Comparison

Routines vs Focus On Five

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

Head to head
About

Routines

Manage recurring tasks and chores with customizable checklists. Stay organized with daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly reminders to build habits, learn new skills, or meet deadlines. Keep routine tasks separate from your main to-do list for improved focus and productivity.

Highlights
  • Recurring task checklists (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)
  • Dashboard view of daily tasks
  • Task filtering by context and tags
  • Customizable task contexts and tags
  • Local notifications for reminders
  • Auto-Highlight and Auto-Uncheck features
Read full description

Routines is a checklist app for the repeated tasks and chores in your life. Use Routines to keep recurring tasks from cluttering your calendar, email, and other to-do lists. With built-in daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly checklists, Routines makes it easy to stay on track and provides reminders for the important to-dos in your life. • Overwhelmed by routine housework? Use Routines to track chores and never miss a thing again. • Want to build good habits? Use Routines to keep “doing it” until it becomes second nature. • Learning a new skill? Use Routines to set up a recurring schedule for practice. • Keep missing your monthly report deadline? Use Routines to remind you of important tasks ahead of time. Keep recurring tasks separate from your main to-do list and calendar with Routines. Download Routines and see how this approach can help you stay focused and improve productivity. OUR USERS SAY “We use Routines at work to standardize the day. This app is exactly what I needed to stick to my routine and remain accountable for my work. Love it.” “The perfect app for creating a routine for home, work—anything! Don’t waste money on other apps!” FEATURES * Add recurring tasks to daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly checklists to keep routine tasks separate from your calendar and other to-do lists. * The Home tab provides a dashboard view of all tasks happening today across your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly lists. * In each list, tap the title to switch between different views with alternative groupings and sorting. * Add context to tasks. Create your own contexts (for example, Home and Work) and assign one context to each task. * Use tags to describe tasks with keywords or labels. Assign one or more tags to each task and create as many tags as you need. * Tap the filter bar to filter lists by context and/or tags. * Create alerts to receive notifications before or on a task’s due date. Routines uses local notifications so reminders work even when you’re offline. * Turn on Auto-Highlight to colour task titles in orange for tasks due within a range you set in Settings—an at-a-glance reminder of what’s coming up. * Turn on Auto-Uncheck to automatically uncheck tasks at a specified time. For example, reset weekly tasks every Monday at 1:00 am for a clean slate. Routines is a universal app for iPhone and iPad. No sign-up required. No ads. All data stays on your device.

About

Focus On Five

This app helps you identify and track five meaningful weekly goals, drawing on psychology to foster clarity and motivation. An AI assistant aids in breaking down large objectives into actionable steps, ensuring progress on what truly matters.

Highlights
  • Set five meaningful weekly goals
  • AI assistant for breaking down large goals
  • Track weekly priorities
  • Apple Watch companion app
  • Psychology-backed productivity methods
  • Progress tracking for key life areas
Features
Read full description

Start your week with focus and clarity! Focus on Five helps you choose five meaningful goals to focus on each week. Not unachievable goals or small tasks. With the Focus on Five app, you can track your five weekly priorities completely for FREE! You’re busy. You’ve got a ton of things to accomplish—but they slip through the cracks. You can do anything—but not everything. This simple weekly rhythm helps you pause, reflect, set your intentions, and stay reminded throughout the week so you can accomplish the five priorities that matter most to you. You stay focused with clarity to make real progress—one step at a time, one priority at a time. It’s not about doing more—it’s about doing what matters. Focus on Five draws from proven psychology and productivity science to help you feel clearer, more motivated, and more in control. Over time, small weekly wins create significant momentum. Want to figure out what priorities to focus on? Dexter AI, our AI assistant, can help you break down big and complex ideas into small, weekly, actionable priorities or make sure you're not stuck doing small tasks! Dexter AI is a Large Language Model (LLM) that has been fine-tuned to provide actionable priorities for accomplishing. On the run and want to be reminded of your priorities. Focus on Five, the Apple Watch companion app, helps you keep your priorities with you at all times. Focus on Five will gently remind you of your priorities, giving you complete control. Thousands of people are using Focus on Five to make progress in every area of life: 1. Health & Wellbeing – like walking more, eating better, or losing weight 2. Career & Creativity – like finishing a project or starting a blog 3. Home & Relationships – like planning a date, making that call, or organizing your space 4. Personal Growth & Joy – like reading, learning, or finding small moments of calm Focus on Five isn’t about becoming a productivity machine—it’s about accomplishing what matters to you! Get the app for FREE and try it out! SUPPORT: For support, go to https://www.digiguys.com Q: Is the Focus on Five app FREE? A: Yes, Focus on Five is FREE to use. If you want to use Dexter AI, our Large Language Model (LLM), you can choose a one-time payment or subscription. Q: Is this just another to-do list app? A: Nope. Focus on Five isn’t about endless tasks—it’s about making meaningful and actionable progress on the things that matter most. Q: I have a big long-term goal. Can Focus on Five help? A: Absolutely. Focus on Five with Dexter AI will guide you in breaking big goals into smaller, actionable priorities you can accomplish in a week. Q: Why only five priorities each week? A: Five priorities per week is the sweet spot—enough to make real progress without feeling overwhelmed. Q: I feel that I have hundreds of tasks to finish each week. How can Focus on Five help? A: Focus on Five will help you, with Dexter AI, to distill the most important priorities that you can accomplish in one week. Q: What if I want to change my priorities mid-week? A: You’re in charge! Tap to edit, drag to reorder, and mark things done as you go. Q: I couldn't complete one of the priorities. What now? A: No worries. The priority will rollover automatically to the following week. Q: What do I get with the Dexter AI? A: Access to Dexter AI, our Large Language Model (LLM) specially developed to help you create actionable priorities each week. You can purchase messages with a one-time payment, or get unlimited access with a monthly or yearly subscription. Q: Do I need an account to use the app? A: No, you can start using Focus on Five right away—no sign-up required. Q: Can I suggest a feature or give feedback? A: Yes! In the app, tap the Options menu and choose “Contact us” or visit our website at digiguys.com. MORE APPS: Check out all our apps at https://digiguys.com Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Routines4 screens
Focus On Five4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Focus On Five at Free against Routines's $2.99. Focus On Five also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.6) and review sentiment (83% vs 46%). Routines's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and iOS requirement (14.1 vs 18.1). On ratings volume, 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

Focus On Five is free to download; Routines costs $2.99 up front. Focus On Five sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Routines asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Focus On Five holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Routines's written reviews are positive against 83% of Focus On Five's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Routines ships an update every 6 weeks, Focus On Five every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Routines versus Focus On Five: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRoutinesFocus On Five
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating3.6 (8 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.3% of reviews83.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings8 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS14.1 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB196 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCooplaDigiguys, Inc

Customer experience

Routines

All ratings8 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews67 reviews
Positive46.3%
Neutral14.9%
Negative38.8%

Focus On Five

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Routines

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Focus On Five

Subscriptions2
  • Dexter AI Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Dexter AI Yearly$39.991 Year
One-time2
  • Dexter Essentials$2.99
  • Full Access$9.99

Questions

Is Routines free?
Routines costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Focus On Five free?
Focus On Five is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Routines or Focus On Five?
Focus On Five is rated higher. Routines averages 3.6 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Focus On Five averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Routines or Focus On Five have ads?
Neither Routines nor Focus On Five shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Routines or Focus On Five?
Routines ships an update every 6 weeks, and Focus On Five every 10 days. Most recently, Routines was updated on October 14, 2026 and Focus On Five on October 18, 2026.

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