Comparison

grug vs TimeDots

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

Head to head
About

grug

Receive a daily dose of simple, profound wisdom to help you navigate life's challenges. This app offers straightforward truths and accompanying artwork to inspire personal growth and contentment. It focuses on mindfulness and taking small steps each day.

Highlights
  • Daily wisdom sharing
  • Accompanying artwork
  • Home screen widget
  • Customizable themes
  • Light and dark modes
  • No login or tracking
Features
Read full description

grug know: big scary just many small rock wearing fur coat. every sunrise grug share one wisdom. help you break today rock into small piece. no fancy word. no complicated. just simple truth that work. **what grug do:** - share daily wisdom when sun rise - draw grug dream on wisdom - share with other grug - widget show wisdom on cave - grug work in light and dark cave or give grug shiny color grug not guru. grug just know: small step every day make mountain move. perfect never come. better start with broken stick today than wait for perfect stick tomorrow. wisdom come from real life. fear work love pain growth. grug speak simple but truth hit deep. like "fear just smoke. real but not solid.” and "wanting make poor. grateful make rich." each day different wisdom. truth waiting. grug help see: you already enough. just need pick up one small rock today. app simple like grug brain. open. read wisdom. maybe draw feeling. that all. no login. no cloud. no follow. just you and today truth. remember. tomorrow not here. only today real. grug help make today count. Terms of Service: https://ocho.so/terms Privacy Policy: https://ocho.so/privacy

About

TimeDots

Visualize your time with a unique dot-based calendar. Track days, months, years, or your entire life to gain perspective on progress and urgency. Customizable widgets and themes keep your important moments visible.

Highlights
  • Visual time representation with dots
  • Countdown tracking for events
  • Home screen widgets
  • Customizable themes and styles
  • Privacy-focused, on-device data
Features
Read full description

Time is the one thing you can't get back. TimeDots turns your year, your month and every countdown into a calm grid of dots, one dot per day, so you can see exactly how much time is left. Every day a dot fills in. It's a quiet daily nudge to make today count. SEE YOUR TIME AT A GLANCE • Your whole year as dots, filling in as the days pass • Days left front and center: in the year, the month, or until your next event • Year by month: a calendar of dots that shows where each month starts and where today sits • Hold and drag across the dots to explore any day COUNT DOWN TO WHAT MATTERS • Trips, birthdays, exams, weddings, launches and deadlines • Every event gets its own grid with live progress • Recurring events roll forward automatically • A small celebration when a countdown reaches its day HOW WAS TODAY? • A 5‑second daily check‑in: pick one of five moods • Your dots take on the colors of your days, so your year becomes a mood map • Add a short note to any day you want to remember • An optional morning reminder with how many days are left • Hide the check‑in once you've answered, if you prefer a cleaner screen ON YOUR WRIST, LOCK SCREEN AND HOME SCREEN • Home Screen widgets in every size • Lock Screen widgets • Live Activities and Dynamic Island • A redesigned Apple Watch app: next event first, check in from your wrist, turn the Digital Crown to move through the days, and complications that show up in the Smart Stack when they matter MAKE IT YOURS • 24 themes, from Midnight to Aurora • Alternate app icons • "Life in Weeks": your whole life, one dot per week • Share cards made for your story • iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch • Built for iPad, with full Dynamic Type, VoiceOver and Increase Contrast support Free to download. Upgrade to Pro to unlock every theme, widget and feature. Stop letting the days blur together. Make every dot count.

Screenshots

grug4 screens
TimeDots4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: grug at none against TimeDots's 1. grug also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). TimeDots's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, ads and iOS requirement 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. TimeDots sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. grug asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

grug ships an update weekly, TimeDots every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 14, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
grug versus TimeDots: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametergrugTimeDots
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (3.5K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews96.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.5K — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.017.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOchoAdemola Mayowa Olatunji

Customer experience

grug

All ratings3,363 ratings
Positive96.5%
Neutral1.8%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews683 reviews
Positive96.3%
Neutral1.8%
Negative1.9%

TimeDots

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

grug

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

TimeDots

One-time1
  • TimeDots Pro$2.99

Questions

Is grug free?
grug is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is TimeDots free?
TimeDots is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do grug or TimeDots have ads?
Neither grug nor TimeDots shows ads.
Which is updated more often, grug or TimeDots?
grug ships an update weekly, and TimeDots every 2 weeks. Most recently, grug was updated on November 14, 2026 and TimeDots on October 31, 2026.

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