Comparison

Pomodoro Timer vs Ember

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

Head to head
About

Pomodoro Timer

Enhance your focus and productivity with customizable timers based on the Pomodoro technique. Track your progress with insightful charts, receive timely notifications, and organize sessions by category. Sync across devices and build consistent, lasting habits for a deeper, more balanced life.

Highlights
  • Customizable focus and break timers
  • Progress tracking with charts and analytics
  • Alarms and notifications
  • Live Activities for Lock Screen/Dynamic Island
  • Session organization by category
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Focus streak and goal building
Features
Read full description

FocusKit helps you work with deeper focus, protect your time, and build a calmer daily rhythm. Features Smart Focus Sessions Use Pomodoro-style focus and break timers that fit the way you work. Stay productive, take better breaks, and keep your day balanced. Progress Tracking See your focus time, patterns, streaks, goals, and long-term progress with clear charts and helpful insights. Alarms and Notifications Never lose track of time. FocusKit can alert you when a session ends, when a break begins, or when it is time to get back into flow. Live Activities Follow your current session from the Lock Screen or Dynamic Island without unlocking your iPhone. Categories Organize sessions by project, task, or purpose so you can understand where your time really goes. iCloud Sync Keep your sessions and categories in sync across your devices, with privacy and security built in. Consistency Maintain focus streaks, reach daily and weekly goals, and turn focused work into a lasting habit. Home Screen Widgets Bring FocusKit to your Home Screen. Start, pause, or check your current session at a glance without opening the app. Choose from multiple widget sizes and styles, view your daily focus progress, track your streaks, and start a new session with a single tap. Apple Watch Take FocusKit with you wherever you go. Start, pause, and end focus sessions from your wrist, get haptic feedback for session transitions and breaks, check the remaining time, switch categories on the fly, and keep your streak alive even when your iPhone is out of reach. Complications put your next focus session one tap away from any watch face. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.tryfocuskit.com/privacy/

About

Ember

A fast and organized workspace for writing Markdown notes, storing PDFs, diagrams, and voice memos. It offers a vault for reusable prompts and syncs across Apple devices. Start for free with full editor access.

Highlights
  • Rich Markdown editor
  • Inline PDF and image support
  • Reusable prompt vault
  • Daily notes, folders, and tags
  • Instant search functionality
  • Private iCloud sync
  • Share Extension
Features
Read full description

Your notes should feel like home. Ember is a warm, fast place to think — Markdown notes, PDFs, diagrams, voice memos, and a vault of reusable prompts, all in one calm workspace that syncs across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. WRITE IN RICH MARKDOWN A live editor with real formatting: headings, tables, task lists, links, highlights, footnotes, and code — rendered as you type, never in your way. Bullets, numbers, and checkboxes feel native and effortless. MORE THAN TEXT Drop PDFs, images, diagrams, and voice notes right inline. Your references live beside your writing, so everything about a thought stays in one place. A VAULT FOR YOUR PROMPTS Keep the prompts you reuse for writing, research, and planning in a dedicated Prompt Vault — organized, searchable, and a tap away when you need them. STAY ORGANIZED, STAY FAST Daily notes, folders, tags, smart filters, and pinned notes keep things tidy, and instant search finds anything the moment you look for it. YOURS EVERYWHERE Ember runs natively on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with optional private iCloud sync, widgets, and a Share Extension for capturing from anywhere. FREE TO START Capture notes, PDFs, prompts, and attachments with the full editor — free, no account required. EMBER PRO Unlock advanced themes and alternate icons, premium writing and organization workflows, and deeper Prompt Vault tools, as a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts. No ads. No selling your words. Your notes stay on your device and your own iCloud. Make a home for your thinking. Download Ember Notes. TERMS & PRIVACY Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://embernotes.app/privacy

Screenshots

Pomodoro Timer4 screens
Ember4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Pomodoro Timer at 44 against Ember's 3. Ember's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). 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. Pomodoro Timer sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Ember sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ember holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pomodoro Timer has 44 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pomodoro Timer ships an update fortnightly, Ember every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Pomodoro Timer versus Ember: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPomodoro TimerEmber
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (44 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.2% of reviews
Number of ratings44 — better3
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB70 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSebastian RoehlRene DeAnda

Customer experience

Pomodoro Timer

All ratings44 ratings
Positive97.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive88.2%
Neutral5.9%
Negative5.9%

Ember

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Pomodoro Timer

Subscriptions4
  • FocusKit Pro (1 Month)$0.991 Month
  • FocusKit Pro (1 Month)$1.991 Month
  • FocusKit Pro (1 Year)$9.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • FocusKit Pro (1 Year)$17.991 Year
One-time2
  • FocusKit Pro (Lifetime)$17.99
  • FocusKit Pro (Lifetime)$39.99
3 purchases

Ember

Subscriptions2
  • Ember Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Ember Pro Annual$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Ember Pro Lifetime$99.99

Questions

Is Pomodoro Timer free?
Pomodoro Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ember free?
Ember is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pomodoro Timer or Ember?
Ember is rated higher. Pomodoro Timer averages 4.8 out of 5 from 44 ratings, while Ember averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Pomodoro Timer or Ember have ads?
Neither Pomodoro Timer nor Ember shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pomodoro Timer or Ember?
Pomodoro Timer ships an update fortnightly, and Ember every 10 days. Most recently, Pomodoro Timer was updated on September 17, 2026 and Ember on September 23, 2026.

Other comparisons