Best Sand Timer vs timer.
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Best Sand Timer
A digital hourglass timer that visually represents the passage of time. It's designed to be kid-friendly, offers customizable alarm sounds, and allows users to personalize the timer's color. This universal app provides a stylish way to manage tasks and stay notified.
- Digital hourglass visualization
- Kid-friendly time perception
- Customizable alarm sounds (16 options)
- Notification even when inactive
- Color themes for timer customization
- Universal app for iPhone and iPad
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Digital sand timer with artistic design. Time flows and does it stylishly. This digitized hourglass can be used to time anything for up to 60 minutes. It's like having a nice looking visual indicator of how much time is left on your task. * KIDS FRIENDLY Timer visualizes time to kids and lets them feel the time. Without reading or even knowing the numbers one can look at the visualized time flow, feel it and understand how long to wait or whether to hurry up. * STAY NOTIFIED It lets you set the alarm sound that will play when the timer is finished. You can choose from 16 unique alarm sounds, melodies and loops. You’ll be notified when your time is up even if you’re using another app or your device is locked. It can also repeat the sound alarm (up to 3 times) at the given interval if it was missed/snoozed. * COLOR YOUR TIME You can easily change the timer color to fit your personal lifestyle. There are 5 color themes: turquoise, red, green, amber and pink. Just pick the one you like in the application settings. * UNIVERSAL APP Timer works both on your iPhone/iPod and iPad, contains HD graphics for retina and iPad displays and supports all screen orientations for all devices. [+Retina graphics for iPad 3rd generation] * SEE ALSO: Best Timer Beautifully designed sand timer, stylish kitchen timer, countdown/up and powerful stopwatch All in one creatively combined Best Timer application to suit all your timing needs. Search "Best Timer" on iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/app/best-timer/id415656570) * There are plenty of things we really need to time, just do them the way you like! ***Important for iOS5+ devices: if there is no alarm played when the application is inactive please go to system Settings / Notifications, select the application name and configure the timer's alarms, whether they perform sound and if they're to appear on lock screen. VISIT US: smartphoneware.com
timer.
Manage multiple countdown timers simultaneously with this intuitive app. Set custom names, sounds, and even use your own music for alarms. Access timers easily via widgets, Apple Watch, and Live Activities.
- Multiple simultaneous timers
- Customizable names and alarm sounds
- Background timer operation
- Widget and Apple Watch access
- Live Activities with Play/Pause
- Siri Shortcuts support
- Dark Mode and themes
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timer. is a simple and easy too use countdown timer. You are able to run several timers at the same time. The timers can be paused / resumed by the user and still run in background. Also you are able to define a sound or name. With the timer. widget and Apple Watch app you have quick and easy access to your last created timer. Features: - Several timers at the same time - Save timer - Edit and reorder existing timers - Siri Shortcuts support - Define timer name and alarm sound - Define an unlimited amount of timers - Timers still run in backround - Choose different alarms for notification and In-App - Choose from your favorite music for In-App alarm from your locally stored Apple Music or iTunes Music files - Widget for easy access the last created timer - Filter for running timers - Full access to timers from widget - Apple Watch app to view last created timer - More than 30 different alarm sounds - Choose between 16 modern themes for App and Widget - Dark Mode - Live Activities with Play / Pause - Dynamic Island Support with Play / Pause - Home Screen Widgets with Play / Pause For feedback or feature requests visit us on twitter: https://twitter.com/timer_2018 Please note for devices which run iOS 18 or older: The mute switch should not be active when the app is in background. Finished timers are not notified with an alarm sound. This is a limitation of iOS 18 or older. If the app is running in foreground, the alarm sounds are also played when the mute switch is active.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Best Sand Timer at none against timer.'s 5. Best Sand Timer also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). timer.'s advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 14 months) and review sentiment (63% vs 46%). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. timer. sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Best Sand Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for Best Sand Timer against 4.3 for timer.. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: timer. has 171 ratings behind it against 19, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 46% of Best Sand Timer's written reviews are positive against 63% of timer.'s.
Best Sand Timer ships an update every 14 months, timer. every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Best Sand Timer | timer. |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (19 ratings) | 4.3 (171 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 45.6% of reviews | 63.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 19 | 171 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 14 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Serhii Simkovskyi | Tobias Hauss |
Customer experience
Best Sand Timer
timer.
User reviews
Best Sand Timer
From 19 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Visually appealing sand timer
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 👍 Good for focus and visual timing
- 👍 Customizable colors
- 👍 Works well for kids and educational purposes
Room to improve
- 🐛 No sound/alarm issues
- 🐛 Alignment and graphics issues
- 🐛 Maximum timer limit of 1 hour
- 🐛 Ads can be intrusive
- 🐛 App crashes/freezes
timer.
From 171 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great widget functionality
- 👍 Simple and intuitive UI
- 👍 Useful for multiple timers
- 👍 Good integration with Dynamic Island
- 👍 Fast and responsive
Room to improve
- 🐛 Widget opens app unexpectedly
- 🐛 Apple Watch control limitations
- 🐛 Timer data loss issues
- 🐛 Widget display issues
- 🐛 No sound in silent mode
Bugs and requests
Best Sand Timer
Reported bugs
8 issues- No sound when timer reaches zero
- Sand not aligned with hourglass
- Graphics not aligned properly
- Buttons partially off screen
- App not configured for certain iPhone screens (e.g., XR)
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- App freezes when trying to change timer
- Alarm fails to go off if other notifications occur
- Force closes when timer ends
Requested features
10 requests- Display current time on screen
- Keypad for setting timer
- Option to hide digital timer
- Longer timer duration (beyond 1 hour)
- Vibrate function
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- More sound options
- Sound control on screen
- Option to view timer when phone is locked
- Sound while sand is pouring
- Start timer by turning the iPad
timer.
Reported bugs
10 issues- Widget opens the app when interacted with
- Timers disappear or are lost
- Watch app sync issues
- Widget buttons overlap or are unreadable
- App remains on Dynamic Island after closing
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- Banner in notification center is unreadable
- Live activity obscures status bar elements
- App closes immediately upon opening
- Purchases not restoring or working correctly
- Custom timers and widgets disappear
Requested features
14 requests- Make widgets smaller and show only clicked timer
- Allow Apple Watch to select and restart specific times
- Add option to dynamically set timer from Shortcuts
- Add option for timers to repeatedly loop
- Option to hide seconds in Dynamic Island
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- Redesign lock screen widget to remove alarm sound name
- Show progress bar/circle on timer icon in live activity
- Allow typing timer values instead of only wheel pickers
- Add stopwatch function
- Allow setting custom vibrate patterns
- Make timer setting area larger for easier use
- Separate page for created alarms
- Option to play music from Apple Music library for alarms
- Slower animation for swipe to show/hide create menu
In-app purchases
Best Sand Timer
No in-app purchases
timer.
- Themes for timer.$0.99
- iTunes Music as In-App Alarm$0.99
- Edit All Widget Details$0.99
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- Edit & Reorder Existing Timer$1.99
- PRO (Bundle) - All Features$6.99









