Comparison

Focus Space vs Held

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

Head to head
About

Focus Space

Enhance concentration with customizable timers for focused work, study, or any activity. Track progress, set reminders, and create personalized schedules to boost productivity and reduce stress.

Highlights
  • Activity timer for focused sessions
  • Pomodoro timer with custom intervals
  • Playlist timer for daily routines
  • Daily focus reminders
  • Progress tracking and statistics
  • Customizable focus sessions
Features
Read full description

Focus Space provides a simple and beautiful interface to help stay focused and productive in whatever you need to do. Let your time work for you and reach your goal! The app suggests three types of timers. Focus Space were designed to better your focus on one certain activity necessary time, such as studying, working, reading, meditation, napping, cooking, coffee break, relaxing, writing, and a lot more. Focus Space offers tools to help you create the perfect atmosphere for concentration. Activity Timer - Focus on one certain activity for a short time. Ideal for short-term activities. Pomodoro Timer - Focus on one certain activity for a long time. Manage your balance of focus and break time. Playlist Timer - Plan time for different activities during the day. Breaking down activities into small steps helps you reach your goals. Daily Focus Reminders - Increase Productivity, set up daily time when you start your focus and Focus Timer will send you reminders. Progress tracker - Track progress and improvements of your focus Focus Space can help you with: - Control time you need to be focused on a certain activity - Customize focus sessions as you need - Set up Daily Focus Reminders - Track your productivity progress with insightful charts - Increase your focus abilities and productivity - Ability to create custom activity lists for your daily routine to ensure you stay on track - Collect daily activities you need to be focused on - Understand how you spend your time - Reveal tasks and processes holding you back - Observe your productive performance over time - Appreciate what you have achieved - Less Stress Features: - Activity timer to be focused on a certain activity - Pomodoro timer for working with intervals and breaks - Custom Pomodoro schema - Playlist timer to create custom activity lists for your daily routine - Daily Focus Reminders - Summary for your focus sessions - Motivation Daily Advice - Notifications about focus session progress - Activity Library - History of your focus sessions - Insightful statistics about progress If you have any questions, please reach out to apps.support@alteqlab.com

About

Held

This app helps you achieve your goals by making them public and accountable. Set deadlines, choose a witness, and receive regular check-ins and reminders to stay on track. Your progress is recorded in an honest ledger, ensuring permanent verdicts on your commitments.

Highlights
  • Set goals with deadlines and witnesses
  • Daily or weekly check-ins
  • Honest progress ledger
  • Customizable reminders
  • Private by design, no account needed
  • JSON data export
  • Stakes and renegotiation options
Features
Read full description

Goals fail quietly. Held makes them loud. A goal doesn't exist here until it has a deadline and a witness — someone you name, who gets your commitment in writing. Held walks you through it in three steps: the goal, the timeline, the person who will hold you to it. Give it a photograph too, if you want one. Then it sends your commitment through your own Messages or Mail, and the clock starts. THE DAY MARKER Open the app and one number faces you: the day you're on, out of the days you have. No dashboards, no confetti. Just the count. CHECK-INS ON A FIXED CADENCE Daily or weekly — you pick the rhythm when you commit. On check-in days Held asks for three honest things: on track, behind, or done; one line of progress; one next step. Add a photograph too, if you want one. Then it composes the message to your witness. You send it yourself. AN HONEST LEDGER Miss a check-in and it goes on the record. It stays on the record, and your next message to your witness owns up to it. Any photograph you added sits beside that day's line. On deadline day the ledger demands a verdict: kept or missed. Verdicts are permanent. REMINDERS THAT HOLD YOU TO IT A reminder on every check-in day, at the hour you choose. An evening nudge if the check-in is still open. A warning three days from the deadline, another the day before, and a final one when the ledger wants its verdict. Optional daily nudges for weekly goals. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No backend. No analytics. Everything lives on your device, with JSON export whenever you want your data. Held never sends anything on your behalf — every message goes out through your own apps, in your own name. Also: a progress bar on every goal, renegotiation (changing a deal means telling your witness first), stakes ("if I miss, I owe Sandy a spa day"), multiple goals and witnesses, and an interface with nothing to fiddle with. Put something on the line.

Screenshots

Focus Space4 screens
Held4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Held at 100% against Focus Space's 56%. Held also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Focus Space's advantage is ratings volume (57 vs 4). On price, update cadence and ads 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. Focus Space sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Held asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Held holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Focus Space has 57 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 56% of Focus Space's written reviews are positive against 100% of Held's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Focus Space ships an update every 2 months, Held every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 15, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Focus Space versus Held: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocus SpaceHeld
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (57 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews55.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings57 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAliaksei PrazhenikTheodor Younany

Customer experience

Focus Space

All ratings57 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral5.3%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive55.6%
Neutral33.3%
Negative11.1%

Held

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Focus Space

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Access3 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Monthly Productivity & Focus$2.991 Month
  • Focus Timer Yearly (60% off)$14.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Annual Access7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$34.99
None

Held

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Focus Space free?
Focus Space is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Held free?
Held is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Focus Space or Held?
Held is rated higher. Focus Space averages 4.6 out of 5 from 57 ratings, while Held averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Focus Space or Held have ads?
Neither Focus Space nor Held shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Focus Space or Held?
Focus Space ships an update every 2 months, and Held every 3 weeks. Most recently, Focus Space was updated on September 15, 2026 and Held on September 30, 2026.

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