Comparison

Hour Mark vs OpenFocus

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

Head to head
About

Hour Mark

Features
Read full description

Hour Mark sends you a gentle reminder every hour (or at your chosen interval). You tap, log what you just did, and move on. In seconds. Hour asks you. You answer. That's it. HOW IT WORKS • Get a notification every 30, 60, or 120 minutes • Tap to log what you were doing — takes under 10 seconds • See your full day visualized as a color-coded timeline • Split any time slot to log multiple activities YOUR TIME, YOUR ACTIVITIES Start with presets like Work, Study, Gym, and Sleep — or create your own. Each log is a tap on an activity button. Need to split an hour between a meeting and email? Drag the slider to divide it exactly. SEE YOUR PATTERNS Your daily timeline fills in as you go. At a glance, you'll know how much time went to deep work, how many hours you scrolled your phone, and where the day actually went. PREMIUM Unlock the full picture with Hour Mark Premium: • Unlimited history (free tier: 4 days) • Weekly and monthly analytics views • CSV export for your own analysis • Unlimited custom activities (free tier: 8) • Local backup to keep your data safe DESIGNED TO STAY OUT OF YOUR WAY No complicated setup. No manual timers. No guilt. Just a quick tap every hour that builds an honest record of how you spend your time. Privacy first: all data is stored locally on your device. Local backup available for Premium users. Terms of Use: https://hour-mark-landing.vercel.app/terms

About

OpenFocus

This minimal timer app starts counting down the moment it's opened, offering a distraction-free way to manage focus and break intervals. It provides customizable durations, multiple visual themes, and optional features like long breaks and daily goals, all without ads or in-app purchases.

Highlights
  • Instant start timer
  • Customizable focus/break durations
  • Optional long breaks
  • 7 color themes
  • 4 timer faces
  • Lock Screen & Dynamic Island integration
  • Reliable alarms
Features
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OpenFocus is a minimal pomodoro timer that starts the moment you open it. Free, forever. No ads. No in-app purchases. No account. No subscription. Setup-free at launch — yet there when you want to tune it. — Features — Starts instantly The focus timer is already counting down by the time the screen appears. No start button. No mode to pick. Custom focus and break durations Default is the classic 25/5. Open the settings sheet (when stopped) to set focus (5–90 min) and break (5–30 min) independently, in 5-minute steps. Long break (optional) Pomodoro Technique–style long break. After every Nth completed focus (configurable, 2–8), the break extends to 3× its normal length. Off by default. 7 color themes Choose from mono, ink, sea, forest, sand, rose, dusk. The chosen theme applies app-wide and also to the Lock Screen Live Activity and Dynamic Island. 4 timer faces Pick how the countdown looks: ring (default hairline), digital (bedside-clock LCD), flip (mechanical split-flap tiles), or analog (single-hand). Digital and flip can rotate to landscape with a tap — handy when you prop the phone up on a desk. Adjust on the fly Settings open mid-session too. Color, face, daily goal, and keep-awake change instantly. Focus and break durations stay locked until you fully stop the timer, so the running countdown never desyncs from what you see. Daily session counter The app counts completed focus sessions per day (auto-resets at midnight). Optionally set a daily goal (1–20) to see progress like "today · 3 / 8" — leave it at 0 and only the count is shown. Keep screen awake (optional) When on, the screen stays on while the timer is in the foreground. Useful for the "place phone on desk and watch the countdown" workflow, without changing your device-wide auto-lock. Auto phase switching When focus ends, break begins. When break ends, focus begins. The cycle continues without you touching the screen. Lock Screen & Dynamic Island Built on iOS Live Activities. Check the remaining time from your Lock Screen or the Dynamic Island without opening the app. Beautifully animated Each theme has its own focus and break colors. Smooth color crossfades on phase change, subtle haptics, Apple-grade SF Symbol morphing — every transition feels native. Reliable alarms Powered by iOS 26 AlarmKit. Notifies you at the end of every focus and break interval, even in the background, even on silent. Privacy first We don't collect anything. Settings and timer state are stored only on your device. No network requests, no analytics, no tracking. — Best for people who — • Want to try the pomodoro technique without setup overhead • Like a single tap to start — but still want to tune their own cadence and look • Are tired of cluttered timer apps • Believe in minimal tools done well — Not for people who — • Need statistics or reports • Want task management built in OpenFocus is built by subtraction, not addition. Minimal at first. Quietly customizable when you ask for it.

Screenshots

Hour Mark4 screens
OpenFocus2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: OpenFocus at none against Hour Mark's 2. Hour Mark's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Hour Mark sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. OpenFocus asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Hour Mark versus OpenFocus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHour MarkOpenFocus
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKwangho KimYOSHIKI KOAKUTSU

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Hour Mark

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Montly$1.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly$9.991 Year
None

OpenFocus

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hour Mark free?
Hour Mark is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is OpenFocus free?
OpenFocus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hour Mark or OpenFocus have ads?
Neither Hour Mark nor OpenFocus shows ads.

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