Comparison

PMR vs SETimer

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

Head to head
About

PMR

This app guides you through progressive muscle relaxation exercises with voice and written instructions. It features a 3D model to demonstrate muscle tensing and releasing, allowing for customizable session lengths and voice options. Designed for accessibility, it aims to help users reduce physical restlessness and pain.

Highlights
  • Guided PMR sessions
  • Voice and written instructions
  • 3D muscle tension model
  • Customizable session duration
  • Adjustable voice pace and pitch
  • Beginner and advanced modes
  • Music playback option
Features
Read full description

Your doctor or health professional may have introduced you to progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) as part of a therapy. Our app helps you to go through PMR sessions by yourself. Our PMR app guides you through a complete PMR session. It enables you to focus solely on your tension and relaxation. It tells you, by voice and in writing, what you need to do at what time within each exercise. Our three-dimensional model shows you how to tense and relax which muscles. The app leads you through a complete program and frees you from counting exercises, their timing and their sequence. Choose your own rhythm by selecting the duration of the tension and relaxation phases yourself, as well as the number of iterations for each exercise. This allows you to vary between a 3-minute short session and a long relaxation program lasting a quarter or half an hour. Our app offers you a selection of pleasant voices to guide you through your PMR session. You can adapt the pace and the pitch of voices, or load further voices through the Settings app. We explain exercises in detail to beginners, using speech and visual demonstrations. Advanced users may reduce the announcements to a minimum. You may play music during your session if that sooths you. We aim at making our PMR app accessible to the visually impaired through voice over. If you are affected and use voice over, please let us know how this works for you and how we can further improve in this direction. Progressive muscle relaxation (also progressive relaxation (PMR) or deep muscle relaxation) developed by Edmund Jacobson is a relaxation technique that involves learning to monitor the tension in specific muscle groups by first tensing each muscle group. This tension is then released, as attention is directed towards the differences felt during tension and relaxation. The individual muscle parts are tensed in a certain order. The concentration of the person is directed to the alternation between tension and relaxation and to the sensations associated with these different states. The aim of the procedure is to lower the muscle tension below the normal level due to improved body awareness. Over time, the person should learn to induce muscular relaxation whenever they want to. Relaxing the muscles can reduce signs of physical restlessness or excitement, such as palpitations, sweating or tremors. In addition, muscle tension can be traced and loosened, thus reducing pain. PMR is often used in behavioral therapy, such as the treatment of anxiety disorders, where it is used as part of a systematic desensitization treatment. Good results can also be achieved for high blood pressure, headaches, migraines, chronic back pain, sleep disorders, and stress. The first few sessions are free of cost. Later on, we will ask you for a contribution in the form of a subscription. If you cannot yet decide to subscribe at that point, we will finance further cost-free sessions with advertisements. We recommend a subscription, though, as ads may disturb your concentration. Subscriptions are not renewed automatically, but you may start a new subscription at any time. If you opt for a subscription, we do not collect any data from you, and the purchasing data is only handled by the Apple App Store. If you opt for ads, ad providers may collect certain data from you through Google Ads, as described in Google's privacy policy. Excerpts of this text originate from Wikipedia.

About

SETimer

Features
Read full description

Build routines that run themselves. SETimer is a focused routine timer for workouts, deep work, study, breathing, stretching, meditation, cooking and more. Choose a ready-to-run template or create your own sequence of timed stages and repeat groups. START IN SECONDS • 34 built-in routines, including HIIT, Tabata, EMOM, Pomodoro, Box Breathing, Meditation and Yoga • One-tap starts from Home and recently used routines • Clear previews showing every stage, duration and repeat group BUILD YOUR OWN ROUTINE • Create, edit, duplicate and save custom routines • Use exact seconds or enter durations in minutes • Combine stages with single-level repeat groups STAY FOCUSED • Immersive full-screen sessions in portrait and landscape • Pause, resume and skip without losing timing accuracy • Optional offline voice prompts, countdown announcements and background rhythm • Live Activities, Lock Screen controls and Dynamic Island support • English and Simplified Chinese SETimer uses absolute time anchors so your routine stays accurate through UI updates, audio prompts and background transitions. No account is required. The free version includes core templates and a limited number of custom routines. SETimer Pro unlocks unlimited custom routines, the full template library, advanced voice options and enhanced system integrations. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://setimer.com/privacy

Screenshots

PMR4 screens
SETimer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: SETimer at none against PMR's shown. PMR's advantage is iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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. PMR sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and SETimer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
PMR versus SETimer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPMRSETimer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (16 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews14.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings16 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 months—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperValue from Software LLC知昶 臧

In-app purchases

1 purchases

PMR

One-time1
  • Subscription for 1 month$2.99
3 purchases

SETimer

Subscriptions2
  • SETimer Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • SETimer Pro Annual7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • SETimer Pro Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is PMR free?
PMR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SETimer free?
SETimer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PMR or SETimer have ads?
PMR shows ads; SETimer does not.

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