Comparison

Meditation Timer | Samsara vs Simple Zazen Timer

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

Simple Zazen Timer

This app provides a minimalist timer for meditation and mindfulness practice. Its elegant design and simple interface promote calm and focus during timed sessions. It's ideal for daily meditation or any activity requiring a gentle, timed reminder.

Highlights
  • Minimalist design
  • Simple user interface
  • Gong sound
  • Timed sessions
  • Daily practice support
Features
Read full description

"Thank you for sharing with us, meditators, this timer. It is our company along the silent way." "In a world of increasing complexity, simple is beautiful. With an elegant design and minimal user interface, this app captures just what meditation is about: calm, peace, mindfulness and self-awareness. Recommended for daily practice, or as a gentle reminder for any timed period of activity or rest, Simple Zazen Timer was a pleasure to find." Gong sound https://www.freesound.org/s/2166/

Screenshots

Meditation Timer | Samsara4 screens
Simple Zazen Timer3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Meditation Timer | Samsara at Free against Simple Zazen Timer's $3.99. Meditation Timer | Samsara also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). Simple Zazen Timer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6) and chart position (#185 vs unranked). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Meditation Timer | Samsara is free to download; Simple Zazen Timer costs $3.99 up front. Meditation Timer | Samsara sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Simple Zazen Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Meditation Timer | Samsara against 4.8 for Simple Zazen Timer. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 435 and 1.2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 91% of Meditation Timer | Samsara's written reviews are positive against 86% of Simple Zazen Timer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Meditation Timer | Samsara ships an update every 10 days, Simple Zazen Timer every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Meditation Timer | Samsara versus Simple Zazen Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeditation Timer | SamsaraSimple Zazen Timer
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.7 (435 ratings)4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.6% of reviews — better86.0% of reviews
Number of ratings4351.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank—#185 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.610.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBart JacobsPawel Urbanek

Customer experience

Meditation Timer | Samsara

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

Simple Zazen Timer

All ratings1,157 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral2.9%
Negative2.2%
Written reviews179 reviews
Positive86.0%
Neutral6.1%
Negative7.8%

User reviews

Meditation Timer | Samsara

From 435 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and effective
  • 👍 Elegant and uncluttered design
  • 👍 High-quality bell sounds
  • 👍 Customizable settings
  • 👍 Integrates with Apple Health

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Timer randomly resets
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 💰 Subscription model locks out previous features
  • 🔔 Intrusive reminder to leave a review

Simple Zazen Timer

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🧘‍♂️ Simple and elegant design
  • 🔔 Gentle chime sound
  • ⏱️ Straightforward timer functionality
  • 🧠 Focused meditation experience
  • 🧘‍♀️ Perfect for Zazen practice

Room to improve

  • 🔇 Doesn't work on silent mode
  • 🔔 Chime sound could be improved
  • ⏱️ Limited interval options

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

Simple Zazen Timer

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Timer not working on screen lock
  • No sound when timer ends

Requested features

5 requests
  • Customizable chime sounds
  • More interval options
  • Integration with Health/Fitness apps
  • Dark mode theme
  • Longer chime duration

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

Simple Zazen Timer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Meditation Timer | Samsara free?
Meditation Timer | Samsara is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Simple Zazen Timer free?
Simple Zazen Timer costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Meditation Timer | Samsara or Simple Zazen Timer?
Simple Zazen Timer is rated higher. Meditation Timer | Samsara averages 4.7 out of 5 from 435 ratings, while Simple Zazen Timer averages 4.8 from 1.2K ratings.
Do Meditation Timer | Samsara or Simple Zazen Timer have ads?
Neither Meditation Timer | Samsara nor Simple Zazen Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Meditation Timer | Samsara or Simple Zazen Timer?
Meditation Timer | Samsara ships an update every 10 days, and Simple Zazen Timer every 3 weeks. Most recently, Meditation Timer | Samsara was updated on October 24, 2026 and Simple Zazen Timer on October 26, 2026.

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