Comparison

Lost Time vs Dots

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

Head to head
About

Lost Time

This app helps you visualize your life's progress by tracking your efforts, habits, and projects on a single timeline. It offers flexible tracking formats and prioritizes user privacy with no ads or data tracking.

Highlights
  • Visual timeline of efforts
  • Flexible tracking formats
  • Habit and project logging
  • Privacy-focused, no ads
  • Pattern and streak identification
  • Customizable activity tracking
Read full description

Your entire history in one view. Record what you do. See how your efforts add up over days, months, and years. TRACK EFFORTS, NOT GOALS Lost Time lets you build your own history, without deadlines, stress, or fixed goals. Create an Effort for anything you want to keep track of. Log a workout, a page you read, a project step, a walk — any event. Add notes to turn your records into a personal journal. NO DEADLINES. NO STRESS. Lost Time does not tell you what to do. It does not tell you when to do it. Do things your way. SEE YOUR ENTIRE HISTORY Use the Activity view to see all your Efforts together. See daily patterns, routines, streaks, gaps, and long-term progress in one place. View your history across weeks, months, and years. EXPLORE YOUR EFFORTS OVER TIME Use the Graph panel to see how an Effort changes over time. Choose a timeframe. Compare your activity across different periods. Find patterns in your history. TRACK ALMOST ANYTHING Use Lost Time for habits, fitness, reading, mood, sleep, health metrics, learning, and long-term projects. When you create an Effort, choose the scale that fits what you want to track: • Checkmarks for yes/no activities • Numbers for distance, weight, pages, hours, and other values • Intervals and sequences for activities that build over time • Ratings for mood, energy, intensity, and other levels • Notes for thoughts and other details HIGHLY CUSTOMIZABLE Choose from different layouts, panels, and views. Customize scales, colors, and shapes. Organize your Efforts with tags. Use Home Screen widgets. PRIVACY FIRST Your data stays on your device. • No accounts • No ads • No tracking • No data sent to a server FREE PLAN Use the Free plan for as long as you want. Track up to 10 Efforts. View the last 30 days in the Activity view. Use nearly all core features. UPGRADE TO PRO Track up to 250 Efforts. Unlock unlimited access to the Activity view. Get more customization options and features. ---- Screenshots may show features or larger data sets that are available in paid plans. ---- Preview music: “Background Opener” by BFC Music (bfcmusic.me). ---- Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Dots

This app helps you build lasting routines with a simple habit tracker and visually appealing home screen widgets. Monitor your progress with clear heatmaps and celebrate streaks with a clean, focused design.

Highlights
  • Simple habit tracking
  • Home screen widgets
  • Visual progress tracking
  • Clean and focused design
  • Gentle motivation
  • Yearly recap and stats
Features
Read full description

Dots. is a habit tracker and daily routine planner designed for simplicity, clarity, and consistency. Build better habits with a clean, simple tracker and beautifully designed home screen widgets that make your progress instantly visible. Turn small daily actions into lasting routines — a lightweight habit tracker and productivity widget, all in one simple app. [Why Dots?] • Simple Habit Tracker Start tracking your daily habits with an intuitive, distraction-free habit tracker built around ease of use. • Beautiful Home Screen Widgets Add a minimal widget to your Home Screen and track habits at a glance. Monthly and weekly heatmap widgets make progress clear and motivating. • Visual Habit Tracking Every action becomes a dot. Watch your streaks grow with a simple visual tracker that highlights consistency. • Clean & Focused Design A simple habit tracker with no clutter — just the tools you need to build better routines. • Gentle Motivation A calm, simple tracking experience designed to support long-term habits without pressure. • Stats & Yearly Recap Your whole year at a glance — a heatmap of every habit, monthly charts, your records, and a recap you can share. [Dots Pro] Dots lets you track 3 habits for free. Dots Pro lifts the limit — monthly, yearly with the first 7 days free, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled and can be managed or cancelled in the App Store at any time. Everything else stays free for everyone: widgets, the Apple Watch app, reminders, recaps, icons and colours. People who were already using Dots keep unlimited habits, for good. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Lost Time4 screens
Dots4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Dots at every 5 days against Lost Time's every 5 weeks. Dots also leads on ratings volume (229 vs 10) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Lost Time sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per year and Dots sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Lost Time against 4.9 for Dots. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Dots has 229 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Lost Time's written reviews are positive against 98% of Dots's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lost Time ships an update every 5 weeks, Dots every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Lost Time versus Dots: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLost TimeDots
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (10 ratings) — better4.9 (229 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better98.2% of reviews
Number of ratings10229 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAPSalin CompanyJuyong Bak

Customer experience

Lost Time

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Dots

All ratings229 ratings
Positive99.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.4%
Written reviews56 reviews
Positive98.2%
Neutral1.8%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Lost Time

Subscriptions3
  • Basic$12.991 Year
  • Plus$19.991 Year
  • Pro$29.991 Year
3 purchases

Dots

Subscriptions2
  • Dots Pro — Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Dots Pro — Yearly7 Days trial$11.991 Year
One-time1
  • Dots Pro — Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is Lost Time free?
Lost Time is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Dots free?
Dots is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Lost Time or Dots?
Lost Time is rated higher. Lost Time averages 5.0 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Dots averages 4.9 from 229 ratings.
Do Lost Time or Dots have ads?
Neither Lost Time nor Dots shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lost Time or Dots?
Lost Time ships an update every 5 weeks, and Dots every 5 days. Most recently, Lost Time was updated on October 30, 2026 and Dots on October 31, 2026.

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