Comparison

Pomodoro Focus Timer vs Garden

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

Head to head
About

Pomodoro Focus Timer

This app combines a minimalist timer with a to-do list to enhance focus and productivity. It utilizes the Pomodoro Technique to help users manage tasks and work sessions effectively, offering customizable breaks and session lengths. Real-time syncing ensures your progress is available across all your Apple devices.

Highlights
  • Customizable focus and break sessions
  • Integrated to-do list with task pinning
  • Apple Watch app with complications
  • Home Screen & Lock Screen widgets
  • Live Activity and Dynamic Island support
  • Real-time iCloud sync
  • Focus session statistics and heatmap
Features
Read full description

Focus better. Do more. One beautifully simple app. Pomodoro Focus Timer combines a clean, minimal work timer with a built-in to-do list — so you can plan your tasks and stay focused without juggling separate apps. Built on the proven Pomodoro Technique, it helps you work and study with minimal distraction and maximum productivity, whether you're at the office, in class, or working from home. No clutter. No noise. Just you and your next focus session. HOW IT WORKS 1. Add the tasks you want to work on 2. Pin a task to keep it front and center 3. Start the timer (the classic 25 minutes — or set your own) 4. Take a 5-minute break when it rings (fully customizable) 5. Mark your task complete and repeat A TIMER THAT WORKS THE WAY YOU DO • Customizable focus sessions, short breaks, and long breaks • Auto-start your next break or session — stay in flow, hands-free • Long breaks after every few sessions, on your schedule • Pause, skip, or reset anytime • Keep-screen-on mode and optional completion sounds • A simple, minimal timer that gets out of your way BUILT-IN TO-DO LIST • Add, edit, reorder, and complete tasks in seconds • Pin your most important task to the timer screen • Swipe to complete — or check tasks off right from a widget • Your tasks, always in sync across your devices FULL APPLE WATCH APP • Start, pause, stop, and skip the timer from your wrist • Add tasks and mark them complete — no iPhone needed • Watch face complications for timer, tasks, and your streak • Use your watch as a remote for the timer on your phone WIDGETS & LIVE ACTIVITIES • Home Screen & Lock Screen widgets for timer, tasks, and stats • Live Activity + Dynamic Island — see your countdown and pinned task at a glance • Control Center timer toggle (iOS 18) • Tap to play, pause, skip, or complete a task right from a widget STATS THAT KEEP YOU MOTIVATED • Track focus sessions for today and all-time • Current streak and best streak • GitHub-style activity heatmap • Scrubbable charts by day, week, month, and year • See your most-worked-on tasks and personalized insights SIRI SHORTCUTS • "Hey Siri, start a focus timer" — go completely hands-free SYNCS EVERYWHERE • Real-time iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch • Your tasks, settings, and stats follow you everywhere MADE TO BLEND IN • Beautiful Dark Mode everywhere • 8 accent colors to match your style • Clean, distraction-free design Whether you're studying for exams, powering through deep work, or just trying to beat procrastination, Pomodoro Focus Timer is the simple, minimal productivity companion that keeps you on track. Terms of Use: https://pawan.info/legal/pomodoro/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://pawan.info/legal/pomodoro/privacy.html

About

Garden

This app offers a minimalist approach to note-taking and mindfulness. It features quick note capture, a single daily task reminder, and a calming visual experience to encourage presence and reduce digital distraction.

Highlights
  • Quick-capture notes with custom categories
  • Single daily task checkbox with confetti reward
  • Calming wheat field visualization
  • No notifications or streaks
  • Offline note storage
  • iCloud sync across Apple devices
  • Markdown export
Features
Read full description

