Comparison

Flowd vs Vana

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

Head to head
About

Flowd

Features
Read full description

Select apps that distract you and block them during your study time. While focus mode is active, these apps cannot be opened so you can concentrate without interruptions. You decide when focus starts and ends. The app uses Apple’s official Screen Time features and gives you full control at all times. Privacy Policy (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Use: https://moles-stick-xu5.craft.me/uddFlMwDRj4wT5

About

Vana

This app provides a shared focus timer experience, creating a virtual library atmosphere to enhance productivity. Users can join sessions with animal companions representing real people, fostering a sense of accountability without direct interaction. Earn in-app rewards for focused time to customize your virtual space.

Highlights
  • Shared focus timer sessions
  • Virtual animal companions
  • Body doubling effect
  • Earnable in-app currency
  • Customizable virtual garden
  • Lock screen Live Activity
Features
Read full description

Vana is a focus timer with other people in it, and a gentle app blocker when you want one. It is free, and you can start without making an account. Press Begin and your animal companion settles into a small grove beside everyone else who is focusing right now. Nobody talks. Nobody scrolls. The light drifts from morning to dusk while you work. Think of the last time you got real work done in a library. You stayed in your seat because the people around you were staying in theirs. People with ADHD call this body doubling. Vana is that library, open at whatever hour you need it. HOW A SESSION WORKS Grove sessions run 30 or 60 minutes, and your timer is your own, so you can arrive in the middle of someone else's hour and still finish on yours. A grove holds eight people at most. Tap any companion to see how long that person has been focusing. There is no chat. You can send a wordless bubble, or a heart to someone who sat through the hour with you. Every animal in the ring belongs to a real person. Vana will never pad a quiet room with bots, so on a slow night your grove may be just you and your egg. THE GATE If you like, close the gate when a session begins: the apps you choose wait outside until it ends. If you came looking for an app blocker, this is that, but gentler. You are never locon opens the gate, and every focused minute still counts. The gate never closes on its own. It uses Apple's Screen Time on your device, and Vana never sees which apps you choose. WHAT THE HOURS TURN INTO Your first full grove session always ends with an egge grove session leaves one too. Eggs hold a newcompanion, something to wear or place, or more honey, so no hatch is ever wasted. There are nine species, and every animal comes out one of a kind, with its own coat and temperament. Honey is earned by focusing and cannot be bought. Spend it on cozy things to wear, cushions to meditate on, and decor for a garden of your own. The garden is a golden hilltop above the clouds, and you can focus up there alone, 5 to 90 minutes, whenever the grove feels like too much. The rarest pieces in the shop never come from eggs, so anything unusual on a companion was worked for. THE LANTERN Thirty minutes of focus lights that day's lantern. You get one grace day, your longest run is always remembered, and nothing here will ever tell you that you failed. Leaving a session early still counts every focused minute. No plant dies if you stop. Sign in with Apple whenever you like and your companions come with you to a new phone. A Live Activity keeps your session on the lock screen, and a home-screen widget carries your lantern streak. Vana sits beside your work and asks nothing of you except the time you already meant to spend.

Screenshots

Flowd3 screens
Vana4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Vana at Free against Flowd's $0.99. Vana also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 weeks). On 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

Vana is free to download; Flowd costs $0.99 up front. Flowd sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Vana asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Flowd ships an update every 3 weeks, Vana every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Flowd versus Vana: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFlowdVana
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMarvin HuelsmannRudra Saha

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Flowd

Subscriptions3
  • ScreenBlocker Access$0.991 Month
  • ScreenBlocker Access$2.493 Months
  • ScreenBlocker Access$9.991 Year
None

Vana

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Flowd free?
Flowd costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Vana free?
Vana is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Flowd or Vana have ads?
Neither Flowd nor Vana shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Flowd or Vana?
Flowd ships an update every 3 weeks, and Vana every 5 days. Most recently, Flowd was updated on October 9, 2026 and Vana on September 26, 2026.

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