Comparison

Time Machine vs Vellum

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

Head to head
About

Time Machine

Visualize your life's timeline and track important dates. This app helps you see how much time has passed, count down to future events, and preserve memories with photos and messages. It also allows you to create time capsules for your future self.

Highlights
  • Visualize time lived
  • Track week, month, and year progress
  • Countdown to future events
  • Save memories with photos and text
  • Create time capsules for future self
Features
Read full description

How much time has become part of your story? Time Machine gives you a fresh way to see the passing of time and remember the moments that matter. YOUR LIFE, IN TIME Enter your date of birth and explore how much time you've lived. See the progress of your week, month and year, and take a closer look at the time remaining in your day. DATES THAT MATTER Keep track of birthdays, anniversaries and personal milestones. See the time until or since each event, and explore your dates in the calendar. KEEP YOUR MEMORIES Save photos and words in memory albums for your important days, and revisit moments from the past. A MESSAGE TO THE FUTURE Seal a time capsule with a message to your future self and choose when to open it. About time. About you.

About

Vellum

Read full description

Vellum is a time-gift app where you send audio and video capsules to the future. Record today, open years later. To yourself, or to those you love. CAPSULES FOR THE FUTURE In Vellum, every capsule is a sealed envelope. You set the opening date: a year, ten years, twenty-five years from now. Until the date you choose, the capsule stays closed even you cannot listen to it. The seal cannot be broken before its time, because the essence of Vellum lies in the waiting of the word you sent to the future, and in its remembrance when the moment arrives. SEND A GIFT TO YOUR LOVED ONES You can send Vellum capsules to someone else too. A message for their birthday, a congratulation for their graduation, a word for your child's eighteenth. Even if the other person doesn't use Vellum, they reach the capsule through a link and add it to their own iCloud account. That capsule is now theirs even if you delete Vellum. YOUR CAPSULES, YOUR iCloud Vellum has no server. All your capsules are kept in your Apple iCloud account, encrypted end to end. We can never access their contents. When you send a gift, the capsule reaches the recipient directly through iCloud there is no server between us. BUILT TO LAST We built Vellum on Apple's infrastructure because we want it to still be working ten years from now. Companies close, servers shut down, apps disappear. Your iCloud account, though, stays yours. Vellum is just an interface that uses that trust. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Record an audio capsule (in your own voice, in your own words) - Film a video capsule - Choose the opening date: 1 month, 1 year, 25 years from now - Add a personal note - Send to yourself or to someone close - Track the status of the capsules you've sent WHO USES VELLUM - Those who leave a message through time for their loved ones on birthdays - Parents who record their child's growth day by day and prepare capsules to be opened at certain ages - Those who want to give themselves a word on anniversaries, on new beginnings - Those who do not want to lose their memories Vellum was made for thinking about permanence. It is not a fast tool it is a slow ritual.

Screenshots

Time Machine4 screens
Vellum4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Vellum at none against Time Machine's shown. Time Machine's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence 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. Time Machine sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per month and Vellum sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Time Machine ships an update fortnightly, Vellum every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Time Machine versus Vellum: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTime MachineVellum
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (11 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings11 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size71 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer红升 孙mustafa yazgulu

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Time Machine

Subscriptions2
  • 时间机器1月高级会员$0.491 Month
  • 时间机器1年高级会员3 Days trial$5.991 Year
10 purchases

Vellum

One-time10
  • Text Capsule Forever Single$0.99
  • Text Capsule Forever 3 Pack$1.99
  • Video • 1m • 1y ×3$12.99
Show 7 more
  • Video • 3m • 1y ×3$26.99
  • Video • 1m • 5y ×3$26.99
  • Video • 1m • 10y ×3$44.99
  • Video • 3m • 5y ×3$47.99
  • Video • 3m • 10y ×3$79.99
  • Video • 10m • 5y ×3$94.99
  • Video • 10m • 10y ×3$149.99

Questions

Is Time Machine free?
Time Machine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Vellum free?
Vellum is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Time Machine or Vellum have ads?
Time Machine shows ads; Vellum does not.
Which is updated more often, Time Machine or Vellum?
Time Machine ships an update fortnightly, and Vellum every 2 weeks. Most recently, Time Machine was updated on October 29, 2026 and Vellum on October 15, 2026.

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