Comparison

Finalist vs Aegis Guard

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

Head to head
About

Finalist

This app combines your calendar, tasks, reminders, and weather into a single, visually appealing timeline. It integrates with your journal and activity data to inspire your planning. Enjoy a beautiful and joyful planning experience without complex workflows.

Highlights
  • Unified timeline view
  • Calendar, task, and reminder integration
  • Weather forecast display
  • Journal and activity ring integration
  • Customizable themes
  • Native Apple technology integration
Features
Read full description

Inspired by paper planners, Finalist shows your calendar, tasks, notes, reminders and weather forecast in one beautiful timeline. It even pulls in your Journal Suggestions and Activity Rings to keep you inspired. Gorgeous themes make planning a joy, not a chore. Finalist is built for people who finish things, no complex workflows or productivity theater. NOTES, IN YOUR PLANNER Your planner remembers what you wrote. A dedicated Notes tab gives you notebooks, tags and search. Keep native notes that sync over iCloud, or connect a folder of plain markdown files, including your Obsidian vault, and edit them in place. Tasks inside your markdown files become real Finalist tasks: dated, tagged and checkable anywhere in the app. YOUR DAY, ON YOUR WRIST The Apple Watch app puts your whole day one glance away: events, tasks, reminders and habits in one scrollable view, topped by a Now card that always knows what matters next. Check off pinned lists from the wrist, grocery list included, and add tasks by keyboard, scribble or dictation. Complications and a Smart Stack widget round it out. (Requires watchOS 26.) DESIGN YOUR DAY Choose between two Daily designs: Daybook, the classic stacked layout, or Broadsheet, a newsprint-inspired look that shines on iPad and Mac. Rearrange sections with the layout editor and save your own presets. On the rebuilt Timeline, drag tasks onto the grid to sketch your day in pencil, then commit when it's real. "I've tried dozens of planning apps, this is the one that finally works." - Beta user "The integration of Reminders and Lists reduces the apps I need daily and makes planning actually fun." - Beta user Built with native Apple technologies: no accounts to create, syncs over iCloud, supports Family Sharing, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro and Mac. Full database backup, export and import via JSON and OPML. Finalist is a love letter to paper planners. Give it a try, it feels great :) Purchasing information To get the full functionality in Finalist you will need to either purchase a subscription or a one time In-App Purchase for Lifetime access. The purchase amount will be applied to your iTunes account. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. Lifetime purchase is a one-time fee. For more information, see our Terms of Use at https://finalist.works/eula/ and our Privacy Policy at https://finalist.works/privacy-policy/

About

Aegis Guard

This app blocks distracting applications at the operating system level, allowing you to set a duration for inaccessibility. It offers an optional NFC ritual for starting and ending focus sessions with a physical tap.

Highlights
  • OS-level app blocking
  • Customizable block duration
  • Optional NFC ritual
  • Focus without willpower
  • No streaks or session history
Read full description

Focus without willpower. Aegis blocks distracting apps at the OS level — enforced by iOS, not by resolve. Choose which apps to block, set a duration, and start. For that time, those apps are inaccessible. The name comes from the Greek aigis — the divine shield of Zeus and Athena. Impenetrable, elemental, the symbol of absolute protection. Aegis does the same for your attention. THE NFC RITUAL Pair any standard NFC tag and tap it to begin a session. Tap it again to end. The physical tap matters — a deliberate gesture rather than another button on a screen. The tag is optional; the app works without it. WHAT AEGIS DOESN'T DO No streaks. No session history. No scores. No notifications outside a session. No social features. The reward is the work — not a number on a screen.

Screenshots

Finalist4 screens
Aegis Guard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Aegis Guard at none against Finalist's 7. Aegis Guard also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Finalist's advantage is ratings volume (550 vs 1) and device support (5 vs 2). On price, update cadence 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

Both are free to download. Finalist sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Aegis Guard asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Aegis Guard holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Finalist has 550 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Finalist versus Aegis Guard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFinalistAegis Guard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (550 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings550 — better1
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size121 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDiversion Marketing IncSurya Mani

Customer experience

Finalist

All ratings548 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral2.7%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews131 reviews
Positive77.1%
Neutral6.1%
Negative16.8%

Aegis Guard

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

Bugs and requests

Finalist

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Settings/preferences crash the app
  • Pro subscription not recognized after canceling auto-renewal
  • Weather widget fails to display without manual toggling
  • App freezes and becomes unresponsive on iPad
  • Empty tasks cannot be permanently deleted
Show 4 more
  • App crashes when accessing certain reminder lists
  • Slow performance after force closing and reopening
  • Widget functionality discontinued or broken
  • macOS version crashes and lacks performance

Requested features

18 requests
  • Apple Watch native app
  • Recurring/repeating tasks and reminders
  • Subtasks functionality
  • Task tagging and filtering
  • Event location and travel time details
Show 13 more
  • Natural language input for tasks and events
  • Snooze reminder functionality
  • Task comments and checklist support
  • List grouping and archiving options
  • Menubar-only mode for macOS
  • Early/advance reminders for tasks
  • Notes section for daily journaling
  • School/team collaboration version
  • Chinese language support
  • Dark mode option
  • Family sharing features
  • Multiple calendar visibility in month view
  • Invite others to meetings and add conferencing

Aegis Guard

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Finalist

Subscriptions5
  • Finalist Pro Weekly3 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • Finalist Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Finalist Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Finalist Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Finalist Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Finalist Lifetime$59.99
  • Finalist Pro Lifetime$59.99
None

Aegis Guard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Finalist free?
Finalist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Aegis Guard free?
Aegis Guard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Finalist or Aegis Guard?
Aegis Guard is rated higher. Finalist averages 4.7 out of 5 from 550 ratings, while Aegis Guard averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Finalist or Aegis Guard have ads?
Neither Finalist nor Aegis Guard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Finalist or Aegis Guard?
Finalist ships an update weekly, and Aegis Guard weekly. Most recently, Finalist was updated on November 12, 2026 and Aegis Guard on October 31, 2026.

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