stilltime vs DaoTrace
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
stilltime
This app provides a realistic singing bowl experience with haptic feedback for meditation, focus, or quiet moments. It includes a customizable timer with interval bells and tracks your mindful minutes in Apple Health.
- Realistic singing bowl sounds with haptic feedback
- Customizable timer with interval bells
- Tracks mindful minutes in Apple Health
- Focus mode to quiet distracting apps
- Session history and streaks
- No ads or tracking
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stilltime is a singing bowl and a timer. Not only for meditation — for focus, for breathing, for any few quiet minutes. Tap the bowl and it rings. Drag your finger around the rim to keep it singing; press and hold to quiet it. It sounds like a real bowl and, on your phone, feels like one — every strike and every turn of the rim has its own haptic. Set a length and the timer runs. Add a moment to settle in first, and interval bells along the way if you want them. When the time is up, the bowl sounds again. Every session is kept — in a calm record inside the app, and in Apple Health as mindful minutes. You'll see your streak and the time you've sat, laid out plainly. No badges, nothing that nags you to come back. Free, always. The timer, the house bowl, and the whole record cost nothing. THE RESONANCE COLLECTION A one-time unlock: four more bowls, each a real recorded instrument with its own voice, their matching app icons, and a mood layer on your record. DEEP FOCUS Quiet the apps that pull at you for the length of a session. Open one out of habit and the bowl rings to bring you back. Optional; requires iOS 26.5 or later — everything else works on iOS 17 and up. No account. No ads. No tracking. Your sessions sync privately through your own iCloud — nothing reaches us.
DaoTrace
This app guides users through a daily self-reflection process to uncover underlying fears and desires. It uses a 7-layer journaling system and NLP to identify recurring patterns, visualized in a dynamic river graphic. All data is stored locally for privacy.
- 7-layer guided journaling
- NLP-based pattern identification
- Dynamic river visualization
- On-device data storage
- iCloud sync with encryption
- Face ID/Touch ID app lock
- Multi-language support
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Do you ever feel anxious, but can't figure out what you're actually afraid of? DaoTrace is a self-reflection tool built on the "River World" philosophy from the book "Ren Xuan Tian Xuan Lun" (On Human and Heavenly Choice). Each day, seven guided layers help you reach the bottom of your mind's river — and pick up a stone. Pick a Stone Every Day 7 layers, each deeper than the last: Layer 1 · Fact: What happened today that stirred the water? Write only what occurred. Layer 2 · First Reaction: What did you feel immediately? Not the "right" answer. Layer 3 · Greed: What did you actually want? Be specific — no grand words. Layer 4 · Fear: What are you actually afraid of? Write the ugliest, smallest, most direct fear. Layer 5 · Self-justification: What excuse did you use to feel better? Layer 6 · Main Stone: What stone did you pick up today? One sentence only. Layer 7 · Simulate Choice: If you face the same thing tomorrow, what will you choose? Once sealed, entries cannot be edited — whatever you pulled up is what it is. Understand Your Patterns Every sealed entry triggers automatic NLP clustering to surface recurring stones. - Semantic clustering groups similar stones (Apple NaturalLanguage framework, fully on-device) - Stone timeline shows which stones keep reappearing - Weekly / monthly reports highlight repeated patterns - Stone comparison: view entries from the same group side by side to see if you've actually changed See Your River A dynamic SpriteKit visualization maps your data into a living river: River width (variety of topics), water depth (7-layer completion rate), flow speed (recording frequency), surface ripples (how many excuses you wrote), and river stones (your top recurring patterns). Radically Minimal — Written for Yourself DaoTrace intentionally does not include: - AI commentary on your entries (thinking is yours, not the tool's) - Streaks or check-in rewards (no manufactured anxiety) - Social sharing (your stones don't need anyone's approval) - Psychological assessments All data stays on your device (SwiftData local storage). iCloud sync available via Apple CloudKit encryption. More Details - Supports Simplified Chinese / Traditional Chinese / English — switch instantly in Settings - Face ID / Touch ID App Lock to protect deeply private content - Full dark mode support, system-synced or manual - Home screen Widget: today's status + current river type - Auto-save drafts every 30 seconds and on layer switch - Later Notes: add reflections after sealing, shown in a different color beside the original DaoTrace is a self-awareness tool and does not provide mental health counseling, therapy, or medical advice. If you are experiencing serious psychological distress, please seek professional help. Privacy Policy: https://daohen.me/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://daohen.me/terms.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: stilltime at Free against DaoTrace's $0.99. DaoTrace's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 20 months). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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
stilltime is free to download; DaoTrace costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
stilltime ships an update every 20 months, DaoTrace every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | stilltime | DaoTrace |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | — | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 20 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hongru Wang | 珊 杨 |
Customer experience
stilltime
DaoTrace
In-app purchases
stilltime
No in-app purchases
DaoTrace
No in-app purchases









