Comparison

EmpireClock vs Needless Clock

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

Head to head
About

EmpireClock

This app provides a clean and stylish display of your current local date, time, and location on a single screen. It's designed for users who need to track time across different zones or desire an aesthetically pleasing clock interface. The app offers a minimalist design with easy copying of information.

Highlights
  • Current local date display
  • Current local time display
  • Current local location display
  • Minimalist design
  • One-tap copy feature
  • Stylish time display
Read full description

EmpireClock is a simple, elegant app that shows your current local date, time, and location in one beautiful screen. Whether you're working across time zones or just want a stylish time display, EmpireClock keeps you informed at a glance. With a minimalist design and one-tap copy feature, it’s the perfect clock companion for your Mac or iPhone.

About

Needless Clock

This app offers a collection of living, animated clocks that display time through unique visual narratives. Interact with the scenes to alter elements and enjoy a calming visual experience that goes beyond simple timekeeping.

Highlights
  • Living, animated clock designs
  • Interactive visual elements
  • Customizable clock scenes
  • Scheduled display dimming
  • Short clock film creation
  • No ads or third-party tracking
Features
Read full description

People do not open Needless Clock merely to find out the time. More often, they want the glowing screen beside them to grow quiet without becoming empty: something to glance at between tasks, a little light at night, time passing without hurrying anyone along. Needless Clock is a collection of living, animated clocks. They all keep the same real time, but each inhabits a world of its own. Fish turn through water, birds arrive from far away, ants hurry under the weight of a treat, cars follow the painted lines of a car park, and a brush writes numerals in water. At the turn of a minute the picture wakes; once everything has found its place, only small movements, wings, shadows and breathing remain. TIME HAS TWELVE PLACES TO GO Fish gather into figures. Touch the water and those nearby scatter, then swim home along their own curved paths. Birds perch on five wires. Some leave at the next minute, others find a new place, and now and then a distant bird crosses the clouds. Tap once and the sky sinks beneath the sea, the flock becoming fish of different forms. Ants carry biscuits, rock sugar, dried fish, winter-melon candy and leaves. Cars pull into bays. Metal blocks fall one by one. These digits are not displayed; they are made. Water runs from a brush onto stone and disappears first from the finest ends of the strokes. Oracle bone, bronze, seal and clerical scripts sit beside the hands of Wang Xizhi, Yan Zhenqing and Huang Tingjian, letting one numeral travel through centuries. A gnomon casts its shadow among the twelve Earthly Branches, its length changing through the twenty-four solar terms. There is also a wall of cooperating clock faces, a luminous word clock, figures revealed by paper and shadow, and mechanical flaps that fall like those once heard in stations and airports. GOOD JUST LEFT THERE Swipe to move between clocks. Tap to change a material, colour or world. Or choose a few favourites and let them rotate by themselves, from every minute to every hour. At night the display can dim on your schedule. Keep the screen awake, or hide the title, date and time zone until only time remains. It belongs on an iPhone stand, across an iPad, beside a Mac workspace, or spread quietly over the television in a living room. A MOMENT YOU CAN TAKE WITH YOU On supported devices, Share waits for the next minute. It keeps the stillness before the change and stops after the movement has come to rest, making a short clock film to save or send. No account, no advertising and no third-party tracking. The clocks and their calculations stay on the device. Location is off by default and, if enabled, is used only to let the car park grow dark near your own sunset. Supports Reduce Motion and VoiceOver. Made for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. May it do more than tell the time. May it keep the time with you for a while.

Screenshots

EmpireClock1 screens
Needless Clock4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Needless Clock at every 3 days against EmpireClock's every 8 months. Needless Clock also leads on device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. 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 — 5.0 for EmpireClock against 5.0 for Needless Clock. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

EmpireClock ships an update every 8 months, Needless Clock every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
EmpireClock versus Needless Clock: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEmpireClockNeedless Clock
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS18.517.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAsher Bloom路 林

Customer experience

EmpireClock

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Needless Clock

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

In-app purchases

None

EmpireClock

No in-app purchases

None

Needless Clock

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is EmpireClock free?
EmpireClock is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Needless Clock free?
Needless Clock is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, EmpireClock or Needless Clock?
EmpireClock and Needless Clock are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do EmpireClock or Needless Clock have ads?
Neither EmpireClock nor Needless Clock shows ads.
Which is updated more often, EmpireClock or Needless Clock?
EmpireClock ships an update every 8 months, and Needless Clock every 3 days. Most recently, EmpireClock was updated on October 20, 2026 and Needless Clock on October 10, 2026.

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