Comparison

Flow Timer vs Hourglass

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Hourglass

This app automatically tracks your productive time by monitoring how your phone is oriented. Place your device face down to enter focus mode and flip it over to log distraction time, providing clear data on your work habits without manual input.

Highlights
  • Automatic focus time tracking
  • Distraction time monitoring
  • Phone orientation detection
  • Real productivity data
  • No manual timers
  • Simple interface
Features
Read full description

Hourglass automatically tracks your productive time. Place your phone face down to start focus mode. When you flip it over, it tracks your time spent distracted. Get real data on your focus vs distraction patterns. No manual timers. No guessing. Just truth.

Screenshots

Flow Timer4 screens
Hourglass4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Hourglass at every 10 days against Flow Timer's monthly. Flow Timer's advantage is ratings volume (7 vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.2). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Flow Timer against 5.0 for Hourglass. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Flow Timer has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Flow Timer ships an update monthly, Hourglass every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Flow Timer versus Hourglass: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFlow TimerHourglass
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (7 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.4 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size83 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCodejuno LtdPASHA MEHRANPOUR

Customer experience

Flow Timer

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Hourglass

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Flow Timer

No in-app purchases

None

Hourglass

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Flow Timer free?
Flow Timer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hourglass free?
Hourglass is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Flow Timer or Hourglass?
Hourglass is rated higher. Flow Timer averages 4.9 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while Hourglass averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Flow Timer or Hourglass have ads?
Neither Flow Timer nor Hourglass shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Flow Timer or Hourglass?
Flow Timer ships an update monthly, and Hourglass every 10 days. Most recently, Flow Timer was updated on October 30, 2026 and Hourglass on October 31, 2026.

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