Comparison

PT Timer vs Salwa

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

Head to head
About

PT Timer

This app helps you manage physical therapy routines by timing exercises, counting reps, and storing custom instructions. Focus on your form while the app guides you through your prescribed regimen.

Highlights
  • Custom exercise creation with instructions and photos
  • Precise timer and rep counting
  • Voice and tone cues
  • Exercise scheduling and reminders
  • Note-taking and PDF export
  • Apple Health integration
Read full description

Prepare! — Start! — Release! — Repeat! — Switch! • ”I tried quite a few and this is the best one hands down!" • ”I might actually DO the exercises my PT prescribed, thanks to this app!" • ”I've looked at many timers for stretches, floor exercises, weight lifting... and this is the perfect one!" TIMER AND COUNTER FOR PHYSICAL THERAPY Keeps time, counts reps and sets, and lets you focus on your exercise, or something else—not the clock. YOU ENTER YOUR OWN EXERCISES Add instructions and photos, or a weblink, and set up your entire routine, exactly as prescribed by your therapist. Fine-tune cues and timers to match your personal pace. Note: this app does NOT offer pre-defined exercises (other than a few examples). KEY BENEFITS *** Some features are available only during the free trial or with a paid subscription as described below. • Stop counting seconds and reps—focus on proper form, breathing, or even reading or listening to music. • Clear voice and tone cues that work alongside music, podcasts, or when the app runs in the background. • Store all exercise instructions: notes, photos, and web links, with spoken guidance in a voice you choose. • Precisely adjust timers to fit your needs. • Schedule exercises and receive reminders. • Take notes after each exercise and email reports directly to your physical therapist. • Export workouts to PDF, including instructions, photos, and schedules. • Apple Health integration records exercise type and duration. MORE FROM THE REVIEWS • "The app is very easy to use and has resulted in the quality of my exercises increasing markedly … it does meet my needs to a "T"!" • "Best one ever. Have tried 2 others. At 65 stretching is important and this app helps." • "…it lets you focus on other things if you have simple boring exercises." BASIC VERSUS PAID SUBSCRIPTION CAPABILITIES Without a subscription, PT Timer provides limited basic functionality. During a free trial or an active subscription, you can create new exercises with instructions, timers, schedules and more. After the free trial, without a subscription, functionality for those exercises becomes limited. • In basic (unpaid) mode you can: view exercise routines created during a trial or subscription; view instructions and photos; receive already scheduled alerts; check off completed exercises; add and view notes after completing exercises; export to PDF. • Subscription-only features include: timing and counting; creating and editing exercises and workouts; modifying schedules; technical support. • NOTE: This app does not provide exercises or instructions (other than a few examples). You must enter exercises tailored to your own needs. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTIONS Several subscription options are available with different renewal periods. They all provide access to the full functionality of the app. The prices of subscriptions vary by country and are shown within the app. Payment will be charged to the Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. A subscription automatically renews unless the subscription is cancelled at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. The Apple Account will be charged within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period at the price specified for current subscription. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and cancelled by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription. Privacy Policy: http://www.pttimer.com/privacy.pdf Terms of Use: http://www.pttimer.com/TermsOfUse.pdf

About

Salwa

This app guides you through a 90-second practice to train your brain to let go of unresolved thoughts and emotions. It uses a timed breathing exercise and offers options to permanently delete or save your reflections.

Highlights
  • 90-second guided breathing timer
  • Write and release unresolved thoughts
  • Save reflections as 'Moments'
  • Visual 'Pond' to reflect progress
  • Activity tab for emotion tracking
  • End-to-end encryption for privacy
Features
Read full description

