Comparison

Yin Timer vs Mindful Timer

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

Head to head
About

Yin Timer

A discreet timer designed for calm activities like yoga or meditation. Set your desired duration, and the analog face completes one turn, providing a peaceful timekeeping experience without distracting ticking.

Highlights
  • Calm and discreet timer
  • Ideal for yoga and meditation
  • Analog face timekeeping
  • Customizable duration
  • No distracting ticking
Features
Read full description

A calm and discreet timer. This is perfect for yoga or meditation where a clock with ticking seconds will be distracting and stressful. Just choose how many minutes you want your timer to be, and it will go one turn of the analog face in that time. Slow and calm.

About

Mindful Timer

This app provides a simple, unguided interval timer for self-guided meditation, breathwork, and yoga practices. It features customizable timers, gentle bells, and a distraction-free interface. Save your favorite routines and track your weekly sessions without any ads or subscriptions.

Highlights
  • Multiple automatic timers
  • Customizable interval bells
  • Save preset routines
  • Weekly session tracking
  • Gentle bell sounds
  • Distraction-free design
  • Offline functionality
Read full description

A simple meditation timer for unguided practice. No ads. No subscriptions. No distractions. Just gentle bells to keep time while you practice. Set your session, put your phone down, and let the bells guide you. Mindful Timer is built for people who just want the space to meditate—no courses, no sleep sounds, no content library. Just timers, soothing sounds, and you. Perfect for meditation, yin and restorative yoga, breathwork, zazen, or any self-guided practice. NEW + 20+ curated sounds: singing bowls, bells, and simple voice cues + Choose how many times the bells ring —once, twice, or three times + Practice insights and heat maps to help you build consistency + Sync sessions to Apple Health as Mindful Minutes CORE FEATURES + Sequential timers that flow automatically from one to the next, so you never check the clock + Interval bells at your chosen frequency (e.g. every 5 minutes) + Fully custom timer durations + Save your routines as presets and start them in one tap + Track streaks, weekly and monthly sessions, and lifetime minutes + Play your own music (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) + Runs in the background and while your phone is locked + Large countdown display. DESIGNED FOR CALM FROM DAY ONE + No ads, ever + No subscriptions, ever — one simple purchase, yours forever + No guided meditations, courses, or content to wade through + No social feeds or comparison + Dark mode so it's easy on the eyes + Works fully offline + Gentle sounds to guide you through transitions (unlike most interval timers) PERFECT FOR + Any self-guided or silent meditation + Zen, zazen, vipassana, and insight meditation + Yin yoga and restorative yoga + Breathwork and pranayama + Practicing at home before a vipassana or meditation retreat + Building a daily unguided meditation or yoga habit + Yoga teachers keeping time during class + Interval walking, Japanese interval walking, and Pomodoro focus blocks WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT + Incredibly simple and intuitive design. + Keeps time in the background, so you never pick up your phone mid-practice. + Carefully curated, soothing sounds. No jarring alarms. + No clutter, no distractions, nothing you don't need.

Screenshots

Yin Timer1 screens
Mindful Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Yin Timer at none against Mindful Timer's 2. Yin Timer also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.6). Mindful Timer's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (10 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. Mindful Timer sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Yin Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Yin Timer against 5.0 for Mindful Timer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mindful Timer has 10 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Yin Timer ships an update every 4 months, Mindful Timer weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 4, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Yin Timer versus Mindful Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterYin TimerMindful Timer
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings110 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKodareBurnt Cinnamon Labs

Customer experience

Yin Timer

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Mindful Timer

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Yin Timer

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Mindful Timer

One-time2
  • Premium Sounds$1.99
  • Mindful Timer Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Yin Timer free?
Yin Timer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mindful Timer free?
Mindful Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Yin Timer or Mindful Timer?
Yin Timer and Mindful Timer are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 10 ratings respectively.
Do Yin Timer or Mindful Timer have ads?
Neither Yin Timer nor Mindful Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Yin Timer or Mindful Timer?
Yin Timer ships an update every 4 months, and Mindful Timer weekly. Most recently, Yin Timer was updated on September 4, 2026 and Mindful Timer on September 13, 2026.

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