Anchor vs CompactCalendar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Anchor
Organize your day with flexible time blocking. Capture tasks, group them into focus blocks, and sync with your calendar. Manage projects with dividers and notes, and pick up where you left off on other devices.
- Flexible time blocking
- Task capture with smart dates
- Project organization with dividers
- Calendar event integration
- Cross-device syncing
- Offline functionality
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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/
CompactCalendar
Display your calendar events and reminders directly on your Home Screen and Lock Screen with customizable widgets. See your day, week, or month at a glance, with options to integrate your chosen calendars and event colors.
- Home Screen widgets
- Lock Screen widgets
- Events & Reminders Together
- Calendar Selection
- True Colors
- Tap to Open
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See your calendar and reminders right from the Home Screen and Lock Screen! CompactCalendar shows your events and reminders in clean, beautiful widgets — for both the Home Screen and the Lock Screen. Home Screen widgets: • Today & This Month: A month calendar with today’s events • Daily Schedule: Your events for the next 6 days at a glance Lock Screen widgets: • Up Next: Your next or ongoing event on one Lock Screen line • Next 3 Days: Upcoming events for the next three days • 2-Week Calendar: A compact two-week mini calendar More features: • Events & Reminders Together: See calendar events and reminders in one widget • Calendar Selection: Choose which calendars each widget shows • True Colors: Your calendar colors appear exactly as you set them • Tap to Open: Tap a date to jump straight into the Calendar app CompactCalendar Pro: A one-time purchase unlocks rectangular Lock Screen widgets and medium-size Home Screen widgets — forever. Start a more beautiful calendar experience with CompactCalendar!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Anchor at 100% against CompactCalendar's 38%. Anchor also leads on rating (4.8 vs 1.0) and ratings volume (29 vs 1). 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
Both are free to download. Anchor sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and CompactCalendar sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Anchor holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Anchor has 29 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Anchor's written reviews are positive against 38% of CompactCalendar's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Anchor | CompactCalendar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (29 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 37.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 29 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, Mac | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 97 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alessandro Pluda | Sunghyun Kim |
Customer experience
Anchor
CompactCalendar
In-app purchases
Anchor
- Super Anchor Lifetime$29.99
- Super Anchor Lifetime$49.99
CompactCalendar
- CompactCalendar Pro$3.99
Questions
Is Anchor free?
Is CompactCalendar free?
Which has better reviews, Anchor or CompactCalendar?
Do Anchor or CompactCalendar have ads?
Which is updated more often, Anchor or CompactCalendar?
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