Comparison

Pause vs Refocus Now

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

Head to head
About

Pause

This app provides short, guided sessions to help you slow down, breathe, and reconnect with your faith amidst a busy life. It offers various session lengths and guided programs to foster inner peace and spiritual connection.

Highlights
  • Short guided prayer sessions
  • Customizable session lengths (1-10 mins)
  • Daily rhythm reminders
  • Guided soul check-ins
  • Multi-day guided programs
  • Focus on spiritual connection
Features
Read full description

Life moves fast. Your soul doesn’t. The Pause App offers a simple way to step out of the noise, release what you’re carrying, and reconnect with God in the middle of your busy day. Built around short, guided pauses, the app helps you slow down, breathe, and return to a grounded place of peace and presence. Whether you have one minute or ten, these gentle moments create space for your soul to recover. Inspired by the practice shared in Get Your Life Back, Resilient, and Experience Jesus. Really., the Pause App began as a tool our team used every day—and has become a daily rhythm for people around the world. What you can do with the Pause App • Take short “Pauses” to reset your mind and heart - Choose from 1-, 3-, 5-, or 10-minute sessions designed to help you let go, recenter, and reconnect with God. • Build simple daily rhythms - Set reminders that fit your life—morning, evening, or anytime you need a breath. • Check in with your soul - A quick, guided way to name where you are and receive a gentle next step. • Go deeper with guided programs - Explore multi-day journeys like 30 Days to Resilient and Experience Jesus. Really.—designed to strengthen your inner life and help you walk with God in a grounded, honest way. Why people love the Pause The Pause App is simple on purpose. No pressure. No performance. Just small, honest moments to breathe again, reconnect with God, and recover the life of your soul. If you’re feeling tired, overwhelmed, distracted, or simply hungry for a deeper connection with God in the flow of real life, the Pause is a gentle place to begin.

About

Refocus Now

This app offers biblically and clinically based mental health and mindfulness exercises. It provides guided meditations, affirmations, and journaling prompts to help users process emotions and improve their well-being. It's designed as a supplement to therapy for personal emotional health.

Highlights
  • Biblically based meditations
  • Therapeutic exercises for grief, identity, relationships, trauma
  • Guided prayer and affirmations
  • Daily meditations under 10 minutes
  • Journaling for emotional processing
  • Self-guided education and visualizations
Features
Read full description

This isn't your typical mindfulness app. Refocus Now is a biblically & clinically based mental health, mindfulness and meditation app with therapeutic exercises designed for your personal emotional health needs.  Including specific categories such as grief, identity & self worth, relationships, trauma, and more. We offer daily meditations with guided prayer. Affirmations from our therapists that provide encouragement for practical everyday situations. And journaling to help you process your thoughts & emotions. This is not therapy, but it can be a great supplement to therapy, providing helpful exercises. Work through self guided education, self analysis, visualizations, and breathing exercises related to various life issues. Start your day off with the right mindset by meditating to God's work by listening to our many biblical meditations, all under 10 minutes. Let our therapists pour words of affirmation into your life through videos that address practical everyday situations. Journal your thoughts on your daily emotions, or answer reflective questions that are assigned to some of the therapeutic topical exercises. While based on Christian principles and scriptures, this app can be helpful for both Christians who are walking in the faith or even those who are simply curious about Christianity. We believe that this app can help you to refocus on living in the now. And journey towards being the person that God created you to be. Subscriptions Pricing and Terms Refocus Now offers an auto-renewing subscription: $1.99 per month These prices are for United States customers. Pricing in other countries vary and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on the country of residence. The subscription will automatically renew unless turned off in your iTunes Account Settings at least 24 hours before the current period ends. You can go to your iTunes Account settings to manage your subscription and turn off auto-renew. Your iTunes Account will be charged when the purchase is confirmed. If you subscribe before your free trial ends, the rest of your free trial will be forfeited as soon as your purchase is confirmed. Read the terms and conditions here: https://refocusapp.com/terms-%26-conditions Read the privacy policy here: https://refocusapp.com/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Pause4 screens
Refocus Now4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pause at none against Refocus Now's 2. Pause also leads on ratings volume (5.9K vs 6). Refocus Now's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (13.4 vs 15.1). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Refocus Now sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per year. Pause asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Pause against 4.8 for Refocus Now. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pause has 5.9K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 98% of Pause's written reviews are positive against 100% of Refocus Now's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pause ships an update every 2 months, Refocus Now every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pause versus Refocus Now: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPauseRefocus Now
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (5.9K ratings) — better4.8 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews98.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.9K — better6
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.113.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size61 MB38 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperRansomed Heart MinistriesREFOCUS APP LLC

Customer experience

Pause

All ratings5,347 ratings
Positive98.6%
Neutral0.8%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews799 reviews
Positive98.4%
Neutral0.5%
Negative1.1%

Refocus Now

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Pause

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App freezing or not opening on certain devices
  • Inability to progress through 30-day program when encountering technical issues

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to control volume of background music
  • Option to continue background music after meditation ends
  • Offline access to download individual pauses

Refocus Now

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Pause

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Refocus Now

Subscriptions2
  • Annual Premium Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Year
  • Monthly Premium Subscription7 Days trial$1.991 Month

Questions

Is Pause free?
Pause is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Refocus Now free?
Refocus Now is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pause or Refocus Now?
Pause is rated higher. Pause averages 4.9 out of 5 from 5.9K ratings, while Refocus Now averages 4.8 from 6 ratings.
Do Pause or Refocus Now have ads?
Pause shows ads; Refocus Now does not.
Which is updated more often, Pause or Refocus Now?
Pause ships an update every 2 months, and Refocus Now every 6 weeks. Most recently, Pause was updated on October 21, 2026 and Refocus Now on October 1, 2026.

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