Best Sand Timer vs Sandy 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
Sandy Timer
Simulates a real sand timer using your device's orientation. Simply flip your phone to start the countdown. Tap the screen to adjust timer settings.
- Realistic sand timer simulation
- Device orientation control
- Tap to change settings
- Simple and intuitive interface
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This a real sand timer app simulator. Gravity does its job... Just turn your device upside down to start the timer! Single tap the screen to change the timer options. Make sure to turn the device orientation lock Off... and turn it upside-down!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Best Sand Timer at none against Sandy Timer's 1. Best Sand Timer also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and ratings volume (19 vs 6). Sandy Timer's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 14 months) and rating (4.5 vs 4.2). On price, review sentiment and ads 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. Sandy Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Best Sand Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sandy Timer holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 19 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Best Sand Timer's written reviews are positive against 50% of Sandy Timer's.
Best Sand Timer ships an update every 14 months, Sandy Timer weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Best Sand Timer | Sandy Timer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (19 ratings) | 4.5 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 45.6% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 19 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 14 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Serhii Simkovskyi | Cesar Mejia Valero |
Customer experience
Best Sand Timer
Sandy Timer
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
Sandy Timer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Best Sand Timer
No in-app purchases
Sandy Timer
- Pro$3.99
