Comparison

Gentle Timer vs HabitApp NFC

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

Head to head
About

Gentle Timer

This app offers a visually appealing, ad-free timer for focus, productivity, and managing children's routines. It supports various timer types, including countdown, Pomodoro, and interval, with extensive customization options for backgrounds, music, and themes. It also includes helpful everyday tools like a calculator and breathing exercises.

Highlights
  • Visual countdown timers
  • Pomodoro focus sessions
  • Interval training timers
  • Multi timer support
  • Customizable backgrounds and music
  • Everyday utility tools
Features
Read full description

Gentle Timer turns ordinary waiting into a calm, happy little moment. Set a time, choose an adorable animated character, a dreamy background and soothing music — then relax and watch a friendly countdown carry you to the finish. Most timers feel cold and stressful. Gentle Timer is the opposite — warm, playful and beautifully animated, so brushing teeth, focusing, cooking, working out or winding down all feel a little better. THE MAIN EVENT: A TIMER YOU'LL ACTUALLY ENJOY • A big, friendly countdown with a cute character that glides across the screen as time ticks down — time you can SEE • Hundreds of animated characters, backgrounds and effects — dreamy scenes, sparkle trails and joyful completion celebrations • Calming music while it runs and a gentle chime when it ends — or play your own tracks from your music library, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music or Amazon Music • Your pet turns up partway through to cheer you on — "You've got this!" … "Almost there!" • Dozens of pets to pick from — yours waits with you on the Lock Screen, in the Dynamic Island, on the timer, and through focus sessions. Poke it and the whole screen goes sparkly. • Add or remove time on the fly, pause anytime, and follow along on your Lock Screen with Live Activities SO MUCH MORE INSIDE • Pomodoro — focus-and-break cycles that help you get real work done • Interval — work/rest rounds for HIIT and workouts, with 3-2-1 countdown beeps • Focus — open-ended focus sessions with task names and a history of your time • Multi-Timer — run up to six timers side by side • Presets — one-tap timers for brushing teeth, screen time, tidying up and more • Stopwatch — clean and simple, with laps • Breathing — guided four-phase breathing to slow down and reset • Tools — a counter, dice / coin / spinner, and a full scientific calculator MAKE IT TRULY YOURS • Pick characters, backgrounds, music, effects for every mode • Draw your own characters and backgrounds — or turn any photo into one, right from your camera or library • Set your own encouragement messages, sounds and gentle haptics BUILT TO FEEL CALM No clutter. No pressure. No jarring alarms. Every detail is designed to lower stress instead of adding to it. LOVED BY • Parents & kids — brushing teeth, tidying up, screen-time limits, smooth transitions • Students — Pomodoro study sessions and focus tracking • Focused work — deep-work sprints and mindful breaks • Fitness — interval and HIIT training • Everyday life — cooking, naps, laundry, breathing and winding down FREE — NO ADS, NO SUBSCRIPTION Gentle Timer is free to download and use — every mode, plenty of characters, backgrounds and music, and no ads, ever. Love it and want more? One optional, one-time unlock adds the full collection plus the tools to create your own — pay once, keep it forever, never a subscription. Supports Family Sharing — one purchase covers your whole family. Download Gentle Timer on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch — and make your next minute a little more delightful.

About

HabitApp NFC

This app helps you build consistent habits through a simple and powerful tracking system. It uniquely utilizes NFC technology to allow for quick logging of your daily activities.

Highlights
  • Build lasting habits
  • Simple and powerful tracking
  • Log habits with NFC
  • Track daily activities
Features
Read full description

Build lasting habits with HabitApp — the simple, powerful habit tracker that lets you tap to log your habits using NFC technology

Screenshots

Gentle Timer4 screens
HabitApp NFC4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HabitApp NFC at none against Gentle Timer's 1. HabitApp NFC also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Gentle Timer's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs monthly) and ratings volume (361 vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Gentle Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. HabitApp NFC asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HabitApp NFC holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Gentle Timer has 361 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gentle Timer ships an update every 3 days, HabitApp NFC monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Gentle Timer versus HabitApp NFC: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGentle TimerHabitApp NFC
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (361 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings361 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size206 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJOHNNY LIDaphna Mergi

Customer experience

Gentle Timer

All ratings358 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral3.4%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

HabitApp NFC

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Gentle Timer

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • No sound issues reported
  • Seconds not displayed on countdown
  • Landscape mode not working

Requested features

8 requests
  • More free options
  • Landscape mode support
  • Ability to set specific seconds
  • Toggle off motion on settings menu
  • Cat character option
Show 3 more
  • View of all timers set all time
  • Ability to create 'Goals' (e.g., set 40 hours)
  • Dinosaur character option

HabitApp NFC

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Gentle Timer

One-time1
  • Go Premium$4.99
None

HabitApp NFC

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gentle Timer free?
Gentle Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HabitApp NFC free?
HabitApp NFC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Gentle Timer or HabitApp NFC?
HabitApp NFC is rated higher. Gentle Timer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 361 ratings, while HabitApp NFC averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Gentle Timer or HabitApp NFC have ads?
Neither Gentle Timer nor HabitApp NFC shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gentle Timer or HabitApp NFC?
Gentle Timer ships an update every 3 days, and HabitApp NFC monthly. Most recently, Gentle Timer was updated on October 1, 2026 and HabitApp NFC on September 25, 2026.

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