Comparison

Local Brain vs Focus Gnome

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

Head to head
About

Local Brain

This app allows you to run powerful AI language models directly on your device, ensuring complete privacy and offline functionality. Select from various models and manage multiple conversations simultaneously for a personalized AI experience.

Highlights
  • Run AI models locally
  • Full offline capability
  • Choose from multiple models
  • Create multiple chat contexts
  • Privacy-focused AI
Features
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Run Large Language Models locally on your device with full offline capability. You can choose from multiple available models and create multiple chat contexts using different models. The power of AI in your pocket without hurting your privacy.

About

Focus Gnome

Features
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The gnome is already sitting. Wind the dial — it runs backwards on purpose, like a kitchen timer — take three settling breaths, and begin. While you work, he meditates. Remaining time is a golden wedge that quietly shrinks; no ticking numbers to squint at. Lay the phone face down and he sinks deeper, the sounds soften, and the room gets calmer. Every sitting leaves a firefly drifting in the grove. Ending early still counts — a dimmer firefly, never a dead tree, never a broken streak, never a scolding. However long you stay counts. Nothing here is lost, and nothing is taken away. WHAT'S INSIDE • A hand-wound visual dial: 5 minutes to 2 hours, a soft click for every detent • Three settling breaths before the clock starts (skippable, and it remembers) • Face-down deepening — putting the phone away is the point, so the app rewards it • The grove: every sitting you've ever finished, drifting behind him • Name your sittings ("Thesis · 45m") and keep an honest ledger • Hand-made ambient soundscapes: hearth, rain, forest night • A choosable clock: storybook or blocky, in three inks • One notification, ever: when your sitting ends NO CATCHES No ads. No account. No subscription. No streaks you can lose. Everything stays on your phone. We built Focus Gnome for everyone who has ever been scolded by a productivity app. This is the timer that doesn't punish you for being human.

Screenshots

Local Brain2 screens
Focus Gnome4 screens

Verdict

The call

Local Brain and Focus Gnome 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Local Brain versus Focus Gnome: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLocal BrainFocus Gnome
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.3 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichal JachMATTHEW MALHAM

In-app purchases

None

Local Brain

No in-app purchases

None

Focus Gnome

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Local Brain free?
Local Brain is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Focus Gnome free?
Focus Gnome is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Local Brain or Focus Gnome have ads?
Neither Local Brain nor Focus Gnome shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Local Brain or Focus Gnome?
Local Brain ships an update every 10 days, and Focus Gnome every 10 days. Most recently, Local Brain was updated on October 7, 2026 and Focus Gnome on September 23, 2026.

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