Comparison

Meditation Timer vs Return... Meditation 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

This app provides a distraction-free environment for your meditation practice. Create custom routines, use interval bells for focus, and enjoy calming soundscapes. Track your progress with detailed statistics and stay motivated with daily goals and reminders.

Highlights
  • Customizable meditation routines
  • Interval bells for focus
  • Calming soundscapes
  • Meditation statistics and tracking
  • Daily goal setting and streak tracking
  • Smart reminder notifications
  • Widgets for Home Screen and Lock Screen
Features
Read full description

Take the next step on your meditation journey! Do you find guided meditations distracting? Does the narration get in the way of reaching a deeper meditative state? It’s time to upgrade your practice with Zenitizer: • Create routines that work for you • Stay in the moment with interval bells • Immerse yourself in calming soundscapes Zenitizer makes it easy to turn meditation into a daily habit minus the overthinking so you can embrace the serenity of now. Download Zenitizer now to get started! FEATURE OVERVIEW: • Clean & simple meditation timer • Calming soundscapes help you relax • Interval bells remind you to focus on the present moment • Detailed, meaningful meditation statistics allow you to observe trends • Set your daily meditation goal and track your streak to stay motivated • Daily reminder notifications help you stay on track • Make meditation part of your daily routine: Smart Reminders can notify you based on Focus modes, workouts, location, wake up & alarms and much more! • Full meditation history view allowing you to see, edit or log individual sessions and reflect on your journey • Interactive and StandBy Widgets: start meditations right from your Home Screen or Lock Screen • Apple Health: store and sync your mindful minutes • Save your favorite timer settings as routines • Always keep your meditations, streaks and custom routines in sync via iCloud • Widgets and Apple Watch complications: your goal at a glance • Control Center: quickly toggle your favorite meditations • Dark & tinted app icons & widgets • Don't worry about breaking your streak: one minute a day is enough (you only need to reach your goal to grow the streak, not to keep it) • Easily log past meditations without recording a timer session (just went on a mindful walk? Quickly save 30 mindful minutes) • Siri Shortcuts: start routines, log meditations and query your goal and streaks. Imagine the possibilities! How about an automation to start a meditation, enable a Focus mode and set a HomeKit scene with a single command? • Privacy-friendly by design: health data is securely stored on your device and, if enabled, in Apple Health and iCloud (fully encrypted). Your data is never sold to anyone! • Spotlight Integration: quickly start or log meditations and check your goal and streak FREE & POWER USER FEATURES: Many of the core features are available for free but some functionality requires Zenitizer+, which is available as a one-time purchase or subscription (you choose which plan fits best into your life - they all unlock the full feature set). Zenitizer+ allows you to create and manage routines, access the growing catalog of bell and background sounds, manually log meditations and fully customize your meditation experience. By upgrading to Zenitizer+ you can take your meditation experience to the next level and allow an independent app developer to continue improving and maintaining Zenitizer for a long time to come :) Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Return... Meditation Timer

A minimalist, zen-inspired timer for establishing a consistent meditation practice. Offers immersive themes, flexible timer settings, and seamless integration across Apple devices. Prioritizes user privacy with no data collection or ads.

Highlights
  • Minimalist zen design
  • Four immersive themes
  • Customizable timer durations and bell sounds
  • Apple ecosystem support (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, TV)
  • HealthKit integration for Mindful Minutes
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Privacy-focused, no ads or data collection
Features
Read full description

Return... is a meditation timer with nothing in the way: one tap, a room to sit in, and a bell when it is time. No guided voices, no account, no feed. FIVE ROOMS - Water: a drop and its rings - Fire: flames on stone - Forest: leaves in sunlight - Silence: a black screen and the bell - Music: Still Rooms, an original album made for sitting STILL ROOMS Ten pieces written and recorded for this app play in order while you sit, in Spatial Audio on AirPods. On Apple Watch they play through your paired headphones. Previous and next sit beside pause, and nothing else is on the screen. THE TIMER - 5 to 60 minutes - Three bells: Singing Bowl, Temple Bell or Soft Chime, rung once, twice or three times - Repeat once, a set number of times, until a time of day, or until you stop - A background sound for each room, or none YOUR ICON Choose the cube from the album cover, the water drop, fire or forest. EVERY APPLE SCREEN - iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV and iPhone Duo - Mindful Minutes logged to Apple Health - Settings and session history on every device through iCloud - A widget, and a Live Activity for the sit in progress PRIVACY - No account, no sign-in - No ads, no tracking, nothing sold - Anonymous crash reports and usage counts keep the app working, and you can switch them off in Settings

Screenshots

Meditation Timer4 screens
Return... Meditation Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Meditation Timer at Free against Return... Meditation Timer's $9.99. Meditation Timer also leads on ratings volume (220 vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.1). Return... Meditation Timer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6) and update cadence (every 3 days vs fortnightly). On 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

Meditation Timer is free to download; Return... Meditation Timer costs $9.99 up front. Meditation Timer sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Return... Meditation Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Return... Meditation Timer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Meditation Timer has 220 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Meditation Timer ships an update fortnightly, Return... Meditation Timer every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Meditation Timer versus Return... Meditation Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeditation TimerReturn... Meditation Timer
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating4.8 (220 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings220 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision ProiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.4 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size178 MB243 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperManuel KehlChristopher Crosley

Customer experience

Meditation Timer

All ratings220 ratings
Positive94.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews72 reviews
Positive90.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative9.7%

Return... Meditation Timer

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Meditation Timer

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Interval bells not functioning properly in some cases
  • App hijacks AirPods from other devices without option to disable
  • Apple Watch vibration cannot be turned off
  • Crashes on Apple Watch (reported as fixed in v1.12.2)
  • Subscription paywall appears before free trial experience

Requested features

7 requests
  • Mixer controls for independent bell and effects volume adjustment
  • White noise and additional frequency options
  • Custom background music upload capability
  • Meditation reminders/notifications
  • Dynamic Island and Lock Screen activity controls
Show 2 more
  • Heart rate integration with Apple Watch
  • Adjustable default interval bell frequency

Return... Meditation Timer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Meditation Timer

Subscriptions4
  • Zenitizer+ Monthly3 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Zenitizer+ Monthly3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Zenitizer+ Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Zenitizer+ Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time2
  • Zenitizer+ Lifetime$79.99
  • Zenitizer+ Lifetime$119.99
None

Return... Meditation Timer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Meditation Timer free?
Meditation Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Return... Meditation Timer free?
Return... Meditation Timer costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Meditation Timer or Return... Meditation Timer?
Return... Meditation Timer is rated higher. Meditation Timer averages 4.8 out of 5 from 220 ratings, while Return... Meditation Timer averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Meditation Timer or Return... Meditation Timer have ads?
Neither Meditation Timer nor Return... Meditation Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Meditation Timer or Return... Meditation Timer?
Meditation Timer ships an update fortnightly, and Return... Meditation Timer every 3 days. Most recently, Meditation Timer was updated on October 25, 2026 and Return... Meditation Timer on October 24, 2026.

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