Comparison

Menu Box vs Smart Focus

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

Head to head
About

Menu Box

Create visually appealing menus for your device's shortcuts. Customize menu items with emojis, app icons, or custom images to build personalized automations. Dynamically generate menus on the fly for advanced shortcut customization.

Highlights
  • Create beautiful menus for Shortcuts
  • Customize with emojis, SF Symbols, or custom images
  • Attach custom data to menu items
  • Fully controllable via Shortcuts
  • Dynamically create menus on the fly
  • Enhance Action Button functionality
Features
Read full description

Menu Box allows you to create beautiful menus in Shortcuts, further customising your advanced Automations. Menus can be created using emojis, SF Symbols App Icons or your own custom images to create truly individual menus with near limitless options. Custom data attached to each menu items allows you to create even more advanced Shortcuts. Menu Box is fully controllable via Shortcuts, including creating Menus dynamically on the fly. Menu Box is perfect for creating advanced Shortcuts to allow you to further customise how your menus look, and becomes especially useful when combined with the Action Button. --- Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Smart Focus

Features
Read full description

THE RIGHT FOCUS MODE FOR EVERY SITUATION Focus modes let your iPhone adapt to different parts of your life. You may use Work to silence personal distractions, Personal to hide professional notifications, Holiday to disconnect from work, or Sleep to reduce interruptions at night. But the automation options built into iOS may not be flexible enough for every schedule. Smart Focus adds the missing logic. AUTOMATICALLY CHOOSE THE RIGHT FOCUS MODE Smart Focus determines which Focus mode should be activated based on your configuration, including: - working and non-working days; - working hours; - wake-up and bedtime schedules; - ongoing calendar events; - accepted or tentative meetings; - all-day events; - keywords found in event titles; - public holidays from a dedicated calendar; - custom exclusion keywords. FLEXIBLE AND FULLY CONFIGURABLE Choose which Focus modes you want to use and enter their exact names as configured on your iPhone. You can configure modes such as: - Do Not Disturb; - Work; - Personal; - Holiday; - Sleep; - or no active Focus mode. You can also define different schedules for working days and non-working days. WORKS WITH APPLE SHORTCUTS For privacy and security reasons, third-party apps cannot directly change the active Focus mode. Smart Focus determines the appropriate mode, then Apple Shortcuts applies it automatically. A ready-to-use shortcut template is available from the support page, or you can create your own automation. PRIVACY-FOCUSED Your configuration and calendar information are processed on your device. Smart Focus does not require an account and does not upload your calendar content to an external server. TRY IT FREE Smart Focus can be used free for 30 days. After the trial period, you can choose: - a monthly subscription; - a yearly subscription; - or a one-time lifetime purchase. An additional trial period may be available when starting a subscription. The standard Apple Terms of Use (EULA) apply: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://stilltrue.hsd.me/privacy

Screenshots

Menu Box4 screens
Smart Focus4 screens

Verdict

The call

Menu Box and Smart Focus are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Menu Box sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year and Smart Focus sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Menu Box ships an update fortnightly, Smart Focus every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on August 20, 2026 and September 11, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Menu Box versus Smart Focus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMenu BoxSmart Focus
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (14 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews85.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings14 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.5 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSnailed It Development LtdStephane DEFAYE

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Menu Box

Subscriptions1
  • Premium$4.991 Year
One-time3
  • Tip Jar - Small$0.99
  • Tip Jar - Medium$2.99
  • Tip Jar - Large$4.99
3 purchases

Smart Focus

Subscriptions2
  • Smart Focus3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Smart Focus7 Days trial$1.991 Year
One-time1
  • Smart Focus (Lifetime)$3.99

Questions

Is Menu Box free?
Menu Box is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Smart Focus free?
Smart Focus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Menu Box or Smart Focus have ads?
Neither Menu Box nor Smart Focus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Menu Box or Smart Focus?
Menu Box ships an update fortnightly, and Smart Focus every 10 days. Most recently, Menu Box was updated on August 20, 2026 and Smart Focus on September 11, 2026.

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