Comparison

TalkingTime vs School Chimes

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Spoken time announcements
  • Hourly chimes
  • Personalized voice reminders
  • Customizable schedules
  • 12- or 24-hour speech
  • Works with screen locked
Features
Read 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/

About

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.

Highlights
  • Alarm and scheduling
  • School chime sound
  • Westminster Quarters tone
  • Customizable schedules
  • Chime type selection
  • Notification display control
  • URL scheme integration
Features
Read 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

TalkingTime3 screens
School Chimes3 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TalkingTime ships an update every 6 weeks, School Chimes every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
TalkingTime versus School Chimes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTalkingTimeSchool Chimes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (309 ratings) — better3.7 (56 ratings)
Positive reviews92.9% of reviews — better58.6% of reviews
Number of ratings309 — better56
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFortuisoft LLCTakafumi AMANO

Customer experience

TalkingTime

All ratings309 ratings
Positive90.6%
Neutral2.9%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews210 reviews
Positive92.9%
Neutral1.9%
Negative5.2%

School Chimes

All ratings56 ratings
Positive64.3%
Neutral16.1%
Negative19.6%
Written reviews70 reviews
Positive58.6%
Neutral17.1%
Negative24.3%

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

1 purchases

TalkingTime

Subscriptions1
  • Pro upgrade7 Days trial$1.991 Month
1 purchases

School Chimes

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$2.99

Questions

Is TalkingTime free?
TalkingTime is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is School Chimes free?
School Chimes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TalkingTime or School Chimes?
TalkingTime is rated higher. TalkingTime averages 4.6 out of 5 from 309 ratings, while School Chimes averages 3.7 from 56 ratings.
Do TalkingTime or School Chimes have ads?
School Chimes shows ads; TalkingTime does not.
Which is updated more often, TalkingTime or School Chimes?
TalkingTime ships an update every 6 weeks, and School Chimes every 4 weeks. Most recently, TalkingTime was updated on November 6, 2026 and School Chimes on November 6, 2026.

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