content to wade through + No social feeds or comparison + Dark mode so it's easy on the eyes + Works fully offline + Gentle sounds to guide you through transitions (unlike most interval timers) PERFECT FOR + Any self-guided or silent meditation + Zen, zazen, vipassana, and insight meditation + Yin yoga and restorative yoga + Breathwork and pranayama + Practicing at home before a vipassana or meditation retreat + Building a daily unguided meditation or yoga habit + Yoga teachers keeping time during class + Interval walking, Japanese interval walking, and Pomodoro focus blocks WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT + Incredibly simple and intuitive design. + Keeps time in the background, so you never pick up your phone mid-practice. + Carefully curated, soothing sounds. No jarring alarms. + No clutter, no distractions, nothing you don't need.

Screenshots

Center Meditation Timer4 screens
Mindful Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Mindful Timer at 100% against Center Meditation Timer's 70%. Mindful Timer also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Center Meditation Timer's advantage is ratings volume (781 vs 10) and device support (6 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Center Meditation Timer sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Mindful Timer sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mindful Timer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Center Meditation Timer has 781 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of Center Meditation Timer's written reviews are positive against 100% of Mindful Timer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Center Meditation Timer ships an update every 4 weeks, Mindful Timer weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Center Meditation Timer versus Mindful Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCenter Meditation TimerMindful Timer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (781 ratings)5.0 (10 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings781 — better10
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTanner ChristensenBurnt Cinnamon Labs

Customer experience

Center Meditation Timer

All ratings781 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.8%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews185 reviews
Positive70.3%
Neutral10.8%
Negative18.9%

Mindful Timer

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Center Meditation Timer

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Interval sounds not playing consistently
  • Timer stopping when screen locks or goes to sleep
  • Sync issues between iPhone and Apple Watch app
  • Inability to change screen sleep settings

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add Apple Watch complications and background tracking
  • Allow manual entry of meditation sessions
  • Extend bell/chime duration for better resonance
  • Add option to play background nature sounds

Mindful Timer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Center Meditation Timer

One-time6
  • Donate $1$0.99
  • Donate $2$1.99
  • Donate $3$2.99
Show 3 more
  • Donate $4$3.99
  • Donate $5$4.99
  • Donate $18$17.99
2 purchases

Mindful Timer

One-time2
  • Premium: Bell Sounds, Insights$2.99
  • Premium: Bell Sounds, Insights$4.99

Questions

Is Center Meditation Timer free?
Center Meditation Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mindful Timer free?
Mindful Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Center Meditation Timer or Mindful Timer?
Mindful Timer is rated higher. Center Meditation Timer averages 4.7 out of 5 from 781 ratings, while Mindful Timer averages 5.0 from 10 ratings.
Do Center Meditation Timer or Mindful Timer have ads?
Neither Center Meditation Timer nor Mindful Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Center Meditation Timer or Mindful Timer?
Center Meditation Timer ships an update every 4 weeks, and Mindful Timer weekly. Most recently, Center Meditation Timer was updated on October 11, 2026 and Mindful Timer on October 12, 2026.

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