Ben's Virtues vs VirtueFocus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ben's Virtues
This app helps you cultivate personal growth by tracking your adherence to thirteen virtues, inspired by Benjamin Franklin's original plan. Review your day nightly and mark transgressions to improve your conduct over time.
- Thirteen virtue tracking chart
- Weekly virtue focus
- Daily transgression marking
- Yearly cycle completion
- Personal conduct regulation
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Follow Benjamin Franklin's 13-week virtue system used for nearly 300 years to build discipline, honesty, moderation, industry, humility, and more. • Focus on one virtue each week • Takes one minute every evening • Free, no ads, and no account necessary • Apple Watch and widget make it even easier to track your virtues In 1726, while on an 80-day ocean voyage from London to Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin developed a plan and corresponding chart for regulating his future conduct. He based his plan on a chart of thirteen virtues. He committed to giving strict attention to one virtue each week - placing a mark on his chart each time he transgressed that week’s virtue. After thirteen weeks he moved through all thirteen virtues. He would repeat the course four times a year. Use this modern incarnation of Benjamin Franklin’s original chart to improve and regulate your daily conduct. Every evening review your day. Tap the day's date to place a mark if you transgressed the week's virtue. One virtue is highlighted every week and the whole chart should be completed four times in a year. The goal is to live your days - giving strict attention to each virtue - without having to place any marks on your chart. Thank you for checking out Ben's Virtues. If you like the app please let me know what virtue you are currently focusing on by leaving a quick review.
VirtueFocus
This app helps you cultivate personal growth by tracking 13 virtues weekly, inspired by Benjamin Franklin's self-improvement system. It includes daily journaling prompts and progress tracking to guide your journey towards becoming a better person.
- Daily virtue tracking grid
- Morning and evening journaling
- Weekly focus on one virtue
- Progress and historical trend analysis
- Curated Benjamin Franklin quotes
- Private, on-device data storage
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Become the person you were meant to be. VirtueFocus brings Benjamin Franklin's legendary self-improvement system to your pocket. In 1726, Franklin created a simple but powerful method to build character — tracking 13 virtues weekly to become "a better and happier man." Now you can follow his exact approach. HOW IT WORKS Each week, focus on one of Franklin's 13 virtues: • Temperance • Silence • Order • Resolution • Frugality • Industry • Sincerity • Justice • Moderation • Cleanliness • Tranquility • Chastity • Humility Track daily, reflect honestly, and watch yourself improve over 13-week cycles. FEATURES Daily Virtue Chart The classic Franklin grid — 13 virtues across 7 days. Tap to mark when you fall short. Your goal: fewer marks each week. Morning & Evening Journal Start each day asking "What good shall I do today?" End by reflecting "What good have I done?" — just as Franklin did. Weekly Focus System Concentrate on one virtue per week while maintaining awareness of all thirteen. Complete four full cycles per year. Progress Tracking See your improvement over time with weekly summaries, cycle overviews, and historical trends. Franklin's Wisdom Curated quotes and insights from Franklin himself, matched to your current focus virtue. PRIVACY FIRST Your personal reflections stay on your device. No accounts. No cloud sync. No data collection. Your journey of self-improvement is yours alone. WHY FRANKLIN'S METHOD? Benjamin Franklin used this system throughout his life and credited it with much of his success. The method works because it's: • Simple — just track and reflect daily • Focused — one virtue at a time • Honest — acknowledge shortcomings without judgment • Cyclical — continuous improvement, not perfection Whether you're seeking personal growth, building better habits, or exploring timeless wisdom, VirtueFocus provides a structured path to becoming your best self. Start your journey today. Your future self will thank you.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: VirtueFocus at 5.0 against Ben's Virtues's 4.3. VirtueFocus also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 4 weeks). Ben's Virtues's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On price, device support 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. VirtueFocus sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Ben's Virtues asks for nothing beyond the download.
VirtueFocus holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ben's Virtues has 35 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Ben's Virtues ships an update every 4 weeks, VirtueFocus every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ben's Virtues | VirtueFocus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (35 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 35 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Reason Interactive | Veriris LLC |
Customer experience
Ben's Virtues
VirtueFocus
Bugs and requests
Ben's Virtues
Reported bugs
25 issues- Blank screen
- Crashes every time it's opened
- App no longer works
- Keeps resetting and losing progress
- Data doesn't get stored or saved
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- App doesn't work
- Can only choose one virtue line
- Updates remove data
- Keeps losing progress
- Dots don't appear on any other virtues except the highlighted one
- History/tracking deleted on iOS update
- Impossible to put marks on any of the virtues except the one highlighted
- Impossible to put more than one mark on a virtue per day
- Rewording of Franklin's description of Chastity
- Chart boots out after 3 or 4 weeks
- Doesn't move forward each day
- No way to manually set the calendar date
- App completely reset itself
- Randomly resetting itself and deleting prior progress
- Keeps randomly reseting itself and deleting prior progress
- Just freezes immediately on opening
- App doesn't work...at all
- Wil not run on ipad
- Didn't work on my iPad
- Not working right now
Requested features
23 requests- Allow setting custom start day
- Enable marking all virtues daily
- Allow adding custom virtues
- Improve visibility of virtue tracking
- Option to export data
Show 18 moreShow fewer
- Include samples of Ben Franklin's tracked virtues
- Allow multiple marks per day
- Support for more than one virtue focus at a time
- Add ability to cycle through thirteen weeks with marking on other virtues
- Make it able to put dots in EVERY spot per day
- Add ability to change "virtues" to add your own
- Add tab with passage from Franklin's bio
- Allow user to set start day
- Add ability to put more than one mark on a virtue per day
- Allow tracking of multiple virtues
- Add option to create custom virtues
- Set alarm/push notification for daily rating
- Include video and autobiography section
- Update app to 4.0
- Allow marking any virtues on any given day
- Include option of creating your own list of virtues
- Add higher level of personalization
- Add more discussion on each virtue
VirtueFocus
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ben's Virtues
No in-app purchases
VirtueFocus
- Remove Ads$14.99
Questions
Is Ben's Virtues free?
Is VirtueFocus free?
Which has better reviews, Ben's Virtues or VirtueFocus?
Do Ben's Virtues or VirtueFocus have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ben's Virtues or VirtueFocus?
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