Mindful Timer vs Zazen Meditation Timer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mindful Timer
This app provides a simple, unguided interval timer for self-guided meditation, breathwork, and yoga practices. It features customizable timers, gentle bells, and a distraction-free interface. Save your favorite routines and track your weekly sessions without any ads or subscriptions.
- Multiple automatic timers
- Customizable interval bells
- Save preset routines
- Weekly session tracking
- Gentle bell sounds
- Distraction-free design
- Offline functionality
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A simple meditation timer for unguided practice. No ads. No subscriptions. No distractions. Just gentle bells to keep time while you practice. Set your session, put your phone down, and let the bells guide you. Mindful Timer is built for people who just want the space to meditate—no courses, no sleep sounds, no content library. Just timers, soothing sounds, and you. Perfect for meditation, yin and restorative yoga, breathwork, zazen, or any self-guided practice. NEW + 20+ curated sounds: singing bowls, bells, and simple voice cues + Choose how many times the bells ring —once, twice, or three times + Practice insights and heat maps to help you build consistency + Sync sessions to Apple Health as Mindful Minutes CORE FEATURES + Sequential timers that flow automatically from one to the next, so you never check the clock + Interval bells at your chosen frequency (e.g. every 5 minutes) + Fully custom timer durations + Save your routines as presets and start them in one tap + Track streaks, weekly and monthly sessions, and lifetime minutes + Play your own music (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) + Runs in the background and while your phone is locked + Large countdown display. DESIGNED FOR CALM FROM DAY ONE + No ads, ever + No subscriptions, ever — one simple purchase, yours forever + No guided meditations, courses, or content to wade through + No social feeds or comparison + Dark mode so it's easy on the eyes + Works fully offline + Gentle sounds to guide you through transitions (unlike most interval timers) PERFECT FOR + Any self-guided or silent meditation + Zen, zazen, vipassana, and insight meditation + Yin yoga and restorative yoga + Breathwork and pranayama + Practicing at home before a vipassana or meditation retreat + Building a daily unguided meditation or yoga habit + Yoga teachers keeping time during class + Interval walking, Japanese interval walking, and Pomodoro focus blocks WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT + Incredibly simple and intuitive design. + Keeps time in the background, so you never pick up your phone mid-practice. + Carefully curated, soothing sounds. No jarring alarms. + No clutter, no distractions, nothing you don't need.
Zazen Meditation Timer
A straightforward meditation timer designed for simplicity. It includes essential features like interval bells and progress tracking, with no advertisements or unnecessary additions.
- Interval bells
- Statistics tracking
- Streak tracking
- Ad-free experience
- No upsells or bloat
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A simple meditation timer. Has the essentials: - interval bells - stats - streaks No ads, upsells, or bloat.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Zazen Meditation Timer at none against Mindful Timer's 2. Mindful Timer's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Mindful Timer sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Zazen Meditation Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Mindful Timer against 4.9 for Zazen Meditation Timer. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 16 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Mindful Timer ships an update weekly, Zazen Meditation Timer every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and August 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mindful Timer | Zazen Meditation Timer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (10 ratings) — better | 4.9 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 10 | 16 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Burnt Cinnamon Labs | Jake Sager |
Customer experience
Mindful Timer
Zazen Meditation Timer
In-app purchases
Mindful Timer
- Premium Sounds$1.99
- Mindful Timer Pro$2.99
Zazen Meditation Timer
No in-app purchases





