RescueTime vs Vela
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RescueTime
Understand and manage your time automatically. This app helps you block distractions, track activities on your mobile and desktop, and set productivity goals. Gain insights into your workday and improve focus.
- Automatic time tracking
- Distraction blocking (Focus Sessions)
- Activity categorization
- Task timers
- Offline activity logging
- Home screen widgets
- Productivity goals and alerts
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RescueTime helps you track time, block distractions, manage goals, and understand your full workday across phone and desktop. Together this gives you a clear view of your habits and the tools to improve them. Understand where your time goes, stay focused when it matters, and build better workdays without extra effort. One subscription works across all your devices, syncing your data to give you a complete picture of your time on mobile and desktop. **Created For iOS** RescueTime for iOS brings powerful, simple focus tools to your phone: • Automatic app tracking: see app activity with productivity ratings and daily and weekly summaries (optional Screen Time permission). • Focus Sessions with optional app blocking: stay on task with time-boxing, optionally grant permission to block distractions in real time. • Project tracking: log time to specific projects and track progress across sessions and timers. • Offline time: add meetings, calls, and other offline activities to complete your day. • Reporting: View and manage your time across all your devices in the app. • Available in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and Russian. **Focus Sessions** Start a Focus Session when you need uninterrupted time to work. RescueTime blocks distractions, tracks your progress, and delivers a summary when you're done. Use timers for time boxing or to track open-ended tasks. Sessions and timers can be linked to projects, so your focused time always counts toward something meaningful. **Full Workday Perspective** Install RescueTime on your desktop to see the full picture. Your activity, focus sessions, and progress sync seamlessly across devices. Please note that RescueTime for desktop is only available in English. **Goals And Insights** Set daily goals for focused work, screen-free time, or better online habits. RescueTime tracks your progress automatically and shows how your behavior aligns with your goals. Weekly summaries highlight trends over time, so you can see what's working and what's not. **Permissions** Several optional features require elevated permissions. Reporting: tracking phone app activity requires Screen Time permission, and you can choose to use this feature or not. Focus Sessions: using the optional app blocking part of sessions requires Screen Time permission in order to offer real-time intervention. **Plans** Solo Focus includes automatic tracking with full history, Focus Sessions with real-time app blocking, offline activity logging, goals with daily targets, alerts and automations, advanced filtering, and integrations. Solo+ includes everything in Solo Focus, plus automated project and task tracking with RescueTime Timesheets. Link activities and timers to projects to automatically generate timesheets or track progress across work and personal goals. Free includes automatic basic tracking, daily and weekly reports, the Productivity Pulse, and two weeks of activity history. Offline time logging, project tracking, and distraction blocking require a subscription. **For Teams** RescueTime also offers team plans with shared projects, team dashboards, manager insights, and centralized settings. Team plans are only available at rescuetime.com. **Privacy** RescueTime does not record keystrokes, capture screenshots, or read message and website content. You control what is tracked, can pause tracking at any time, and can export or delete your data whenever you choose.
Vela
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Vela is a private mood tracker and reflection journal designed to help you understand how you feel, one check-in at a time. With Vela, you can quickly log your mood, add notes, record what influenced your emotions, and look back at your personal mood history. It gives you a calm, simple space to reflect without pressure, clutter, or unnecessary complexity. Whether you want to understand your emotions, keep a private mood diary, notice emotional patterns, or simply pause and reflect on your day, Vela helps you create a clearer picture of your wellbeing over time. Private by Design Your mood entries and reflections are personal. Vela is designed for private mood tracking, with your reflections kept on your device and available even offline. No cloud account is required to start reflecting. Key Features Mood Tracking Log how you feel in seconds with a simple mood check-in. Add emotions, tags, notes, and context so each entry captures more than just a mood. Reflection Journal Use Vela as a private space to write about your day, your thoughts, and what affected how you felt. Keep reflections short or detailed — it is entirely up to you. Mood History Look back at your previous mood entries and see how your emotions change over time. Your timeline helps you understand your personal emotional patterns. Mood Insights Review simple mood insights based on your check-ins, including emotional trends, common tags, and recurring patterns in your reflections. Gentle Reminders Set optional reminders to check in with yourself. Vela reminders are designed to be calm and flexible, helping you pause when it feels right. Personalisation Make Vela feel like your own private reflection space with calming backgrounds, expressive emoji packs, and a warm visual style. Badges & Milestones Celebrate small reflection milestones as you continue using Vela. Badges are designed to encourage consistency without turning the app into a habit tracker. Privacy Lock Keep your personal reflections protected with privacy features such as app lock, passcode, or biometric access where supported. Vela Plus Upgrade to Vela Plus to unlock premium personalisation and deeper reflection features, including advanced mood insights, premium backgrounds, expressive emoji packs, and more ways to customise your private mood journal. Why Vela? Vela is designed to feel calm, private, and easy to use. It does not try to diagnose, treat, or overwhelm you. Instead, it helps you pause, name how you feel, and understand your emotional patterns over time. Use Vela to: Track your daily mood Keep a private mood journal Record emotions and mood tags Add notes to your check-ins Review your mood history Notice emotional patterns Reflect on your day Set optional mood reminders Personalise your journal space Keep reflections private and offline Perfect For Vela is useful if you are looking for: Mood tracker Mood journal Mood diary Emotion tracker Feelings tracker Daily reflection app Private journal Offline journal Self-awareness app Mood log Wellness journal Mindfulness journal Reflection journal Emotional wellbeing app Start With One Mood Check-In You do not need to write a long journal entry to understand yourself better. Sometimes, one small mood check-in is enough. Vela helps you pause, reflect, and return to your day with a little more clarity. Start tracking your mood privately with Vela today. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://vela.blumint.app/#privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Vela at 15.1 against RescueTime's 17.4. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. RescueTime sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.00 per month and Vela sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | RescueTime | Vela |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (4 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 21.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 83 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | RescueTime | Blumint Digital |
In-app purchases
RescueTime
- Solo Monthly14 Days trial$9.001 Month
- Solo+ Monthly14 Days trial$15.001 Month
- Solo Yearly14 Days trial$84.001 Year
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- Solo+ Yearly14 Days trial$143.991 Year
Vela
- vela Plus$2.991 Month
- vela Plus$19.991 Year
- vela Plus$39.99









