Time’s Up! vs shelpful
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
shelpful
This AI-powered assistant helps you tackle daily tasks and habits, especially if you struggle with executive function. It provides proactive nudges, brainstorming support, and customizable interactions to help you get things done.
- AI-powered task and habit management
- Proactive nudges and reminders
- Brainstorming and suggestion support
- Customizable AI buddy name and tone
- Habit and to-do list integration
- Snooze reminders and flexible nudges
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Feel like you suck at life? Get an AI buddy that proactively nudges you to get everyday stuff done. Built for ADHD minds or anyone who’s overwhelmed. It helps you actually follow through with all the crap you need to. ----- FINALLY DO THE THINGS ----- ⓵ Say what you need to do in chat (habits, tasks, errands). ⓶ It'll ping and pester you to actually DO the stuff. ⓷ Say “I did it” → it gets marked complete. ⓸ Brainstorm → Your AI bud is amazing at suggesting the bare minimum to get things rolling. ----- MAKE IT YOURS ----- → Name your AI buddy to motivate you: Task Daddy? Frank? Accountability Alice? anything! → Customize your AI’s tone: chill, tough love, sweary. → Add habits + to-dos in one place. → Snooze reminders or ask for a later nudge. → Hit “Burn it Down” to reset anytime. ----- START IN SECONDS ----- You'll instantly start chatting with your AI buddy. No forms to fill out, no quizzes. Just forward motion in your own way. Shelpful (stands for super+helpful) was built by ADHDers, certified habit coaches, tech whizzes. ----- YOU DON'T SUCK AT LIFE, YOU JUST NEED BETTER TOOLS ----- We're on a mission to create more support for people who feel like they suck at life. > We’ve already helped over 100,000 people figure out habits and tasks. We’re excited to help you too. :) ----- IN THE NEWS ----- "Sam Altman’s venture fund invests $3M in Shelpful, using humans and AI to keep people on task." — GeekWire ----- PEOPLE ARE LOVING THE SHELPFUL APP ----- "I feel like I have a friend in my corner who eases the demands on my memory/executive function so I can stop spinning my wheels and start getting things done." - Sarah M., shelpful member "I absolutely love the Shelpful App. It's so cute and so funny and easy to use...I love that I can set the tone of the messages to fit me and that I can name my AI buddy which is especially nice when the notifications come on my phone." -- Dana B., shelpful member "I use Shelpful daily and know it’s helped my self-esteem, productivity, health, and self-awareness immensely." -- C., shelpful member ------ Terms of service: https://shelpful.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://shelpful.com/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Time’s Up! at 4.6 against shelpful's 4.3. Time’s Up! also leads on review sentiment (84% vs 67%) and ratings volume (444 vs 32). shelpful's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Time’s Up! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and shelpful sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Time’s Up! holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Time’s Up! has 444 ratings behind it against 32, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Time’s Up!'s written reviews are positive against 67% of shelpful's.
Time’s Up! ships an update every 6 weeks, shelpful every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Time’s Up! | shelpful |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (444 ratings) — better | 4.3 (32 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.3% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 444 — better | 32 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.4 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Overdesigned, LLC | Shelpful Inc |
Customer experience
Time’s Up!
shelpful
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
shelpful
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Time’s Up!
- Time’s Up! Unlimited$5.99
shelpful
- Pay What You Can - 114 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Pay What You Can - 214 Days trial$8.991 Month
- Monthly14 Days trial$9.991 Month
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Pay What You Can - 314 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Pay What You Can - 414 Days trial$17.991 Month
- Pay What You Can - 514 Days trial$19.991 Month









