Finalist vs Pause
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Unified timeline view
- Calendar, task, and reminder integration
- Weather forecast display
- Journal and activity ring integration
- Customizable themes
- Native Apple technology integration
Read full descriptionHide 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/
Pause
Read full descriptionHide full description
Ever sent a message you immediately regretted? Pause gives you a cooling-off period before anything goes out — so you decide with a clear head, not in the heat of the moment. Write it. Pause it. Decide later. Draft the message you're burning to send. Set a timer. When the countdown ends, you choose: send it, edit it, or delete it. Sometimes you'll send it. Often you won't. Either way, it's your call — made calmly. WHAT PAUSE DOES · Holds your message for as long as you need · Reflects your emotional state back to you before you decide · Tracks your patterns over time so you can understand your triggers · Keeps everything private — nothing leaves your device BUILT FOR REAL MOMENTS The 2am text to your ex. The angry reply to your boss. The message to a friend you're not sure about. Pause was made for the gap between feeling and sending. 100% private. No accounts. No servers. Your words never leave your phone. Download free.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pause at none against Finalist's 7. Pause also leads on iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.0). Finalist's advantage is chart position (#156 vs unranked) and device support (5 vs 1). 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
Both are free to download. Finalist sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Pause asks for nothing beyond the download.
Finalist ships an update every 11 days, Pause every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Finalist | Pause |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (504 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 76.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 504 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 11 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #156 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 121 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Diversion Marketing Inc | JW Soft (Canada) |
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 moreShow fewer
- 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 moreShow fewer
- 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
Pause
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Finalist
- Finalist Pro Weekly3 Days trial$2.997 Days
- Finalist Monthly$4.991 Month
- Finalist Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Finalist Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Finalist Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Finalist Lifetime$59.99
- Finalist Pro Lifetime$59.99
Pause
No in-app purchases









