Comparison

PocketLife Calendar vs Focus Gnome

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

Head to head
About

PocketLife Calendar

Organize your life with a stylish and intuitive calendar app. It offers powerful customization, seamless syncing with popular services, and natural language event creation. Share events, set reminders, and personalize your calendar views.

Highlights
  • Calendar sharing with friends and family
  • Fast sync with Google, Outlook, iCal, Yahoo, iCloud
  • Create events using natural language
  • Multiple calendar views (List, Day, Week, Agenda, Year, Month)
  • Customizable recurring events
  • FaceID & TouchID protection
  • Notification Center Widget
Features
Read full description

Searching for the perfect calendar app? DOWNLOAD POCKETLIFE TODAY FOR FREE PocketLife has been specifically designed to be stylish, intuitive and super-easy to set up and use. Powerful, functional and completely customisable, so you can truly make it your calendar. With a ton of useful modern features, you will find PocketLife an essential tool for organizing your life. PocketLife will quickly become your most used and indispensable app. * Easily SHARE CALENDARS with your FRIENDS & FAMILY. * Google, Outlook, iCal, Yahoo, iCloud - Fast Sync. * Create Events using Natural Language. * Universal app: iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, iPad Pro. * Events & Reminders. * List, Day, Week, Agenda, Year and Month views. * Display multiple calendars. * Custom Recurring events. * Apple Watch * Notification Center Widget * AirDrop & AirPrint support. * Customisable Pictures for calendar months display. * Import your own images from your photos. * Intuitive gestures to change display. * FaceID & TouchID Protection. * Create image of month view to use as your phones wallpaper. * Set any day to start of week. * Personalize the colors, fonts and pictures of your display. * Send Email of your events. * Send .ics iCalendar files of your events. -- YOUR LIFE IN YOUR POCKET -- _______________________________________ PLEASE NOTE: - To Stop Old Events Being Removed: You need to go into the Calendars section in the main device Settings app and then set 'Sync' to 'All Events'. - THIS IS NOT A FREE APP. DOWNLOAD THE LITE VERSION FOR FREE TO SEE IF YOU LIKE IT BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO PURCHASE. THE LITE VERSION IS FULLY FUNCTIONAL EXCEPT THAT IT CONTAINS ADVERTS AND RESTRICTS THE NUMBER OF EVENTS THAT CAN BE CREATED AND ADDED TO YOUR CALENDARS. A SMALL IN-APP UPGRADE CAN BE PURCHASED TO REMOVE THE RESTRICTIONS AND ADVERTS. THE COMPLETE CURRENT AND NEXT YEAR'S CALENDARS ARE THEN INCLUDED WITH THE INITIAL FULL VERSION UPGRADE PURCHASE. SUBSEQUENT CALENDAR YEARS ARE AVAILABLE AS A SMALL IN-APP PURCHASE. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE DISPLAYED THE COST IN YOUR LOCAL CURRENCY, BEFORE BEING ASKED TO CONFIRM ANY IN-APP PURCHASE. To allow our users to further customise their app to meet their specific needs and interests, there is also a separate Add-on available called the ‘Calendar Store’ provided by SchedJoules. It contains a large selection of great holiday, sport fixtures, weather & lifestyle calendars. These calendars can be set up so they are displayed alongside your other personal calendar events. You can purchase access to the ’Calendar Store’ Add-on for 1 year with a yearly auto-renewable subscription. You get full and ongoing access to the ‘Calendar Store’, including live updates. The 1 year subscription to the ‘Calendar Store’ Add-on starts at $1.99 (Prices may vary by location) and begins with a one-month free trial, so you can try before you buy. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase after the 1 month free trial. Subscriptions to the Add-on automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Cancellation of the current active subscription period is not allowed. You can manage your subscription and turn off the auto-renew for the 'Calendar Store' Add-on at any time from your iTunes Account Settings. Full Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy are available at www.ovalkey.com/terms-of-service and www.ovalkey.com/privacy-policy respectively.

About

Focus Gnome

Features
Read full description

The gnome is already sitting. Wind the dial — it runs backwards on purpose, like a kitchen timer — take three settling breaths, and begin. While you work, he meditates. Remaining time is a golden wedge that quietly shrinks; no ticking numbers to squint at. Lay the phone face down and he sinks deeper, the sounds soften, and the room gets calmer. Every sitting leaves a firefly drifting in the grove. Ending early still counts — a dimmer firefly, never a dead tree, never a broken streak, never a scolding. However long you stay counts. Nothing here is lost, and nothing is taken away. WHAT'S INSIDE • A hand-wound visual dial: 5 minutes to 2 hours, a soft click for every detent • Three settling breaths before the clock starts (skippable, and it remembers) • Face-down deepening — putting the phone away is the point, so the app rewards it • The grove: every sitting you've ever finished, drifting behind him • Name your sittings ("Thesis · 45m") and keep an honest ledger • Hand-made ambient soundscapes: hearth, rain, forest night • A choosable clock: storybook or blocky, in three inks • One notification, ever: when your sitting ends NO CATCHES No ads. No account. No subscription. No streaks you can lose. Everything stays on your phone. We built Focus Gnome for everyone who has ever been scolded by a productivity app. This is the timer that doesn't punish you for being human.

Screenshots

PocketLife Calendar4 screens
Focus Gnome4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Focus Gnome at none against PocketLife Calendar's 13. Focus Gnome also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 5 weeks). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PocketLife Calendar sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per year. Focus Gnome asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PocketLife Calendar ships an update every 5 weeks, Focus Gnome every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
PocketLife Calendar versus Focus Gnome: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocketLife CalendarFocus Gnome
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (42K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews79.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings42K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOvalKey Ltd.MATTHEW MALHAM

Bugs and requests

PocketLife Calendar

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Duplicate events being created
  • Past event data being deleted
  • Inconsistent time zone conversions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to attach photos to events
  • More color options
  • Improved time zone handling
  • Option to display event age/birthdays
  • Ability to print/export calendar data

Focus Gnome

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

13 purchases

PocketLife Calendar

Subscriptions2
  • Calendar Store Add-On1 Month trial$1.991 Year
  • Premium Unlimited Access1 Month trial$9.991 Year
One-time11
  • Holidays United States$0.99
  • AR Calendar Add-on$1.99
  • PocketLife Upgrade$4.99
Show 8 more
  • PocketLife 2020 Calendar$4.99
  • PocketLife 2021 Calendar$4.99
  • PocketLife 2022 Calendar$4.99
  • PocketLife 2023 Calendar$4.99
  • PocketLife 2024 Calendar$4.99
  • PocketLife 2025 Calendar$4.99
  • PocketLife 2027 Calendar$6.99
  • PocketLife 2026 Calendar$6.99
None

Focus Gnome

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PocketLife Calendar free?
PocketLife Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Focus Gnome free?
Focus Gnome is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PocketLife Calendar or Focus Gnome have ads?
PocketLife Calendar shows ads; Focus Gnome does not.
Which is updated more often, PocketLife Calendar or Focus Gnome?
PocketLife Calendar ships an update every 5 weeks, and Focus Gnome every 10 days. Most recently, PocketLife Calendar was updated on October 20, 2026 and Focus Gnome on October 10, 2026.

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