Comparison

Split Flap vs Brutal Time

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

Head to head
About

Split Flap

Transform any screen into a dynamic display with various retro and modern signage styles. Create custom messages, build playlists, and schedule them to appear automatically. Offers live feeds for time, weather, and news, with offline functionality and privacy controls.

Highlights
  • Customizable message displays
  • Multiple retro and modern themes
  • Playlist creation and scheduling
  • Live data feeds (time, weather, news)
  • Offline functionality
  • Local REST API for control
  • Cross-device support
Features
Read full description

Turn any screen into a beautiful signage display. Split-Flap Board recreates the mechanical charm of airport departure boards — then goes further with LED matrices, retro marquees, glowing neon, and cinematic text crawls. Write a message, pick a style, and watch it come to life. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Type any message and watch it flip, glow, scroll, or reveal itself character by character • Build playlists that rotate through your messages automatically • Schedule messages to appear at the right time of day • Add live feeds — time, weather, news, and stock prices update themselves • Use it on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV DISPLAY STYLES • Split-Flap — the classic Solari board, in basic and sepia variants (free) • LED Dot Matrix — crisp pixel displays with animated reveals (free) • Cyberpunk Neon — glowing borders that pulse, chase, blink, and hum • Retro Marquee — warm theater bulbs in any color you like • Galaxy Crawl — cinematic perspective scrolling • Word Matrix — dramatic letter-by-letter reveals, in light or dark • Background Image — your own photos behind animated text • Chalkboard (NEW) — hand-lettered chalk on a slate or classroom-green board that writes itself in, with the sound of chalk MADE FOR REAL PLACES Shop hours and daily specials. The Wi-Fi password for guests. A welcome message by the door. A birthday surprise on the TV. A countdown to your next trip. A dashboard on a spare iPad. However you use it, it looks the part. WORKS OFFLINE, STAYS PRIVATE No account. No sign-in. No ads, no tracking, no analytics. Your messages stay on your device. Live feeds only reach the internet when you switch them on. FOR POWER USERS Turn on the built-in local REST API and drive the board from another device on your Wi-Fi — a home server, a shortcut, a script. PREMIUM — ONE PURCHASE, YOURS FOREVER The Split-Flap and LED themes — and all core editing — are free. A single one-time purchase, never a subscription, unlocks every premium theme, unlimited playlists, Fullscreen mode, and the REST API. Buy once, use it on all your devices.

About

Brutal Time

Features
Read full description

Brutal Time turns your iPhone into a brutalist desk clock. Put it on a charger and it fills the screen, edge to edge, with nothing but type. It tells time without decoration, distraction, or gimmicks. ON THE CHARGER StandBy widgets for every clock face, and widgets for the Home Screen. A full-screen, StandBy-style display for the app itself, with the status bar hidden so the clock owns the whole screen. Add a Shortcut and it opens by itself the moment you plug in. Always-On keeps it lit while charging and dims it after a few seconds, then lets the phone sleep again as soon as you unplug. FOUR TYPOGRAPHIC FACES Four distinct designs, each built on a different typographic system: digits locked to a ruled grid, editorial Swiss with a red accent, oversized poster glyphs cropped by the frame, and mono type over a dot-indexed field. Each reads as words or numerals, in dark or light, portrait or landscape. UNLOCK AMBIENT MOTION WITH THE FULL EDITION Each face can come alive. Continuous, ambient motion runs through the type — letters that breathe, sway, and resolve on their own unhurried rhythm, with several motions for every face. Calm and deliberate, never a screensaver. Ambient Motion is the only paid feature, and the Full Edition is a one-time purchase — buy it once, keep it forever. Everything else is free: every clock face, every typeface, every widget, the full-screen display and Always-On. Also included: - Three typefaces per face - Custom accent colors - Home Screen and StandBy widgets - No subscription. No ads. Ever. Brutal Time is shaped by brutalist design principles: visible structure, a restrained palette, and the removal of unnecessary ornament. Time is shown as type, grid, and rhythm — clear, functional, and deliberate.

Screenshots

Split Flap4 screens
Brutal Time4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Split Flap at 4 against Brutal Time's 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Split Flap sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Brutal Time sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Split Flap versus Brutal Time: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSplit FlapBrutal Time
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGregory DolderForager Lab LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Split Flap

One-time1
  • Premium Features2 variants$0.99
1 purchases

Brutal Time

One-time1
  • Full Edition$4.99

Questions

Is Split Flap free?
Split Flap is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Brutal Time free?
Brutal Time is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Split Flap or Brutal Time have ads?
Neither Split Flap nor Brutal Time shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Split Flap or Brutal Time?
Split Flap ships an update every 3 weeks, and Brutal Time every 3 weeks. Most recently, Split Flap was updated on November 8, 2026 and Brutal Time on November 9, 2026.

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