Comparison

Chime Squirrel vs How Long

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

Head to head
About

Chime Squirrel

This app helps you stay productive by setting customizable recurring chimes for repetitive tasks, exercise routines, or study sessions. It runs in the background, providing timely audio reminders without requiring manual dismissal. Optimize your daily workflow with flexible interval settings and a user-friendly interface.

Highlights
  • Variable interval chimes
  • Quick chime setup
  • Multiple chime sounds
  • Light and dark themes
  • Runs in the background
  • Repeating interval sequences
Features
Read full description

Chime Squirrel is a flexible interval timer and chime app. Set up repeating chimes at any interval, run multiple chimes simultaneously, and stay on track without checking your phone. Whether you're timing meditation sessions, workout intervals, work sprints, pomodoro timer, or any repeating activity, Chime Squirrel keeps the screen active and sounds your chime right on schedule. FEATURES • Quick Chime — set up and start a simple interval chime in seconds • Interval Chimes — create and save custom chime sequences with multiple intervals • Multiple themes — choose from several color themes to match your style • Screen stays on — no need to unlock your phone between chimes • iPad support — works on iPhone and iPad with a shared layout Upgrade to Pro to unlock additional interval chimes beyond the free limit.

About

How Long

Automatically track time spent at important locations like the gym or office using geofencing and Wi-Fi. Set weekly goals, view detailed statistics, and receive smart suggestions for new places. Enjoy battery-friendly background tracking.

Highlights
  • Automatic location time tracking
  • Geofencing and Wi-Fi detection
  • Weekly goal setting and progress tracking
  • Detailed visit statistics
  • Smart place suggestions
  • Battery-friendly background operation
  • Home screen widgets
Features
Read full description

How Long answers one question: how much time do you actually spend at the places that matter? Save your gym, office, coffee shop, or a friend's house, and How Long quietly notices when you arrive and leave. No check-ins, no timers. FOR FAMILIES, WITHOUT THE TRACKING Know when your kid gets to school, when Grandma is home again, when your partner has left the office. Share just the places that matter with the people who matter, and they'll see arrivals and departures there and nothing else. No live map, no history of everywhere someone went. One Pro purchase covers your whole family through Family Sharing. BUILT TO BE TRUSTED • Detects arrivals and departures with geofencing, Wi-Fi, and Apple's visit monitoring, then double-checks before recording anything • Always watches the places closest to you and keeps that up to date as you move • Battery friendly: no constant GPS polling SEE WHERE YOUR TIME GOES • Total hours, visit counts, average session, and streaks for every place • Charts by day, week, month, or year, switchable between places and categories • A heatmap of which hours and days you tend to be there • Year in Review and Trip Recap cards you can share GOALS AND REMINDERS • Weekly goals: specific days or a number of visits per week, with streaks • Reminders when you've been somewhere longer than you meant to • Nudges when it's been too long since your last visit ORGANIZE • Categories for anything: Home Town, Paris 2024, Clients • Notes, ratings, and photos on every place • Smart suggestions for places you visit often but haven't saved • Share places or whole categories with a link FRIENDS (optional) • Share a place with a friend and see when they arrive and leave • A widget showing where a friend is right now • Everything goes through your own iCloud account; we never see it WIDGETS • Streak and weekly progress widgets for any place • Friend status widget HOW LONG PRO (one-time purchase, Family Sharing included) • Unlimited places (3 are free) • Travel Mode: automatically saves restaurants, trails, and sights you spend time at on a trip, with a photo you took there • Hiking detection for places you wander through without stopping • Place photos, and browse your photo library by place • Smart cadence reminders • iCloud backup and CSV export • Automations: send arrivals and departures to Zapier, IFTTT, or Home Assistant PRIVACY Your places and visits are stored on your device. Backup and friend sharing are optional and use your own iCloud account. We do not collect personal information, run analytics, or sell data. How Long needs "Always" location access to detect visits while it is in the background.

Screenshots

Chime Squirrel4 screens
How Long4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: How Long at 5.0 against Chime Squirrel's 4.0. Chime Squirrel's advantage is ratings volume (94 vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.2 vs 18.0). 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. Chime Squirrel sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and How Long sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

How Long holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chime Squirrel has 94 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chime Squirrel ships an update monthly, How Long fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Chime Squirrel versus How Long: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChime SquirrelHow Long
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (94 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews67.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings94 — better2
Update frequencyMonthlyFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.2 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB9 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperLuke Ryan, LLCGDW Entertainment, LLC

Customer experience

Chime Squirrel

All ratings94 ratings
Positive73.4%
Neutral5.3%
Negative21.3%
Written reviews53 reviews
Positive67.9%
Neutral3.8%
Negative28.3%

How Long

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Chime Squirrel

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • App stops working when in background
  • Interval data lost after update
  • Timer resets to start when app is not on screen
  • App behaves erratically
  • Edit page does not change settings
Show 3 more
  • App freezes and hangs up
  • Notifications announce chime finish instead of start
  • Chiming constantly and getting multiple alerts after setup attempt

Requested features

11 requests
  • Apple Watch compatibility
  • Ability to set different intervals within a timer
  • Siri integration for speaking chime titles
  • Option to have notifications announce chime start instead of finish
  • More subtle and longer chime sounds (like a gong)
Show 6 more
  • Custom ringtones
  • Schedule timers for specific days/times (e.g., Mo-Fr 8-17h)
  • Ability to save multiple timer configurations
  • Ability to set timers to keep chiming until reset
  • More sound options beyond basic chimes/beeps
  • Ability to start timers automatically in the morning

How Long

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Chime Squirrel

One-time1
  • Upgrade To Pro$3.99
4 purchases

How Long

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • How Long Pro$5.99

Questions

Is Chime Squirrel free?
Chime Squirrel is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is How Long free?
How Long is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chime Squirrel or How Long?
How Long is rated higher. Chime Squirrel averages 4.0 out of 5 from 94 ratings, while How Long averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Chime Squirrel or How Long have ads?
Neither Chime Squirrel nor How Long shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chime Squirrel or How Long?
Chime Squirrel ships an update monthly, and How Long fortnightly. Most recently, Chime Squirrel was updated on September 28, 2026 and How Long on September 20, 2026.

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