Nexter vs Sandbar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Nexter
This app helps you build positive habits without the guilt of missed days. Track progress over weeks and months with flexible goals, and engage in friendly challenges with friends. It offers detailed statistics, widgets, and data export.
- Guilt-free habit tracking
- Weekly goal setting
- Friend challenges with shared goals
- Progress statistics and trends
- Home screen widgets
- Built-in stopwatch
- Data export
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Habit trackers love making you feel bad. Nexter doesn't. Most apps turn your life into a streak you can't afford to break. Miss one day and bam - 214 days gone, big red zero, "you failed". We think that's nonsense. Life gets in the way. Nexter is built for real people who skip days and just keep going - no drama. Track anything you want more (or less) of - reading, running, water, meditation, screen time, whatever. Log it by time, count or distance - or just check the day off. One tap, day done. Watch your progress add up over weeks and months instead of beating yourself up over one missed day. Weekly goals, where you pick the bar: give any habit a goal like "3 days a week". Hit it week after week and a little week counter counts along. And no, it's not one of those streaks - miss a week and it freezes instead of dying. Weeks, not days - one lazy Tuesday costs you nothing. Don't feel like doing it alone? Start a challenge. One shared goal for you and your people - like 3 checks a week - and everyone has to hit it. You see who's showing up, there's a chat for cheering (and excuses), and nobody gets ranked or shamed. Up to 10 people, invited with a simple link. And your progress follows you around: a statistics tab with your personal bests and a trend you can scrub - back through a whole year -, widgets for your home screen, a stopwatch that keeps counting while the app is closed, and a full export of your data whenever you want it. Why people like it: - No daily streaks, no guilt, no manipulative notifications - Track habits by time, count or distance - or just check them off - Weekly goals where you set the bar - 3 days a week is a win - Challenges with friends - one shared goal, no leaderboard - Statistics, home-screen widgets and a built-in stopwatch - Reminders that nudge before your usual time, never after - Clean, fast and genuinely nice to look at - Works right away - no account needed to start Built by two people, not a growth team. We made Nexter because every other tracker made us feel bad. This one doesn't. Track what matters, ignore the rest, and don't sweat the days you miss. Your habits, your pace.
Sandbar
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Sandbar is a calm Pomodoro timer where every focus session grows something: your very own low-poly island. A new island starts as a little sandbar with a single sapling. With every Pomodoro, more land rises from the sea. Grass spreads, rocks appear, and one day a mountain and a waterfall rise up. The island sits on a round base inside a glass cylinder, so you can look all the way down to the sea floor. HOW IT WORKS • Focus, short break, long break: you choose the length and the rhythm. • Every minute of focus brings you a shell. Spend them on trees, animals, cabins and decor, and place each one exactly where you want it with a tap. • Every sixth Pomodoro brings a surprise: a rabbit hops by, a family of ducks paddles across the lake, a deer steps out of the forest. • Create several islands and see how much you got done in your weekly overview. • Day and night follow your device. At night, windows and campfires glow. • Soft rippling water while you focus, if you like. • A notification at the end of each phase, even when the app is in the background. WORLDS Forest Lake is free. Unlock more worlds with shells or buy them one by one, like the Maldives with white sand, water villas, sea turtles and dolphins. There are 20 worlds in all, from the Rainforest and the Hallig with real tides to the Fjord under the northern lights, the Underwater World and the Moon Colony. The newest are the Cloud Peak above a sea of clouds, the Mangrove Delta with its tides, the Rice Terraces, whose fields mirror the sky, and the Christmas Village, available every year from December 1 to 25. SANDBAR PLUS All worlds, the Plus Collection, every decor pack and double shells. Monthly, yearly (with 14 days free) or once for a lifetime. Your island still only grows through focus, never through money. PRIVATE No ads, no tracking, no account needed. Every island begins as a little sandbar. That’s where the name comes from. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
Nexter and Sandbar are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Nexter sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Sandbar sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Nexter | Sandbar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 91.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Marcel Bihl | Xavier Joseph Haas |
In-app purchases
Nexter
- Nexter Pro (monthly)14 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Nexter Pro (yearly)$14.991 Year
- Nexter Pro (Lifetime)$22.99
Sandbar
- Sandbar Plus (monthly)$3.991 Month
- Sandbar Plus (yearly)14 Days trial$24.991 Year
- River Life$1.99
- Christmas Bakery$1.99
- Evening at the Hut$1.99
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- Teahouse$1.99
- Jungle Camp$1.99
- Dive Center$1.99
- Northern Lights Night$1.99
- Moon Leisure$1.99
- Surf Morning$1.99
- Dolce Vita$1.99
- Tea Party$1.99
- Hytte$1.99
- Rice Terraces$2.99
- Mangrove Delta$2.99
- Christmas Village$3.99
- Cloud Peak$3.99








