knoself vs PACT
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
knoself
Track your time as it happens and journal your thoughts, feelings, and takeaways. Review your past efforts with AI analysis and visualize your daily rhythm. Organize tasks and sync across devices.
- Start timers from anywhere (widgets, watch, Mac)
- Time cards with notes, mood, and context
- Journal timeline and daily rhythm heatmap
- AI analysis of time cards
- Tagging for projects, mood, and energy
- Task and calendar integration
- Multi-device support with local-first data
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Where did your time go? knoself captures it as it happens: tap to start, add a line when you stop, and every stretch of real effort becomes a card you can look back on. It is not another to-do list. knoself records time you already spent — and what you were thinking, feeling, and taking away. A week later, that reads far clearer than "I remember being busy." Start in three steps 1. Tap: start a timer from the Action Button, a widget, the Lock Screen, Apple Watch, or inside the app 2. Add a line: note your thoughts, mood, and context while it runs or after, with # tags and photos 3. Look back: see your rhythm in the journal timeline, 24-hour chart, and tag stats What makes knoself different 【Start Anywhere】No need to open the app first. Begin from the Action Button, Home Screen widgets, Lock Screen, Apple Watch, the Today Reminders widget, a task, or a calendar event. On Mac, press ⌘T. 【Time Cards】Every finished timer is saved as a card. Along with the duration, it keeps your notes, ideas, mood, context, and takeaways. Bring up photos and videos from that period to revisit the moment. 【Journal Timeline】The home timeline groups entries by day with date dividers, so timers and journals read as one day. An all-day journal entry captures the day without counting as focused time. 【Daily Rhythm Heatmap】A compact 6×4 heatmap sits before each date: darker cells mean more logged, split into night, morning, afternoon, and evening — the day's rhythm at a glance. 【Daily Highlights】Each day, knoself picks a few cards from your past and walks you through them. Add a fresh line as you go, or exclude tags you would rather not revisit. 【Let AI Review It With You】Share time cards with an AI and analyze them with Three Things, KPT, or 4P. On Mac, a local MCP service lets your AI assistant query records or start and stop timers after you confirm — no account, nothing uploaded. 【Tags and Statistics】Mark projects, contexts, state, energy, and mood with # tags. Time composition, a 24-hour chart, a year heat map, and tag statistics show what consumed your time and when focus comes easiest. Mindfulness, sleep, and workouts from Apple Health sit alongside your own records. 【Tasks and Calendar】Create tasks with dates, times, repeats, alerts, photos, and tags, and lay out the week as an agenda or a board. Share an image, text, or link and let on-device recognition fill in the details before you save. With Calendar access, view events, start timing from one, and write finished records back when you choose. 【Multi-device, Local First】Works on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. Records stay on your device by default, iCloud sync is optional, and you start every share and export yourself. Who uses knoself - Freelancers and consultants: capture time scattered across clients and projects, so month-end is not guesswork - Students: see the hours actually spent at the desk, not the feeling of all-day study - Creators and researchers: log when ideas and flow tend to arrive, and find your own high-focus window - Anyone slowing down: revisit a past day with Daily Highlights and leave yourself one new line What it does not do knoself is built for personal records — no team timesheet approval, no client billing or invoicing, no full calendar and meeting management, and no monitoring of the apps or websites you use in the background. Privacy and data - Records stay on your device by default - Text recognition happens on device - iCloud sync is optional; no account needed to start - Sharing and export only happen when you start them What you get is not a string of minutes. It is real evidence about your attention, mood, habits, and the rhythm of your days. The first minute you record today is the one you can revisit next week. Agreements Auto-renewable subscription terms: https://knoself.com/en/iap_policy/ Privacy policy: https://knoself.com/en/privacy/ Terms of use: https://knoself.com/en/terms/
PACT
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PACT is a minimalist focus timer built on a single, uncompromising idea: a commitment you either keep or consciously break. ■ THE EXCEPTION SYSTEM: ZERO EXCUSES What makes PACT radically different is how it handles interruptions. You cannot simply pause the timer and walk away. Every break in focus forces a permanent choice: • Allow an Exception: You can pause, but your reason becomes a permanent rule for all future sessions. What you allow once, you must allow forever. Your exceptions define who you are as a focuser. • Break the Pact: Surrender entirely, and your accumulated chain instantly resets to zero. There is no neutral option. Over time, your exception rules build an honest, unforgiving record of how you actually work — not how you think you do. ■ DESIGNED FOR DEEP WORK • Pre-Commitment Buffer: Reserve a session in advance. A timed countdown gives you a moment to sit down, complete your start ritual, and mentally prepare before the timer locks in. • Visual Accountability: Every completed session adds an unbreakable link to your chain. Watch it grow. Protect it at all costs. ■ BUILT FOR PURE FOCUS PACT is intentionally minimal. • No social feeds. • No gamified streak animations. • No meaningless badges or rewards. Just you, your word, and the timer. ■ SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE • System-adaptive Light and Dark modes designed to blend into your workflow. • Fully localized in English, 中文 (Chinese), Français (French), and 日本語 (Japanese). PACT is for people who take their commitments seriously. Make the pact. Keep it.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PACT at none against knoself's 3. PACT also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. knoself sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. PACT asks for nothing beyond the download.
knoself ships an update every 2 weeks, PACT daily. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | knoself | PACT |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 111 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | hu chundong | Chuyue Zhang |
In-app purchases
knoself
- Knoself Pro monthly subscription1 Month trial$0.991 Month
- Knoself Pro yearly subscription1 Month trial$5.991 Year
- Pro Lifetime Member$14.99
PACT
No in-app purchases








