Comparison

Flow vs RescueTime

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

Head to head
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/.

About

RescueTime

Understand and manage your time automatically. This app helps you block distractions, track activities on your mobile and desktop, and set productivity goals. Gain insights into your workday and improve focus.

Highlights
  • Automatic time tracking
  • Distraction blocking (Focus Sessions)
  • Activity categorization
  • Task timers
  • Offline activity logging
  • Home screen widgets
  • Productivity goals and alerts
Read full description

RescueTime helps you track time, block distractions, manage goals, and understand your full workday across phone and desktop. Together this gives you a clear view of your habits and the tools to improve them. Understand where your time goes, stay focused when it matters, and build better workdays without extra effort. One subscription works across all your devices, syncing your data to give you a complete picture of your time on mobile and desktop. **Created For iOS** RescueTime for iOS brings powerful, simple focus tools to your phone: • Automatic app tracking: see app activity with productivity ratings and daily and weekly summaries (optional Screen Time permission). • Focus Sessions with optional app blocking: stay on task with time-boxing, optionally grant permission to block distractions in real time. • Project tracking: log time to specific projects and track progress across sessions and timers. • Offline time: add meetings, calls, and other offline activities to complete your day. • Reporting: View and manage your time across all your devices in the app. • Available in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and Russian. **Focus Sessions** Start a Focus Session when you need uninterrupted time to work. RescueTime blocks distractions, tracks your progress, and delivers a summary when you're done. Use timers for time boxing or to track open-ended tasks. Sessions and timers can be linked to projects, so your focused time always counts toward something meaningful. **Full Workday Perspective** Install RescueTime on your desktop to see the full picture. Your activity, focus sessions, and progress sync seamlessly across devices. Please note that RescueTime for desktop is only available in English. **Goals And Insights** Set daily goals for focused work, screen-free time, or better online habits. RescueTime tracks your progress automatically and shows how your behavior aligns with your goals. Weekly summaries highlight trends over time, so you can see what's working and what's not. **Permissions** Several optional features require elevated permissions. Reporting: tracking phone app activity requires Screen Time permission, and you can choose to use this feature or not. Focus Sessions: using the optional app blocking part of sessions requires Screen Time permission in order to offer real-time intervention. **Plans** Solo Focus includes automatic tracking with full history, Focus Sessions with real-time app blocking, offline activity logging, goals with daily targets, alerts and automations, advanced filtering, and integrations. Solo+ includes everything in Solo Focus, plus automated project and task tracking with RescueTime Timesheets. Link activities and timers to projects to automatically generate timesheets or track progress across work and personal goals. Free includes automatic basic tracking, daily and weekly reports, the Productivity Pulse, and two weeks of activity history. Offline time logging, project tracking, and distraction blocking require a subscription. **For Teams** RescueTime also offers team plans with shared projects, team dashboards, manager insights, and centralized settings. Team plans are only available at rescuetime.com. **Privacy** RescueTime does not record keystrokes, capture screenshots, or read message and website content. You control what is tracked, can pause tracking at any time, and can export or delete your data whenever you choose.

Screenshots

Flow4 screens
RescueTime4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Flow at 86% against RescueTime's 21%. Flow also leads on ratings volume (1.7K vs 3) and device support (5 vs 2). RescueTime's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Flow sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and RescueTime sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

RescueTime holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Flow has 1.7K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 86% of Flow's written reviews are positive against 21% of RescueTime's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Flow versus RescueTime: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFlowRescueTime
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (1.7K ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.7% of reviews — better21.4% of reviews
Number of ratings1.7K — better3
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size80 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYugen GmbHRescueTime, Inc

Customer experience

Flow

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

RescueTime

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews28 reviews
Positive21.4%
Neutral3.6%
Negative75.0%

Bugs and requests

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

RescueTime

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
4 purchases

RescueTime

Subscriptions4
  • Solo Monthly14 Days trial$9.001 Month
  • Solo+ Monthly14 Days trial$15.001 Month
  • Solo Yearly14 Days trial$84.001 Year
Show 1 more
  • Solo+ Yearly14 Days trial$143.991 Year

Questions

Is Flow free?
Flow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is RescueTime free?
RescueTime is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Flow or RescueTime?
RescueTime is rated higher. Flow averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while RescueTime averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Flow or RescueTime have ads?
Neither Flow nor RescueTime shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Flow or RescueTime?
Flow ships an update every 4 weeks, and RescueTime every 4 weeks. Most recently, Flow was updated on September 23, 2026 and RescueTime on September 22, 2026.

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