Time’s Up! vs Black Reader
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.
Black Reader
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Black Reader is a focused PDF reader for iPhone and iPad. Open PDFs from Files, iCloud Drive, AirDrop, or other apps, then read comfortably with pinch-to-zoom and your choice of dark, light, or sepia reading modes. Keep your place automatically with per-document reading progress. Bookmark important pages, add notes to a page or an entire book, and capture page snippets with notes for later reference. Black Reader includes: • PDF reading with pinch-to-zoom • Dark, light, and sepia reading modes • Brightness control while reading • Automatic last-page memory • Bookmarks and favorites • Page and whole-book notes • Searchable recent PDFs and notes • Saved PDF snippets with notes • File sharing and document removal • No account required Black Reader contains advertising. A one-time in-app purchase is available to remove ads permanently.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Black Reader at every 3 days against Time’s Up!'s every 6 weeks. Time’s Up!'s advantage is device support (5 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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 Black Reader sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Time’s Up! ships an update every 6 weeks, Black Reader every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Time’s Up! | Black Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (444 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 84.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 444 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Overdesigned, LLC | ZAKARIA ELAROUSSI |
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
Black Reader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Time’s Up!
- Time’s Up! Unlimited$5.99
Black Reader
- Black Reader PRO$0.99
Questions
Is Time’s Up! free?
Is Black Reader free?
Do Time’s Up! or Black Reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, Time’s Up! or Black Reader?
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