BallCal vs TimerTiles
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BallCal
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The calculator that keeps your answers on screen — that's BallCal. A regular calculator wipes the answer the moment it appears. BallCal is different. Every result stays on screen as a "balloon." Compare them, stack them up, reuse them as many times as you want. —— Sound familiar? —— "Wait, what was that number again?" — checking history over and over Mixing addition and multiplication in your head feels like too much You want to compare numbers, but a calculator only shows one at a time One typo, and you start the whole calculation over… BallCal solves all of it. —— Example: shopping —— "Spend $X to get a voucher… how do I combine items?" Line up your balloons, add and subtract, try every combo you want. Find the optimal way to clear the threshold. Background color is fully customizable. Match it to your fave's color job. Mood up. —— What BallCal can do —— Keep results on screen as "balloons" Like sticky notes on a whiteboard. Compare, total up, reference instantly — no need to open a history panel. Swipe a balloon down to reuse the number No more typing the same number twice. Pull it into your equation with one swipe. Add notes to balloons Tag them: "Person A's share," "transit fee," whatever. Even with lots of balloons on screen, you'll know what each one is. Lock frequent numbers Tax rate, base salary, unit price — pin numbers you use repeatedly. No more re-entering. Locks persist after you close the app, so you don't have to set them up again. Rewind to undo mistakes Built-in rewind. Misclicked? Snap right back to the previous state. Swipe digit keys to enter +−×÷ at the same time Once you get used to this, your input speed jumps. +×÷ swipe directions follow the standard iOS keyboard. Two-way copy/paste with other apps Equations with mixed full-width and half-width characters? Auto-converted on the fly. Even works with operators written as emoji or asterisks. Copy from Mail or messaging apps, paste straight in. Fine-grained settings Decimal precision, rounding, toggling features you don't need — tweak it to fit how you actually use a calculator. —— Where it shines —— Picking the optimal combo of fan goods Splitting tricky bar tabs Comparing "which one's the better deal?" while shopping Scaling recipes to a different number of people Converting to local currency while traveling Quick price simulations for estimates Trying combinations to fit a budget A simple register for flea markets and event stalls With a normal calculator, you end up nesting parentheses, mixing operators, and second-guessing whether the formula's even right. With BallCal, calculate in small chunks and pull them back in to keep going. No need to engineer a complex expression. Make your daily quick calculations faster and easier. Give BallCal a try. —— All this for free? Surely the paid stuff is expensive? —— Don't worry. You can use 2 balloons for free, with no limits. This alone is enough for everyday use. If you want more, you can purchase additional items as needed. Items are available individually or as a discounted bundle. –––– Or, use all premium items for free –––– BallCal includes a "Free Rental" system: watch a short ad video and unlock premium features for a limited number of uses over 24 hours. When your uses run out, watch another ad to keep going. If you'd rather skip the ads, an affordable subscription plan is also available. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
TimerTiles
Start timers instantly from your Home or Lock Screen widgets with a single tap. Ideal for cooking, studying, or workouts, this app offers customizable colored presets and live activity updates. It ensures timers ring even in Silent mode, prioritizing user privacy with no data collection or ads.
- One-tap widget timer start
- Customizable colored presets
- Live Activity and Dynamic Island support
- Rings in Silent/Focus modes
- Privacy-focused, no data collection
- Multiple timer use cases
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Start a timer with one tap—from a Home or Lock Screen widget. No opening the app, no typing in the time. Just tap and go. ■ One tap from your widget Put your go-to durations on a Home or Lock Screen widget. No opening the app, no typing—just one tap and the timer starts. ■ Made for - Cooking & kitchen (multiple dishes at once) - Study & work (Pomodoro 25 + 5) - Power naps - Workouts & intervals - Chores & boiling water ■ Tell them apart by color Presets use a clean white icon in 13 colors, so cooking, study, and naps are easy to spot at a glance. ■ Live Activity & Dynamic Island See the time remaining at a glance on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. ■ Rings even in Silent or Focus Built on iOS 26's new alarm framework, so your timer still sounds in Silent mode or a Focus—you won't miss it. ■ Privacy first All data stays on your device. No tracking, no data collection, no ads. Requires iOS 26 or later · iPhone only
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: BallCal at Free against TimerTiles's $1.99. BallCal also leads on iOS requirement (18.5 vs 26.0). TimerTiles's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On update cadence, in-app purchases 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
BallCal is free to download; TimerTiles costs $1.99 up front. BallCal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per month and TimerTiles sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
BallCal ships an update every 4 days, TimerTiles every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on August 29, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BallCal | TimerTiles |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 6 days |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.5 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Linath-Japan | souma kaneko |
In-app purchases
BallCal
- BallCal Monthly Subscription$0.491 Month
- +1 Balloon Slot8 variants$0.99
- Keypad Arrange$1.99
TimerTiles
- Pro (Unlimited widgets)$1.99
- Pro + Support$14.99







