Flow Timer vs Visual Timer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Flow Timer
This app uses calming animations to help you focus and track time for various activities. Set custom durations, choose themes and sounds, and create interval timers for study or workouts. It offers a distraction-free experience for mindful timing.
- Peaceful countdown animations
- Customizable timer durations
- Named timers for specific uses
- Calming background and timer sounds
- Themed visual preferences
- Interval timers for Pomodoro/HIIT
- Timer session tracking and badges
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Water climbs. Sand falls. A picture appears. Flow Timer is a visual timer: it shows you time instead of telling you. Water that climbs the glass as you go, a sand timer whose grains really fall, or a picture that paints itself while you work. Glance at it and you know how long is left — no numbers to read, no arithmetic. BUILT FOR TIME BLINDNESS When minutes feel invisible — as they often do for people with ADHD — a shape you can watch beats a number you have to interpret. That is the whole design. Nothing flashes, nothing nags, nothing demands a decision. The timer simply keeps being visible until it is done. A TIMER WORTH LOOKING AT Most timers are ugly because nobody expects you to watch them. This one is made to be watched: hand-drawn scenes, five colour palettes, an hourglass with real falling sand, calming sounds, and a zen mode that clears away everything but the time. Leave it running on a desk or a second screen and it earns its place. IN THE CLASSROOM AND AT HOME Big enough to read from the back row, clear enough for a child who cannot read a clock yet. Transitions, tests, quiet reading, toothbrushing, screen time, bedtime wind-down. A visual countdown ends the "how long left?" question without anyone having to answer it. ALSO A GOOD STUDY TIMER Set any duration, name it, start it in one tap. Build interval sessions for pomodoro study blocks, workouts or circuits. Streaks, badges, a heatmap and monthly trends record where your focus actually went, from your very first session. OFFLINE, AND STAYS THAT WAY No account, no sign-in, no analytics, no ads. Flow Timer collects nothing about you because it has nowhere to send it — everything stays on your device unless you export a backup yourself. Available in 15 languages. ONE PURCHASE, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION Free covers the liquid mode, the sand timer, intervals, every duration, most sounds and your daily statistics. Flow Timer Pro is an optional one-time purchase — never a subscription — adding canvas timers with your own photos, binaural beats and focus tones, your complete history, and backup export. Buy it once and it is yours for good. Built by one person who wanted a timer worth looking at.
Visual Timer
This app offers a visually engaging countdown timer with multiple unique styles to represent the passage of time. Customize colors, backgrounds, and alarm sounds for various activities like focus work, cooking, or kids' routines.
- Nine unique visual timer styles
- Customizable colors and backgrounds
- Over 50 alarm sound options
- Adjustable durations from seconds to hours
- Presets and recent duration quick-picks
- Designed for focus, cooking, kids, and workouts
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Visual Timer - Time you can actually see Make every minute count with a timer that's actually worth looking at. Visual Timer turns the wait into the show: nine beautiful, hand-crafted styles that each visualize time in a different way. Pick your style: • Circular - a classic clock-face wedge that drains as time runs out • Liquid - a wave-tinted pool that drains as the clock ticks • Pixel - a grid of pixels disappears one by one • Rain - thousands of tiny grains rain down and pile up to fill the screen • Blocks - falling pieces stack up to fill the screen • Maze - a snake winds across the screen until it fills every cell • Rings - concentric rainbow rings, one per minute, leaving a colored trail • Sun - the sun arcs across the sky, drifting from dawn through dusk to night • Path - a dot glides along a trail — follow the built-in curve or draw your own • Spread - a colorful infection blooms from a few seeds until it fills the screen Make it yours: • Pick any color for the timer fill or background • Use your own photos as a backdrop or foreground • Choose from 50+ alarm sounds, from a gentle chime to a rooster • Custom durations from a few seconds to several hours • Quick-pick recent durations and built-in presets Built for any moment: • Focus and deep work - visual progress without distraction • Cooking - set it on the counter and just glance over • Kids - turn time-outs, brushing teeth, or screen-time limits into something they actually watch • Workouts - clear interval timing without staring at numbers • Meditation - calm, smooth visuals that don't pull attention • Studying - Pomodoro sessions that look like part of the desk A timer that feels at home on your phone. Designed top-to-bottom for iOS - Liquid Glass controls, fluid animations, and dark-mode-first aesthetics.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Flow Timer at 100% against Visual Timer's 33%. Flow Timer also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and rating (4.9 vs 4.6). Visual Timer's advantage is ratings volume (108 vs 7). On price, update cadence, ads and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Visual Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Flow Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Flow Timer holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Visual Timer has 108 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Flow Timer's written reviews are positive against 33% of Visual Timer's.
Flow Timer ships an update monthly, Visual Timer every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Flow Timer | Visual Timer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (7 ratings) — better | 4.6 (108 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 108 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 18.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 83 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Codejuno Ltd | Applorium Ltd |
Customer experience
Flow Timer
Visual Timer
In-app purchases
Flow Timer
No in-app purchases
Visual Timer
- Visual Timer Unlock$5.99
Questions
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Is Visual Timer free?
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