Comparison

Shelf vs Clocks

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

Head to head
About

Shelf

Pin photos, text, or app shortcuts to your iPhone's Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Customize the appearance with themes, colors, and fonts. Access content with a tap or use Siri and App Shortcuts for automatic launching.

Highlights
  • Pin photos, text, and app shortcuts
  • Dynamic Island and Home Screen support
  • Customizable themes, colors, and fonts
  • Always-on display integration
  • App Shortcuts and Siri integration
  • Quick access with a tap
Features
Read full description

Shelf lets you pin content to the Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, and Home Screen! Create shelves that display a photo, text, or quick links to open apps, shortcuts, or websites. Each are visually customisable; apply themes or manually change colours and fonts. Thanks to the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on-display, shelves can be viewed at a glance - with actions a simple tap away. Automatically launch shelves with App Shortcuts support, such as when a Focus is turned on, or ask Siri "Create a Text Shelf" to quickly pin a spoken comment to your Lock Screen. More types of shelves will be coming soon, such as; a Timer, Checklist, and Weather. If you have any questions, please reach out to shelf@michaeltigas.com.au Privacy Policy: https://michaeltigas.notion.site/Shelf-Privacy-Policy-d1eee01d6bc845b29052d1d75de8968f Terms of Use: https://michaeltigas.notion.site/Shelf-Terms-of-Use-0f7815e773e3420db9a5e6b1cdddbd54

About

Clocks

Transform your device into a beautiful clock and weather display. Offers customizable clocks, animated backgrounds, and font options for a personalized experience. It's a private, ad-free alternative to standby modes, with optional matching screensavers for macOS.

Highlights
  • Animated backgrounds
  • Customizable clock variations
  • Font and color options
  • Private and ad-free
  • MacOS screensaver sync
  • Shortcuts support
Features
Read full description

The Clocks app transforms your phone, tablet, or mac into a beautiful clock display, perfect for any home office, bedroom, or studio. It's perfect as an alternative to Standby Mode with even more options: ◎ 28+ gorgeous and intentionally designed animated backgrounds ◎ 15+ variations of clocks you can pair in any combination ◎ Some font and font color options for more personalization ◎ Private, no ads. Designed to be simple and stunning. ◎ Pro Park includes a download for matching screen savers on MacOS so your display can match across your entire work setup. ◎ Three clocks and three backgrounds are usable for free! ◎ Best used on a MagSafe charger, but also works on phones without it. ◎ Shortcuts support to allow Clocks to open automatically when connected to a charger Does Clocks open automatically? Not by default, but within Settings there's a tutorial on how to set it up using Shortcuts. Does Clocks replace Standby mode? We think Clocks is better fitted for daytime use and the official Standby for night time. Will you release more packs in the future? Yes! I plan on designing more backgrounds and clocks in future updates, some which will be free some which will be paid (but affordable). Roadmap - Coming soon: - Timers - More font options and settings

Screenshots

Shelf4 screens
Clocks4 screens

Verdict

The call

Shelf and Clocks are too close to call on the numbers: across 10 compared parameters — price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Shelf sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Clocks sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Shelf against 4.6 for Clocks. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 295 and 469 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 58% of Shelf's written reviews are positive against 59% of Clocks's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shelf ships an update every 2 days, Clocks every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Shelf versus Clocks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelfClocks
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (295 ratings)4.6 (469 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.7% of reviews59.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings295469 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.1 — better17.4
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB100 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael TigasDaniel Destefanis

Customer experience

Shelf

All ratings280 ratings
Positive86.8%
Neutral4.3%
Negative8.9%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive57.7%
Neutral11.5%
Negative30.8%

Clocks

All ratings466 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral3.9%
Negative7.3%
Written reviews86 reviews
Positive59.3%
Neutral16.3%
Negative24.4%

Bugs and requests

Shelf

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Clocks

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Infinite loop of pop-up ads when trying to use the app

Requested features

3 requests
  • Timer with start/stop functionality
  • Numbered screen savers for easier selection
  • Widget support

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Shelf

Subscriptions2
  • Shelf Pro - Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Shelf Pro - Yearly3 Days trial$12.991 Year
1 purchases

Clocks

One-time1
  • Clocks Pro Pack$3.99

Questions

Is Shelf free?
Shelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Clocks free?
Clocks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Shelf or Clocks?
Clocks is rated higher. Shelf averages 4.5 out of 5 from 295 ratings, while Clocks averages 4.6 from 469 ratings.
Do Shelf or Clocks have ads?
Neither Shelf nor Clocks shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shelf or Clocks?
Shelf ships an update every 2 days, and Clocks every 5 days. Most recently, Shelf was updated on October 30, 2026 and Clocks on October 28, 2026.

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