Comparison

Time’s Up! vs Sandy Timer

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

Head to head
About

Time’s Up!

This app offers a fun and engaging way to track time with visually appealing countdowns. It's perfect for managing tasks, study sessions, or bedtime routines for both children and adults. Choose from unique visual styles or traditional clocks, and customize alerts for a personalized experience.

Highlights
  • Visual countdown styles (Reveal, Pixelate, Puzzle)
  • Customizable alert sounds and colors
  • iCloud timer syncing across devices
  • Live Activities for Lock Screen and Dynamic Island
  • Guided Access for child lock
  • AirPlay and tvOS support for TV display
  • Minute-by-minute audio updates
Features
Read full description

Time’s Up! is a fun, visual timer that you’ll actually want to use. Whether it’s for you, your kids, or someone else, Time’s Up! will make counting down much more engaging. Timers can be used at work and at home, whether you’re making sure you take a break or telling kids it’s bedtime.  Timers exist everywhere, but none of them are fun and visually appealing — and that can be important when you’re dealing with kids big and small! Time’s Up! has the features you need to make time fun again — try it for free, NO ADS. Time’s Up! isn’t just for kids and workaholics, though. The possibilities are endless: • Adults who need to set timers to stop them from working for too long without a break. • Kids who don’t want to do their homework but can be convinced to work in smaller chunks. • Setting reading or other activity timers before bed time. • Helping bigger kids focus on an activity for a set amount of time. • Setting timers for exercises — put Time’s Up! on your TV screen using AirPlay and turn a timer into the focal point for your exercise group. • Anything that’s based on a specific amount of time! What makes a timer fun? Time’s Up! has 5 fun styles to choose from, including:  • “Reveal” a photo from your Photo Library as the seconds tick down.  • “Pixelate” makes a photo more clear as a timer gets closer to completion. • “Puzzle” breaks a photo into jigsaw puzzle pieces and then puts the pieces into their places as time progresses. Alternatively, there are more traditional clock faces if you just want a simple timer. Timers can be customized with their own alert sound and color, too. Other key features include: • Sync your timers between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV using iCloud. • See your timers on your Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, and Apple Watch with Live Activities (requires iOS 18). • Guided Access to prevent kids from switching apps and changing timers, making sure only you have the power to control time. • Airplay and tvOS support so you can put a timer up on a TV screen. • Get audio updates each minute or countdown the last 10 seconds. • On macOS, you can float the timer window above other apps so it’s always visible. Time’s Up! is a free download with a trial limit of five countdowns. After that, there is a small one-time purchase that unlocks the app on all your devices, forever. ——————— What’s the difference between “Time’s Up! — Visual Timer” and “Time’s Up! Timer (VPP)”? You are looking at the free-to-download version of Time’s Up! that lets you try the app five times before upgrading via in-app purchase. “Time’s Up! Timer (VPP)” is the same app but available paid-upfront with no limits in the app itself. “Time’s Up! Timer (VPP)” exists so educators can purchase the app through Apple’s Volume Purchase Program (VPP) for Education. ——————— Time’s Up! has no ads or data trackers. We believe your data is your own and we don’t collect any of it.

About

Sandy Timer

Simulates a real sand timer using your device's orientation. Simply flip your phone to start the countdown. Tap the screen to adjust timer settings.

Highlights
  • Realistic sand timer simulation
  • Device orientation control
  • Tap to change settings
  • Simple and intuitive interface
Features
Read full description

This a real sand timer app simulator. Gravity does its job... Just turn your device upside down to start the timer! Single tap the screen to change the timer options. Make sure to turn the device orientation lock Off... and turn it upside-down!

Screenshots

Time’s Up!4 screens
Sandy Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

Time’s Up! and Sandy Timer both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 84% of Time’s Up!'s written reviews are positive against 50% of Sandy Timer's. Time’s Up! also leads on ratings volume (435 vs 6) and device support (5 vs 1). Sandy Timer's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks). On price, rating, ads 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’s Up! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Sandy Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Time’s Up! against 4.5 for Sandy Timer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Time’s Up! has 435 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Time’s Up!'s written reviews are positive against 50% of Sandy Timer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Time’s Up! ships an update every 6 weeks, Sandy Timer weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Time’s Up! versus Sandy Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTime’s Up!Sandy Timer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (435 ratings) — better4.5 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews84.3% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings435 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.4 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOverdesigned, LLCCesar Mejia Valero

Customer experience

Time’s Up!

All ratings435 ratings
Positive89.4%
Neutral3.9%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews121 reviews
Positive84.3%
Neutral6.6%
Negative9.1%

Sandy Timer

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Time’s Up!

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Hotkey functionality broken after update
  • Timer not working after app update
  • No sound at the end of timer

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow longer timer durations
  • Add ability to set multiple timers
  • Improve customization options
  • Provide more sound/alert options
  • Add child-proof timer lock feature

Sandy Timer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Time’s Up!

One-time1
  • Time’s Up! Unlimited$5.99
1 purchases

Sandy Timer

One-time1
  • Pro$3.99

Questions

Is Time’s Up! free?
Time’s Up! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sandy Timer free?
Sandy Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Time’s Up! or Sandy Timer?
Time’s Up! is rated higher. Time’s Up! averages 4.6 out of 5 from 435 ratings, while Sandy Timer averages 4.5 from 6 ratings.
Do Time’s Up! or Sandy Timer have ads?
Neither Time’s Up! nor Sandy Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Time’s Up! or Sandy Timer?
Time’s Up! ships an update every 6 weeks, and Sandy Timer weekly. Most recently, Time’s Up! was updated on October 10, 2026 and Sandy Timer on September 29, 2026.

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