Salwa is a 90-second practice for training your brain to let things go, not just feel better for a moment. THE METHOD Write down what you're carrying. Anything unresolved. Anything you keep coming back to. Then sit with it. A breathing timer runs while you stay present with what you wrote. Ninety seconds by default, longer if you want it. Then let it pass through you. When the timer ends, you decide. Release it and it's permanently deleted. Or save it as a Moment and return when you're ready. Letting something go feels different from just forgetting it. That difference is the whole practice. THE POND The pond reflects where you are. Release something and the water settles. Keep showing up and it goes still. Step away for a while and it ripples again. The pond doesn't judge you. It only reflects. YOUR MOMENTS The reflections you save stay with you. Come back when you're ready. Sit with them again. Release them when the time is right. You can hold up to 7 Moments at once. More than that and holding becomes collecting. The constraint asks you to stay honest about what still matters. YOUR ACTIVITY After a few weeks, the Activity tab shows which emotions have been coming up most. It's there when you want to look. ON YOUR HOME SCREEN A widget sits under the same sky the app does. The light moves through the day, and it tells you where your pond stands. Tap it to sit, or to start writing. There is a lock screen version too. PRIVACY Everything you write is encrypted before it leaves your phone. Salwa can't read your reflections and neither can anyone else. When you release something, it's gone for good. WHY SALWA This isn't another motivation app. Motivation fades, usually right when you need it. What Salwa builds instead is the resilience to break the emotion loop, the part of you that keeps replaying something long after it's done anything useful. The memory stays. The loop is what lets go. THERE'S AN OLD ZEN STORY Two monks are traveling together and come to a river, where a young woman stands at the bank, unable to cross. Without a word, the older monk offers his help, picks her up, carries her across, and sets her down on the other side. They walk on. An hour passes. Another. Finally the young novice monk can't hold it in. "How could you carry her? We've taken vows." The older monk says: "I set her down at the river. Why are you still carrying her?" Most of us are the young novice monk. We carry things long after we could have put them down. Not because we have to. Because no one ever taught us how to set them down. That's what Salwa is for. Salwa offers a 14-day free trial with full access to all features, followed by an auto-renewable subscription: $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple ID account settings. Privacy Policy: https://salwaspace.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://salwaspace.com/terms

Screenshots

PT Timer4 screens
Salwa4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Salwa at 5.0 against PT Timer's 4.3. Salwa also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 81%). PT Timer's advantage is ratings volume (95 vs 2) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. PT Timer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Salwa sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Salwa holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PT Timer has 95 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of PT Timer's written reviews are positive against 100% of Salwa's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PT Timer ships an update every 5 weeks, Salwa every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on August 11, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PT Timer versus Salwa: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPT TimerSalwa
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (95 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings95 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperQi Analytics LLCQuan Ho

Customer experience

PT Timer

All ratings95 ratings
Positive82.1%
Neutral2.1%
Negative15.8%
Written reviews85 reviews
Positive81.2%
Neutral1.2%
Negative17.6%

Salwa

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

PT Timer

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • Photo upload fails and hangs app
  • Audio playback errors
  • Countdown timer jumps to end
  • Camera function not working
Show 7 more
  • Audio recording function not working
  • Audio cues not reliably playing
  • App aborts when adding additional photo
  • Photo gets chopped off
  • Unable to delete photos
  • Sound goes off when screen is touched
  • New version audio cues unreliable

Requested features

13 requests
  • Export and import CSV files
  • Sync exercises between devices
  • Add photos from photo library
  • Video support
  • Share exercises and workouts with others
Show 8 more
  • Landscape mode for tablets
  • Dark mode
  • More professional UI
  • Easier upload from lite to standard version
  • Universal app name
  • Ability to create 'uber-exercises' with variants
  • Stronger reporting features
  • Apple Watch integration

Salwa

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PT Timer

Subscriptions3
  • Full functionality7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Full functionality7 Days trial$1.993 Months
  • Full functionality7 Days trial$4.491 Year
2 purchases

Salwa

Subscriptions2
  • Salwa Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Salwa Annual$59.991 Year

Questions

Is PT Timer free?
PT Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Salwa free?
Salwa is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PT Timer or Salwa?
Salwa is rated higher. PT Timer averages 4.3 out of 5 from 95 ratings, while Salwa averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do PT Timer or Salwa have ads?
Neither PT Timer nor Salwa shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PT Timer or Salwa?
PT Timer ships an update every 5 weeks, and Salwa every 3 months. Most recently, PT Timer was updated on August 11, 2026 and Salwa on September 13, 2026.

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