Comparison

Gentle Timer vs StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks

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

StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks

Read full description

StarLens is a different kind of organizer, helping you visually keep track of the things that matter most. Why might a star system work for you when other methods of memory management don't? Consider memory athletes, super-memorizers that competitively remember and recall huge amounts of information. They use a system of imagery, visualization, and location based recall. While StarLens isn't meant to help you memorize 1,000 digits of Pi, it hopes to build on the concept to create something more. We don't all think the same. Try something a little different. Here's a quick list of a few of our features: - Unlimited levels of subtasks or child notes... this is how constellations are built - Each note or task is arranged into a constellation of stars automatically - A constellation can be put anywhere - Zoom out to see everything - Find what you need, when you need it - Search across everything - Notes can be dragged to reorder - Can be used offline - Automatic syncing and backup to our servers, so you never lose a thing And here are a few of our promises: - We know AI is a polarizing topic when it comes to notes, so let's address this straight on! We do not sell your data or "train AI" using your data, pure and simple. - We do not use your data in any way, except to provide our service / app to you - No ads ever - No tracking you or using your data to profile you - Complete transparency Please see the following for more information: Privacy Policy: [https://starlensapp.com/privacy-policy] Terms of Use / EULA: [https://starlensapp.com/terms-of-service]

Screenshots

Gentle Timer4 screens
StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks2 screens

Verdict

The call

Gentle Timer and StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Gentle Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Gentle Timer versus StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGentle TimerStarLens Visual Notes & Tasks
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (358 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings358 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.0 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size204 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJOHNNY LIWikidex Organization LLC

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

StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Gentle Timer

One-time1
  • Go Premium$4.99
1 purchases

StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks

Subscriptions1
  • Access to App7 Days trial$3.991 Year

Questions

Is Gentle Timer free?
Gentle Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks free?
StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Gentle Timer or StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks have ads?
Neither Gentle Timer nor StarLens Visual Notes & Tasks shows ads.

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