Comparison

timespent vs Orby

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

Head to head
About

timespent

This app offers a flexible and simple way to track goals, habits, skills, and activities. It allows users to measure progress by various metrics, including time, weight, distance, or simple tallies, and visualize their journey with charts and calendars.

Highlights
  • Focus & activity timer
  • Habit & routine tracking
  • Workout & fitness logging
  • Daily checklist & task tracking
  • Skill & practice journaling
  • Home screen widgets
  • Heatmap calendars
Features
Read full description

** AWARDED BEST NEW APPS CATEGORY — APP STORE EDITORS ** hi, i'm Cal. i built timespent to be the simplest, most flexible way to track your goals, habits, skills, and activities. for those who used my old activity timer app, you'll find everything you loved and a whole lot more. timespent takes tracking to a new level, letting you measure activities by weight, distance, or volume—or just keep a simple tally too. here are just a few ways you can use timespent: – focus & activity timer log focused work sessions with the built-in focus timer, perfect for pomodoro-style sprints or deep work. track your hours spent studying, meditating, or mastering a skill on your way to 10,000 hours. – habit & routine tracker build powerful routines and track your progress. minimize screentime, create a reading log, maintain a gratitude journal, or track any habit you want to build or break. see your consistency grow day by day. – workout & fitness log create a complete workout history. log strength training with sets, reps, and weight. track your cardio sessions by distance and time, whether you're running, cycling, or swimming. count your yoga poses or push-ups. every bit of progress, logged. – daily checklist & task tracker stay on top of your recurring tasks. did you water the plants? take your medications or supplements? complete your daily chores? use quick tallies to check things off and free up your mind. – skill & practice journal use the focus timer to record practice sessions that level-up your skills. they say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert—now you can track your journey there. watch your dedication pay off, whether you're practicing an instrument, coding a new project, or learning a new language. plus, timespent is more than just a list of numbers. it helps you visualize your journey with powerful, but simple, tools: – home screen widgets: keep your progress front and center so you never lose sight of your goals. – heatmap calendars: get a beautiful at-a-glance view of your consistency. – personal goals: set daily or weekly targets to stay motivated and celebrate every milestone you reach. – clean charts & stats: understand your trends without overwhelming or cluttered graphs. – reminders: send yourself notifications and words of encouragement. – arcs: track and organize your routines with a gentler approach to streaks & goals. – apple watch & fitness integration: import workouts automatically. start tracking what matters most. a better you is just one tap away. — Cal.

About

Orby

Features
Read full description

Orby turns your screen time into a single glowing light. Every morning your Orby starts full. As you spend time in the apps you chose to watch, it fades. Reach 2 hours 30 minutes and it goes dark. At midnight it fills back up and the day starts again. That's the whole idea. One number, one light, no dashboards to study. SEE IT WITHOUT OPENING THE APP Put your Orby on your Home Screen or Lock Screen and it's just there, quietly dimming through the day. Most people check it in passing and decide to put the phone down. That glance is the point. BRING FRIENDS INTO IT Habits are easier to keep when someone can see them. With Orby Friends you can connect with the people you actually want to be accountable to, and you'll each see the other's light. You see their light, and how many apps they chose to track — never which ones. That's it. There is no feed, no posts, no messages, no comments, no likes, no streaks to defend. Which apps you use, and how long you spent in each, never leave your phone: Apple seals them away, and Orby cannot read them either. The count is there so nobody can quietly stop tracking the app they scroll most and still look untouched. Adding someone takes a code or a QR scan — hold yours up, or point the camera at theirs. Holding a code only lets you ask; they see nothing until they accept. You can also choose to be told when a friend's light drops to a percentage you care about, or when they start tracking fewer apps, so you can check in when it actually matters. PRIVATE WHEN YOU NEED IT Some days you don't want to explain yourself. Turn on Private Mode and friends simply see "Private" instead of a number, until you turn it back off. BUILT SO IT CAN'T SPY ON YOU Orby measures time through Apple's Screen Time framework, which is designed so apps like this can't see inside it. Orby never learns which apps you selected, never sees your usage history, and never reads what you did in them. It only finds out when your daily total crosses each minute — and that is all it has to share. There are no accounts. No email, no password, no sign-up. You get a random friend code, and it only works for people you hand it to. Holding your code lets someone ask to connect; they see nothing at all unless you accept. No advertising. No tracking. No analytics about how you use the app. Orby collects crash reports so it can be fixed when it breaks, and those carry no personal data. FREE, AND WHAT ISN'T Your own Orby is free, forever. So are your widgets, your notifications, your colours and your app icon. Orby Friends is a subscription that unlocks connecting with people: adding friends, sharing your code, seeing their lights, friend notifications and the Friends widget. - Monthly - Yearly, which includes a 7-day free trial One flat price. It doesn't change with how many friends you add. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation. Subscriptions renew automatically unless turned off at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Terms: https://orbyfriends.com/terms Privacy: https://orbyfriends.com/privacy REQUIRES SCREEN TIME Orby needs Screen Time access to measure anything. You'll be asked during setup, and you choose which apps count. Without it, your Orby stays full and nothing happens.

Screenshots

timespent4 screens
Orby4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Orby at none against timespent's 4. timespent's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads 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. timespent sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Orby asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

timespent ships an update every 4 days, Orby fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
timespent versus Orby: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametertimespentOrby
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (175 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews98.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings175 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGlasshouse Studio, LLCJacobi Colombani

In-app purchases

4 purchases

timespent

Subscriptions3
  • Boundless (Weekly)$0.997 Days
  • Boundless (Monthly)$2.991 Month
  • Boundless (Yearly)$17.991 Year
One-time1
  • Boundless (Forever)$49.99
None

Orby

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is timespent free?
timespent is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Orby free?
Orby is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do timespent or Orby have ads?
Neither timespent nor Orby shows ads.
Which is updated more often, timespent or Orby?
timespent ships an update every 4 days, and Orby fortnightly. Most recently, timespent was updated on October 21, 2026 and Orby on October 9, 2026.

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