Comparison

Anchor vs Control

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

Head to head
About

Anchor

Organize your day with focus blocks, capturing tasks and projects. Syncs with your calendar and is accessible across devices. Designed for efficient planning and task management.

Highlights
  • Focus block scheduling
  • Task and project organization
  • Smart date capture
  • Calendar and reminders sync
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Offline functionality
Features
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A place for your tasks, projects, and daily plan. Anchor organizes your day around focus blocks. Group tasks into a block, give it some time in your calendar, and work through them at your own pace. When plans change, move things around. CAPTURE YOUR TASKS Type a task as it comes to mind. Use Smart Dates to add a date as you type, or hold New To Do and talk through several things at once. Anchor turns what you say into tasks, with projects, dates, and urgency levels, privately with Apple Intelligence.* KEEP PROJECTS ORGANIZED Keep related tasks in projects. Add dividers to separate sections, notes to hold the details, and urgency levels to show what needs attention. Drag tasks into the order that works for you. PLAN WITH FOCUS BLOCKS Bring tasks into a block alongside your calendar events. Set up repeating blocks for the regular parts of your week. Focus on one block at a time, and move unfinished tasks forward when you need to. PICK UP ON ANOTHER DEVICE Your tasks, projects, and focus blocks sync through your private iCloud. Anchor is also available on Mac, so you can continue there. CONNECTED TO YOUR DAY • Apple Calendar and Reminders sync • Widgets and Live Activity • Siri shortcuts • Repeating blocks and custom icons • Works offline • No separate Anchor account required Available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese. MADE INDEPENDENTLY Anchor is designed and built by an independent developer. No ads, no venture capital. Just an app that keeps getting better with feedback from the people who use it. *Voice capture requires Super Anchor and a compatible iPhone with Apple Intelligence enabled, using a supported language. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Control

Consolidate your daily trackers, planners, and reminders into a single, elegant app. Monitor habits, budgets, fitness, and more directly from your Home Screen, Lock Screen, or Live Activities. Enjoy a private experience with all data stored locally and synced via iCloud.

Highlights
  • 20+ customizable iOS widgets
  • Track habits, budget, fitness, and more
  • Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Live Activities support
  • Private data storage on device
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • No sign-ups or dark patterns
Features
Read full description

Your Home Screen, redesigned. Control is a library of 20+ beautifully crafted iOS widgets - every tracker, planner, and reminder you actually use, gathered in one app. Habits, budget, fitness, medication, birthdays, travel, and much more, all glanceable from your Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Live Activities. No more juggling ten single-purpose apps. No sign-ups, no dark patterns. - TRACK EVERYTHING - • Habits - daily routines, streaks, goals • Budget - spending, savings, monthly limits • Subscriptions - see exactly what's recurring and when • Portfolio - track your investments • Debt - loans and credit cards, payoff progress • Currency - live exchange rates between any two currencies • Fitness - steps, workouts, calories burned via Apple Health • Calories - daily intake, weight goals • Period - cycle tracking with predictions • Medication - dose reminders for every prescription • Birthdays - pulled from Contacts, never forget another one • Books - what you're reading, with auto-fetched covers • Movies - your watchlist with poster art • Pets - feeding, walks, vet visits • Vehicle - mileage, services, fuel logs • Hotel & Travel - live check-out countdowns and trip dashboards • Past Trips - a souvenir of where you've been • Food Expiration - what's in your fridge and when it spoils • Game Tracker - leaderboards plus a multi-touch player picker • Speedometer - live drive sessions • Clipboard - quick-paste from history • To-do - checklists that sync across devices • Quit Tracker - sober days, money saved, life regained - PRIVATE BY DEFAULT - Everything is stored on your device and synced privately through your own iCloud account. No external servers. No tracking. No analytics SDKs. Your habits, finances, and reminders are yours. Control is built for people who want their Home Screen to do something useful. - Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Anchor4 screens
Control4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Anchor at 4.9 against Control's 4.5. Anchor also leads on ratings volume (43 vs 2). Control's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, update cadence, 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. Anchor sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Control sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Anchor holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Anchor has 43 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Anchor ships an update every 3 days, Control every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Anchor versus Control: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAnchorControl
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (43 ratings) — better4.5 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews92.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings43 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 6 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size97 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAlessandro PludaAlex Patrick Palacean

Customer experience

Anchor

All ratings36 ratings
Positive97.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive92.9%
Neutral7.1%
Negative0.0%

Control

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Anchor

One-time2
  • Super Anchor Lifetime$29.99
  • Super Anchor Lifetime$49.99
1 purchases

Control

One-time1
  • Control Lifetime$9.99

Questions

Is Anchor free?
Anchor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Control free?
Control is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Anchor or Control?
Anchor is rated higher. Anchor averages 4.9 out of 5 from 43 ratings, while Control averages 4.5 from 2 ratings.
Do Anchor or Control have ads?
Neither Anchor nor Control shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Anchor or Control?
Anchor ships an update every 3 days, and Control every 6 days. Most recently, Anchor was updated on November 12, 2026 and Control on October 31, 2026.

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