Comparison

Today Planned vs Sessions

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

Head to head
About

Today Planned

Reliably receive alerts for calendar events, even when your device is on silent or Do Not Disturb. This app offers customizable alarms, daily summaries, and tools to manage your availability and focus time.

Highlights
  • Automatic calendar event alarms
  • Customizable extra alarms
  • Event and calendar filters
  • Daily agenda summary
  • Availability sharing
  • Focus time blocks
  • Apple Watch haptic alarms
Features
Read full description

One-time purchase. No subscriptions. Calendar alarms that can ring even in Silent Mode and Do Not Disturb. HOW TO USE TODAY PLANNED: 1. Add your calendar and get calendar alarms 2. Filter out events you do not want alarms for 3. Schedule more alarms before, during, or after events 4. Keep everything else for the day in Things Today Planned automatically adds alarms to your calendar events, then lets you shape exactly what should ring and when. Use it for the events that need more than a notification, and keep the rest of your day in Things: your daily place for quick notes, saved links, scans, screenshots, documents, bigger plans, and anything else you want synced to all your devices with iCloud. FEATURES: - Alarms before or after events start and end - When to Leave alarms that adjust for travel time, traffic, and your location - Custom alarm sounds, per-filter sounds, and optional spoken event titles - Filters for calendars, titles, people, availability, status, and more - Multiple alarms per event - Things for notes, links, scans, screenshots, documents, videos, receipts, and Markdown plans - Share Sheet, Shortcuts, copy and paste, import, and drag and drop - Folders, tags, notes, search, and filters - Access your Things on Mac in Finder, like regular folders and files, synced via your iCloud - Connect calendars from a nearby Mac, like your work Mac, with the optional Today Planned Companion app, even if it doesn’t use your iCloud account - No accounts, no servers, works on your device Buy once. Stop missing what matters.

About

Sessions

This discreet timer helps professionals manage session times without disrupting client flow. It syncs with your calendar and provides subtle notifications on your watch and phone, with a visual timer display for your desk.

Highlights
  • Calendar sync for automatic session setup
  • Discreet Apple Watch notifications
  • Visual timer display with color cues
  • Lock screen and Dynamic Island integration
  • Manual session entry option
  • Session count tracking
Features
Read full description

You're in the middle of a session and you can't check the clock without breaking rapport. Or perhaps you're between clients, and suddenly realize you've fallen behind schedule. Sessions is a simple timer app built around this problem. Your appointments sync from your calendar and turn into automatic timers to help keep you on schedule, discreetly. ON YOUR DESK Your iPhone displays a calm, full-screen timer, shifting color as the session winds down. It's big enough to read from across the room and subtle enough to leave sitting out. Don't want a number in front of you? Hide the countdown and keep only the full-screen color shift. ON YOUR WRIST • A tap when the session begins • One tap at the halfway point • Two taps at five minutes left • Three taps when time is up FROM YOUR CALENDAR Point the app at your calendar and the day fills itself in. It reads start times and nothing else. Titles, notes, and the people on the invite are never stored. Anything marked as supervision can be left out, and you can set the session length your practice actually runs. Prefer to add them by hand? That works too. YOUR CASELOAD, OVER TIME The app keeps a count of every session you finish. Your lifetime total, today, and this week are free. SESSIONS PRO A one-time purchase, not a subscription, and Family Sharing is included. • Home screen and lock screen widgets • Set goals, like the sessions you need toward licensure • How today compares to your usual Tuesday, and the hours you actually work • A heatmap of every day you've worked • Milestones and personal records • A rolling weekly average, and which way it's heading PRIVACY No account, no ads, no tracking, no server. Client names never enter the app, because there's nowhere to type one. Sessions stores times and nothing else. Your history stays on your iPhone, and in your own iCloud if you want it there. Built by a marriage and family therapist in training, in the evenings and between clients.

Screenshots

Today Planned4 screens
Sessions4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sessions at Free against Today Planned's $1.99. Sessions also leads on iOS requirement (18.5 vs 26.0). Today Planned's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (32 vs 1). On rating, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Sessions is free to download; Today Planned costs $1.99 up front. Sessions sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Today Planned asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Today Planned against 5.0 for Sessions. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Today Planned has 32 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Today Planned versus Sessions: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterToday PlannedSessions
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (32 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews97.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings32 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#196 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS26.018.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size199 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperElaine RochaPresently Reading LLC

Customer experience

Today Planned

All ratings32 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive97.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative0.0%

Sessions

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

In-app purchases

None

Today Planned

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Sessions

One-time1
  • Sessions Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Today Planned free?
Today Planned costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sessions free?
Sessions is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Today Planned or Sessions?
Sessions is rated higher. Today Planned averages 4.9 out of 5 from 32 ratings, while Sessions averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Today Planned or Sessions have ads?
Neither Today Planned nor Sessions shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Today Planned or Sessions?
Today Planned ships an update fortnightly, and Sessions fortnightly. Most recently, Today Planned was updated on November 3, 2026 and Sessions on October 31, 2026.

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