Garden is a quiet iPhone app for presence and clarity. It does three things, and only three things: — Quick-capture notes, organized by the categories you create. A grocery list, a half-formed thought, a thing your kid said, an idea for a side project. Pick a category, type, hit add. — A single daily checkbox: "I did the one thing today." When you check it, you get a small burst of confetti, a soft haptic, and permission to put your phone down. — A wheat field on the Calm tab. Eighty blades, gently swaying. Watch it for ten seconds and remember why any of this matters. That is the whole app. What Garden won't do • No notifications. Garden never asks for your attention. • No streaks. No "you're on a 7-day roll." Streaks are anxiety machines dressed as motivation. • No badges, red dots, or "come back" prompts. • No social features. Garden is yours. Nothing leaves your phone unless you choose to share it. • No accounts, no tracking, no telemetry. Sign in to iCloud and that's it. Where your notes live • On your iPhone, in a real local database — works offline, persists through restarts. • In your iCloud, synced automatically across your signed-in Apple devices. • Available as a markdown file you can export anytime, to anywhere — Files, iCloud Drive, email, AirDrop. A portable copy you own outright. Three layers, each protecting against a different way you might lose them. None of them ours. Designed for fewer minutes, not more Garden is built on the belief that the best phone app is the one you can put down. The aesthetic is calm: cream paper, sage ink, an Instrument Serif word here and there. Spring animations that feel hand-tuned. Haptics on the moments that matter. No dopamine loops. If you check the one thing and close the app, Garden has done its job. Privacy Garden does not collect, transmit, or sell any data. Your notes sync only through your own iCloud account. Garden has no servers, no analytics, and no third-party SDKs. The privacy nutrition label says "Data Not Collected" because nothing is collected. Read more in the Settings tab and at the privacy URL below. For who Garden is a personal tool. It was built for one person and is shared with friends. Made with care, on iPhone, with SwiftUI and SwiftData.

Screenshots

Pomodoro Focus Timer4 screens
Garden1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Garden at none against Pomodoro Focus Timer's 6. Garden also leads on update cadence (weekly vs monthly) and review sentiment (100% vs 82%). Pomodoro Focus Timer's advantage is ratings volume (294 vs 1) and device support (6 vs 1). On price, rating, ads and monetization model 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. Pomodoro Focus Timer sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Garden 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 Pomodoro Focus Timer against 5.0 for Garden. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pomodoro Focus Timer has 294 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Pomodoro Focus Timer's written reviews are positive against 100% of Garden's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pomodoro Focus Timer ships an update monthly, Garden weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pomodoro Focus Timer versus Garden: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPomodoro Focus TimerGarden
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (294 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings294 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPawanpreet SinghChad Stewart

Customer experience

Pomodoro Focus Timer

All ratings294 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral2.0%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews68 reviews
Positive82.4%
Neutral7.4%
Negative10.3%

Garden

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Pomodoro Focus Timer

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Timer doesn't work when screen is off or app is in background
  • Apple Watch notifications don't arrive until app is reopened
  • Pause/resume function doesn't actually pause the timer
  • App crashes occasionally
  • Tasks with similar names don't create properly
Show 4 more
  • Pomodoro counter resets at 500
  • Creating tasks can be glitchy
  • Timer doesn't stay running on Apple Watch
  • Notification doesn't trigger until app is opened

Requested features

15 requests
  • Dark theme/dark mode
  • Vibration option on timer completion
  • Horizontal/landscape mode support
  • Background sound options (rain, ocean waves, etc.)
  • Customizable notification sounds and volume
Show 10 more
  • Statistics and activity tracking (daily/weekly/monthly charts)
  • Task history and suggestions
  • Continuous timer option
  • App blocker for distraction prevention
  • Mac version with sync capability
  • Donation option in app
  • Tips section for Pomodoro technique
  • Reset to default button
  • Queue tasks from timer screen
  • Keep timer running when app is closed

Garden

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Pomodoro Focus Timer

Subscriptions2
  • Pomodoro Pro (Monthly)3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Pomodoro Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time4
  • Snack-Sized Tip$3.99
  • Lunch-sized Tip$9.99
  • Pizza-sized Tip$14.99
Show 1 more
  • Pomodoro Pro - Lifetime$29.99
None

Garden

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pomodoro Focus Timer free?
Pomodoro Focus Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Garden free?
Garden is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pomodoro Focus Timer or Garden?
Garden is rated higher. Pomodoro Focus Timer averages 4.9 out of 5 from 294 ratings, while Garden averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Pomodoro Focus Timer or Garden have ads?
Neither Pomodoro Focus Timer nor Garden shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pomodoro Focus Timer or Garden?
Pomodoro Focus Timer ships an update monthly, and Garden weekly. Most recently, Pomodoro Focus Timer was updated on October 23, 2026 and Garden on October 15, 2026.

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