Comparison

Anchor vs Task Focus

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

Head to head
About

Anchor

Features
Read full description

Anchor is a focus timer with a twist: it only works when your phone is face-down. Set your time, flip your phone onto a flat surface, and the timer starts automatically. Lift it early? Session broken. Stay committed until the timer ends, and you've earned your focus. WHY ANCHOR? • No willpower required — flip and forget • No apps to block, no settings to configure • Visual proof: red for broken, green for complete • Session history calendar to track your progress HOW IT WORKS 1. Choose your focus duration (1-30 minutes free, up to 4 hours with Pro) 2. Place your phone face-down on any flat surface 3. The timer starts automatically when gravity detects the position 4. Stay focused. Your phone stays down. That's it. ANCHOR PRO (One-Time Purchase) • Unlock sessions up to 4 hours • Perfect for deep work, studying, or creative sessions • No subscription — pay once, own forever The simplest way to put your phone down and actually focus.

About

Task Focus

Features
Read full description

You know what you have to do. Your phone pulls you away anyway. Task Focus pauses the apps that distract you until your one task is finished. Write down the one thing, pick what to pause, and start. Open a paused app in the middle of it, and you see your task instead of the feed. There is no countdown on the screen. Time counts up, and a focus ends when you say it is finished — not when a timer decides you failed. The one limit is a safety net you set yourself, between one and eight hours, that hands your apps back if you never get round to tapping "I'm done". WHAT IT DOES • Pauses the apps you choose, using Screen Time. Feeds, timelines, the endless pull-to-refresh — closed until you are done. • Turns a paused app into a reminder: open one, and it shows the task you are finishing and when the app comes back. • Pauses on a schedule — weekday mornings, every evening — without you starting anything. • Works with iOS Focus: add Task Focus as a Focus filter, and a Focus like Work or Study pauses the apps you chose. • Puts the one thing on your Lock Screen and in a widget, so it is always one glance away and never out of sight. • Gives everything back the moment you tap "I'm done". One toggle in Settings takes it back too, any time. • Keeps what you finished, so a week adds up to something. NOTHING HERE IS A TARGET No streaks to break. No score to keep up. No badge for a good week and no guilt for a quiet one. The history is a record, not a report card. FREE, AND PRO Pausing apps is free and always will be. Task Focus Pro is everything the app remembers afterwards: • Every session you finish, kept for good — free keeps this week • What your focus actually adds up to • A profile for each kind of focus, so the right apps pause for the right work • More than one schedule, and a line of your own on the screen over a paused app Pro opens on its own for seven days, the first time you finish a focus. Nothing to sign up for and nothing to cancel. When the seven days are up, history goes back to the last week, insights to this week, and profiles to one — nothing is deleted, and pausing apps carries on free as always. Schedules you have made keep running; adding another takes Pro. One payment. No renewal. Nothing to cancel. YOURS TO TAKE WITH YOU Your history follows you between your own devices through your iCloud account, and exports as a file you keep — whatever you use next. The app counts only what happens, anonymously — that a focus was finished, say — and you can switch that off in Settings. What you focus on, and what you choose to pause, stay on your device and in your own private iCloud database. We cannot read either one.

Screenshots

Anchor4 screens
Task Focus4 screens

Verdict

The call

Anchor and Task Focus are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Anchor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Task Focus sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Anchor versus Task Focus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAnchorTask Focus
PriceFreeFree
Update frequency—Fortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYagız UGURVERENSascha Thiele

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Anchor

One-time1
  • Anchor Pro$4.99
1 purchases

Task Focus

One-time1
  • Task Focus Pro$39.99

Questions

Is Anchor free?
Anchor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Task Focus free?
Task Focus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Anchor or Task Focus have ads?
Neither Anchor nor Task Focus shows ads.

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