Mindful Timer vs Ground & Return Yoga
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.
Ground & Return Yoga
This app offers a structured 28-week daily yoga program focused on alignment and repetition. It guides users through a progressive syllabus, including beginner modules and pose references, with progress tracking and reminders. It's designed for self-paced practice without follow-along videos.
- 28-week daily yoga syllabus
- Foundation beginner arc
- 110 pose references
- Daily practice player
- Journey tracking
- Daily reminders
- Apple Health integration
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Ground & Return is a quiet 28-week daily yoga syllabus built around alignment, sequence, and steady repetition. Begin with Foundation, then continue through the complete syllabus day by day. The app tells you what to practice today, lets you move at your own pace, and keeps your place when you return. What is included: - A complete 28-week daily yoga syllabus - Foundation as the first 12-week beginner arc - 110 pose references with illustrations and method notes - A daily practice player with calm, manual pacing - Journey tracking across the full practice arc - Practice notes and daily reminders - Optional Apple Health saving for completed sessions - Light and dark appearance support What this app is not: - Not a follow-along workout video app - Not a calorie or fitness dashboard - Not a subscription Begin with 7 days free. After that, unlock the app once and continue the method on your own rhythm.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Mindful Timer at free against Ground & Return Yoga's free with in-app purchases. Mindful Timer also leads on update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly) and ratings volume (10 vs 2). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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 and Ground & Return Yoga sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Mindful Timer against 5.0 for Ground & Return Yoga. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mindful Timer has 10 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Mindful Timer ships an update weekly, Ground & Return Yoga fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mindful Timer | Ground & Return Yoga |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (10 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 10 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Burnt Cinnamon Labs | Colorblast LLC |
Customer experience
Mindful Timer
Ground & Return Yoga
In-app purchases
Mindful Timer
- Premium: Bell Sounds, Insights$2.99
- Premium: Bell Sounds, Insights$4.99
Ground & Return Yoga
- Full Access$29.99
Questions
Is Mindful Timer free?
Is Ground & Return Yoga free?
Which has better reviews, Mindful Timer or Ground & Return Yoga?
Do Mindful Timer or Ground & Return Yoga have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mindful Timer or Ground & Return Yoga?
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