Comparison

Meditation Timer | Samsara vs DLF Timer Meditation

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

Head to head
About

Meditation Timer | Samsara

This minimalist app provides a customizable timer for various meditation and mindfulness practices. It features calming chimes, detailed statistics, and iCloud support for seamless data syncing across devices. Designed for simplicity, it helps users focus on their practice without distractions.

Highlights
  • Customizable meditation timer
  • Support for various practices (mantra, mindfulness, zazen, yoga, reiki)
  • Collection of calming chimes (Tibetan bells, singing bowls)
  • Detailed practice statistics and progress tracking
  • iCloud support for data syncing across devices
  • Profile management for easy switching between practices
Read full description

For the past twelve years, Samsara has been the meditation timer of tens of thousands of people around the world. This meditation timer is designed for iPad and iPhone, and caters to a wide range of practices, including mantra meditation, transcendental meditation, tm for short, mindfulness, zazen, yoga, reiki, shiatsu, and more. This elegant mindfulness app brings a unique approach to incorporating mindfulness into your everyday life. It's a perfect choice for practitioners of various flavors of meditation and mindfulness. Samsara's clean and minimalist design keeps your focus steady. The app's interface is thoughtfully crafted with simplicity at its core, ensuring your yoga, meditation, or mindfulness session isn't interrupted by complex features or visually overwhelming elements. Profiles make it easy to switch between practices. Switching between profiles takes a second. Whether you are moving between a yoga session and a mindfulness timer, or shifting between personal and group sessions, your settings can be adjusted with just a few simple taps. This meditation timer includes a collection of calming chimes, such as Tibetan bells, singing bowls, and meditation bells. They allow you to personalize your sessions and create the ideal atmosphere for your practice. The bells and chimes are gentle reminders, guiding your yoga or meditation journey and helping you build a deeper connection with your practice. The app provides detailed, insightful statistics for those who want it. Stay motivated by tracking your progress and patterns over time. Monitor the duration, frequency, and type of your practices to get a deeper understanding of your journey and gain insights into your personal growth. Samsara optionally integrates with Apple's HealthKit. This meditation timer comes with iCloud support, one of the most requested features. Your profiles and sessions are stored in iCloud on Apple's servers. Communication with iCloud is encrypted end-to-end, which means it is safe and secure. What does that mean for you? You don't run the risk of losing your data when you lose your device. Switching to a new device is also a breeze. Another benefit is that you can use Samsara on multiple devices, sharing profiles and sessions. It works like magic. Download Samsara for free and let it be your meditation timer during your practice. Privacy Policy: https://www.adropofzen.com/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

DLF Timer Meditation

This app supports individuals with a regular Transcendental Meditation practice. It offers a customizable timer with adjustable lead-in, interval, and outro times, along with sound and volume controls. Users can also access guided meditations.

Highlights
  • Customizable meditation timer
  • Adjustable lead-in, interval, and outro times
  • Customizable sound and volume
  • Access to guided meditations
  • Supports Transcendental Meditation practice
Features
Read full description

The DLF Meditation Timer app was created by the David Lynch Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, specifically to enhance and support individuals who have a regular Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice. The timer is dynamic, allowing users to select lead-in, interval and outro times as well as customize sound and volume. The app also offers easy access to twice daily phone meditations with Bob Roth Since 2005, the mission of the David Lynch Foundation has been to help prevent and eradicate the all-pervasive epidemic of trauma and toxic stress among at-risk populations through promoting widespread implementation of the evidence-based TM program in order to help improve health, cognitive capabilities and performance in life. Research over the last 40 years demonstrates that TM has a significant impact on hypertension and cardiovascular disease, insomnia, symptoms of PTSD/TBI, substance use disorders, stress, anxiety, depression and more. The foundation has delivered the program to populations nationwide including: military veterans, first responders, frontline healthcare workers and survivors of domestic violence. The DLF Meditation Timer app is by the David Lynch Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, to support individuals who are trained in the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique.

Screenshots

Meditation Timer | Samsara4 screens
DLF Timer Meditation4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Meditation Timer | Samsara at 4.7 against DLF Timer Meditation's 3.8. Meditation Timer | Samsara also leads on review sentiment (91% vs 50%) and ratings volume (435 vs 5). DLF Timer Meditation's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.6). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Meditation Timer | Samsara sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. DLF Timer Meditation asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Meditation Timer | Samsara holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Meditation Timer | Samsara has 435 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Meditation Timer | Samsara's written reviews are positive against 50% of DLF Timer Meditation's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Meditation Timer | Samsara ships an update every 10 days, DLF Timer Meditation monthly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Meditation Timer | Samsara versus DLF Timer Meditation: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeditation Timer | SamsaraDLF Timer Meditation
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (435 ratings) — better3.8 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews90.6% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings435 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.611.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB177 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperBart JacobsMonty Media LLC

Customer experience

Meditation Timer | Samsara

All ratings431 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews479 reviews
Positive90.6%
Neutral4.2%
Negative5.2%

DLF Timer Meditation

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Meditation Timer | Samsara

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashing on launch for some users
  • Chimes cutting off prematurely

Requested features

6 requests
  • Apple Watch support
  • More color options for highlights
  • Additional sound effects like other bells and instruments
  • Ability to delete saved profiles
  • Option to continue timer after initial duration
Show 1 more
  • Ability to set multiple timers within a single session

DLF Timer Meditation

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Meditation Timer | Samsara

Subscriptions5
  • Samsara Premium Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Samsara Premium Weekly3 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Samsara Premium Yearly14 Days trial$9.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Samsara Premium Yearly14 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Samsara Premium Yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Samsara Premium Lifetime$59.99
None

DLF Timer Meditation

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Meditation Timer | Samsara free?
Meditation Timer | Samsara is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DLF Timer Meditation free?
DLF Timer Meditation is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Meditation Timer | Samsara or DLF Timer Meditation?
Meditation Timer | Samsara is rated higher. Meditation Timer | Samsara averages 4.7 out of 5 from 435 ratings, while DLF Timer Meditation averages 3.8 from 5 ratings.
Do Meditation Timer | Samsara or DLF Timer Meditation have ads?
Neither Meditation Timer | Samsara nor DLF Timer Meditation shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Meditation Timer | Samsara or DLF Timer Meditation?
Meditation Timer | Samsara ships an update every 10 days, and DLF Timer Meditation monthly. Most recently, Meditation Timer | Samsara was updated on October 24, 2026 and DLF Timer Meditation on October 24, 2026.

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