TalkingTime vs School Chimes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TalkingTime
Hear the time spoken aloud without needing to look at your screen. Schedule spoken time announcements, hourly chimes, and personalized voice reminders. Ideal for staying aware of the time while working, studying, or on the go.
- Spoken time announcements
- Hourly chimes
- Personalized voice reminders
- Customizable schedules
- 12- or 24-hour speech
- Works with screen locked
Read full descriptionHide full description
Hear the time without stopping to look at your screen. TalkingTime gives you spoken time announcements, chimes and personal voice reminders on iPhone and iPad. Use a regular time cue to notice the passing hours while you work, study or move through your day. START WITH EASY • Use the included Easy schedule. • Choose spoken time or chimes, a voice, and 12- or 24-hour speech. • Add your own text to an enabled Easy announcement time. PRO SUBSCRIPTION • Edit Easy announcement times. • Use the separate Custom schedule at any minute, on specific dates or on selected weekdays. LEGACY PRO Your original lifetime access continues to include Easy editing and messages. The separate Custom schedule requires a Pro subscription. SET UP ANNOUNCEMENTS Keep Master Enable on and allow Notifications and Sounds for TalkingTime. Then return to the Home Screen with a normal swipe up or Home button, giving the app time to prepare your schedule. Prepared announcements use iOS local notifications and can sound when the screen is locked. Keep the device powered on. Silent mode, ringer volume, Focus and audio routing can affect what you hear. GET HELP Open It’s not working and tap Get support. Diagnostic information is sent automatically. You can also contact support@fortuisoft.com. The app and Apple purchase sheet show the current Pro price, billing period and any eligible trial. Pro is an automatically renewing subscription unless cancelled. Manage or cancel subscriptions through your Apple account. Privacy: https://www.fortuisoft.com/talkingtime/Privacy.html Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
School Chimes
This app functions as a customizable alarm and scheduler, offering a unique school chime sound inspired by the Westminster Quarters. It allows users to set and manage chime schedules, choose different chime types, and control notification display. Advanced users can integrate with the app via URL schemes for automated control.
- Alarm and scheduling
- School chime sound
- Westminster Quarters tone
- Customizable schedules
- Chime type selection
- Notification display control
- URL scheme integration
Read full descriptionHide full description
This is a simple alarm app with scheduling capabilities. If you want to use a school chime based on the Westminster Quarters, this app is for you. In Japan, school chimes are commonly used to signal the beginning and end of class periods. The app also supports widgets. Settings: - Schedule Check: This feature allows you to check chime times with a list. - Schedule: You can choose a schedule, create a new schedule, and modify an existing one. - Chime Type: Select the tone or chime type. - Display Notifications: When turned off, notifications will only include sound. - Chime Test: Use this to ring the selected chime. - Information (i button): This section provides information about the app. URL Schemes: 1. ON/OFF (Format) sc://a/b/c - a: on or off. If set to off, the following items (b, c) are invalid. - b (optional): schedule number, with the top of the list (Default) being 0. - c (optional): tone number, with the top of the list (Westminster 1) being 0. Example: - Start with Default and Westminster 2: sc://on/0/1 - Stop: sc://off 2. Add a schedule (Format) sc://add/a/hhmmb/... (repeat, max 64 times) - add: constant - a: schedule name - hhmm: time in 24-hour format - b: description Example: - Add a “Test” schedule: sc://add/Test/0800Start/1200Noon/1700End If your iPhone doesn't read the URL scheme correctly, try converting spaces to %20 and commas to %2c.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: TalkingTime at 4.6 against School Chimes's 3.7. TalkingTime also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (93% vs 59%). School Chimes's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. TalkingTime sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month and School Chimes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
TalkingTime holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TalkingTime has 309 ratings behind it against 56, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of TalkingTime's written reviews are positive against 59% of School Chimes's.
TalkingTime ships an update every 6 weeks, School Chimes every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.
| Parameter | TalkingTime | School Chimes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (309 ratings) — better | 3.7 (56 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 92.9% of reviews — better | 58.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 309 — better | 56 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fortuisoft LLC | Takafumi AMANO |
Customer experience
TalkingTime
School Chimes
Bugs and requests
TalkingTime
Reported bugs
2 issues- Announcements not working after iOS updates
- Inconsistent behavior with music/audio playback
Requested features
4 requests- More frequent time announcements (e.g., every 10 minutes)
- Custom voice recording option
- Integration with calendar/scheduling apps
- Separate volume control for announcements
School Chimes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
TalkingTime
- Pro upgrade7 Days trial$1.991 Month
School Chimes
- Remove Ads$2.99
Questions
Is TalkingTime free?
Is School Chimes free?
Which has better reviews, TalkingTime or School Chimes?
Do TalkingTime or School Chimes have ads?
Which is updated more often, TalkingTime or School Chimes?
Other comparisons















