Comparison

AppList. vs Held

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

Head to head
About

AppList.

Organize your favorite applications into a clean, minimalist list. This free launcher focuses on reducing distractions and visual noise, making your phone feel like a tool. It prioritizes privacy with no ads or tracking.

Highlights
  • Minimalist app list design
  • Customizable text styling
  • Reduced clutter and distractions
  • Privacy-focused, no tracking
  • Supports up to 65 apps
  • Widgets for fullscreen list
Read full description

A free minimalist home screen with your favorite apps, beautifully listed. That's it.  • Beautifully Minimal – Turn your app grid into a sleek, organized list – Clean design with customizable alignment and text styling – Designed to reduce clutter and visual noise • Mindful by Design – Focus on what matters by removing distractions – Curate your essential apps with intention – Make your phone feel like a tool, not a trap • Private and Honest – No ads – No tracking – No hidden analytics – Your data stays on your device – Open source app catalog • Additional notes - This app is completely free with optional donations to support the solo developer :-) - Two widgets combine into a fullscreen list of apps, or on iOS 27 one extra-large widget fills the screen - The app comes with the equivalent of 5 fullscreen lists (for up to 65 apps!)

About

Held

This app helps you achieve your goals by making them public and accountable. Set deadlines, choose a witness, and receive regular check-ins and reminders to stay on track. Your progress is recorded in an honest ledger, ensuring permanent verdicts on your commitments.

Highlights
  • Set goals with deadlines and witnesses
  • Daily or weekly check-ins
  • Honest progress ledger
  • Customizable reminders
  • Private by design, no account needed
  • JSON data export
  • Stakes and renegotiation options
Features
Read full description

Goals fail quietly. Held makes them loud. A goal doesn't exist here until it has a deadline and a witness — someone you name, who gets your commitment in writing. Held walks you through it in three steps: the goal, the timeline, the person who will hold you to it. Give it a photograph too, if you want one. Then it sends your commitment through your own Messages or Mail, and the clock starts. THE DAY MARKER Open the app and one number faces you: the day you're on, out of the days you have. No dashboards, no confetti. Just the count. CHECK-INS ON A FIXED CADENCE Daily or weekly — you pick the rhythm when you commit. On check-in days Held asks for three honest things: on track, behind, or done; one line of progress; one next step. Add a photograph too, if you want one. Then it composes the message to your witness. You send it yourself. AN HONEST LEDGER Miss a check-in and it goes on the record. It stays on the record, and your next message to your witness owns up to it. Any photograph you added sits beside that day's line. On deadline day the ledger demands a verdict: kept or missed. Verdicts are permanent. REMINDERS THAT HOLD YOU TO IT A reminder on every check-in day, at the hour you choose. An evening nudge if the check-in is still open. A warning three days from the deadline, another the day before, and a final one when the ledger wants its verdict. Optional daily nudges for weekly goals. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No backend. No analytics. Everything lives on your device, with JSON export whenever you want your data. Held never sends anything on your behalf — every message goes out through your own apps, in your own name. Also: a progress bar on every goal, renegotiation (changing a deal means telling your witness first), stakes ("if I miss, I owe Sandy a spa day"), multiple goals and witnesses, and an interface with nothing to fiddle with. Put something on the line.

Screenshots

AppList.4 screens
Held4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Held at none against AppList.'s 3. Held also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and device support (3 vs 1). AppList.'s advantage is ratings volume (27 vs 4). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. AppList. sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Held asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Held holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AppList. has 27 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
AppList. versus Held: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAppList.Held
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (27 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings27 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperClement BoissiereTheodor Younany

Customer experience

AppList.

All ratings27 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Held

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

AppList.

One-time3
  • Small Tip$2.99
  • Extra Pages$2.99
  • Big Tip$9.99
None

Held

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is AppList. free?
AppList. is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Held free?
Held is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, AppList. or Held?
Held is rated higher. AppList. averages 4.8 out of 5 from 27 ratings, while Held averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do AppList. or Held have ads?
Neither AppList. nor Held shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AppList. or Held?
AppList. ships an update every 3 weeks, and Held every 3 weeks. Most recently, AppList. was updated on October 1, 2026 and Held on September 30, 2026.

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