Comparison

UNTETHER vs Sparkline

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

Head to head
About

UNTETHER

This app helps you resist the impulse to constantly check your phone. It uses a timer and a 'kill switch' to encourage you to stay present and disconnect from your device. Compete individually or with teams on leaderboards.

Highlights
  • Timer-based phone disconnection
  • Kill switch for integrity
  • Syndicates for team competition
  • Global leaderboards
  • Ranking system with titles
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Your phone doesn't own you. But how many times have you put it down and immediately reached back for it? UNTETHER is a quiet act of resistance against the impulse to reach for your phone. No distractions. No doomscrolling. Put your phone down, let the timer run, and rediscover life beyond the screen. HOW IT WORKS Hold the button until it says "LET GO" and release. Your screen goes dark, but the timer keeps running. The moment you leave the app or lock your phone, the session ends. THE RULES The Kill Switch: If you leave the app, check notifications for too long, or open anything else, the session ends. Integrity Protocol: Sessions under 10 seconds are void. Sessions over 12 hours are capped. Blackout Mode: For the hardcore. Zero grace period. All audio is blocked. Total presence. FEATURES SYNDICATES: Don't resist alone. Create or join a Syndicate (exclusive team) to compete on the leaderboards. GLOBAL LEADERBOARDS: Stand alone. Compete individually against users worldwide to see who has the true discipline to disconnect. RANKING SYSTEM: Earn titles based on your total time disconnected. Or, climb the Syndicate leagues with your teammates. OFF-GRID READY: Going camping? UNTETHER works perfectly without internet. "Off-Grid" sessions are saved locally to your history. Resist the pull. Be here now.

About

Sparkline

This app helps you build lasting habits with a visual progress tracker. It offers flexible scheduling, smart reminders, and integrates with Apple Health and Shortcuts for automated tracking. Archive old habits instead of deleting them to preserve your history.

Highlights
  • Visual habit progress tracking
  • Flexible scheduling and rest days
  • Smart reminders tied to routines
  • Apple Health and Shortcuts integration
  • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets
  • Apple Watch app for logging
  • Archive habits instead of deleting
Features
Read full description

Sparkline helps you build habits that stick — one tap at a time. Tap the circle when you're done for the day. Watch your days light up. Keep going. WHAT MAKES SPARKLINE DIFFERENT • A visible finish line. The research most often cited puts habit formation at around 66 days, so every habit shows how far along it is — and graduates when it gets there. A habit is a project with an end, not a forever obligation. • Your history, at a glance. Every habit carries a heatmap of its recent weeks with its sparkline riding along the top. Runs glow brighter the longer they last, so you see the shape of your effort instead of just a number. • Schedules that fit real life. Every day, specific weekdays, or a weekly target. Rest days never break a streak, and reminders stay quiet on them. • Tie a habit to a routine. "After I pour my morning coffee" becomes that habit's reminder — if-then plans are one of the best-evidenced techniques in the habit research. • Missed a day? Sparkline says "pick it back up" and keeps your run in view. Never a guilt trip. • Milestones you can see: a ladder of streak marks, a ring filling toward your next days-done total, the 66-day seal and your perfect months — each one a card worth sharing. • Habits that repeat through the day — five glasses of water, medication three times — fill a ring as you go. • Archive instead of delete. The history stays, the slot opens up. • Fix any day. Tap it in the heatmap to log something you forgot. HABITS THAT CHECK THEMSELVES OFF • Apple Health, fourteen ways. Steps, workouts, exercise minutes, stand hours, activity rings, walking or running distance, cycling, flights climbed, active energy, water, sleep, mindful minutes, time in daylight, or simply stepping on the scale. Pick one, set the threshold once, and the habit checks itself off the moment you reach it — even with the app closed. A notification tells you it happened, so it never feels like a ghost. (Sparkline Pro) • Shortcuts automations, free for everyone. Arriving at the gym, tapping an NFC sticker on the vitamin jar, closing your reading app, plugging in the charger — any Shortcuts automation can log a habit. Sparkline adds two actions: Log Habit, and Is Habit Done for automations that should check before they act, like a 9pm nudge that stays quiet when you have already done it. EVERYWHERE YOU ARE • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets — check habits off without opening the app, or keep one habit's heatmap in view • Apple Watch app — log from your wrist, synced both ways • Siri and Shortcuts — "Log my run in Sparkline", or an automation that does it for you • Reminders per habit, silently skipped once that habit is done ALWAYS FREE • Up to 5 habits, tracked forever • Completing habits, streaks, reminders, widgets and the Watch app • The last 30 days of your history SPARKLINE PRO — ONE PURCHASE, NO SUBSCRIPTION • Apple Health auto check-in: steps, workouts, activity rings, sleep, water and ten more data types check themselves off, hands-free • Unlimited habits • Full completion history from day one, not just the last 30 days • Trends: your best day of the week and an eight-week consistency trend • All-time statistics: longest streak ever, 30-day completion rate, total completions PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account, no sign-in, no servers, no ads, no tracking. Your habits live on your device. The privacy policy is three sentences long. 380+ icons in one clean style, eight colours to start from and a full colour picker when none of them is quite right — so every habit looks like itself.

Screenshots

UNTETHER4 screens
Sparkline4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: UNTETHER at 100% against Sparkline's 0%. UNTETHER also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). Sparkline's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 weeks). On price, ads and device support 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. Sparkline sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. UNTETHER asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

UNTETHER ships an update every 5 weeks, Sparkline every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
UNTETHER versus Sparkline: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUNTETHERSparkline
PriceFreeFree
Rating—1.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHarry WestEirik Berntsen

Customer experience

UNTETHER

Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Sparkline

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

None

UNTETHER

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Sparkline

One-time1
  • Sparkline Pro$4.99

Questions

Is UNTETHER free?
UNTETHER is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sparkline free?
Sparkline is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do UNTETHER or Sparkline have ads?
Neither UNTETHER nor Sparkline shows ads.
Which is updated more often, UNTETHER or Sparkline?
UNTETHER ships an update every 5 weeks, and Sparkline every 2 days. Most recently, UNTETHER was updated on October 25, 2026 and Sparkline on October 24, 2026.

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