Comparison

Gongfu Tea Timer vs Tea Timer io

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

Head to head
About

Gongfu Tea Timer

Master traditional Chinese tea ceremonies with precise steep timing for various tea types. This app offers pre-configured settings and custom profiles to ensure perfect results for every brew, including Lock Screen and Dynamic Island notifications.

Highlights
  • Pre-configured timing for 5 tea types
  • Multiple rounds with adjusted steep times
  • Rinse step support
  • Custom tea profile creation
  • Lock Screen timer
  • Dynamic Island support
Features
Read full description

Master the art of gongfu tea brewing with precise timing for every steep. Gongfu Tea Timer guides you through the traditional Chinese tea ceremony with optimized steep times for different tea types. Whether you're brewing delicate green tea or robust pu-erh, get perfect results every time. FEATURES: • Pre-configured timing for 5 tea types: Green, Black, Oolong, White, and Pu-erh • Multiple rounds with automatically adjusted steep times • Rinse step for teas that benefit from it • Additional steep generation for extended sessions • Create and save custom tea profiles LIVE ACTIVITIES: • See your timer on the Lock Screen • Dynamic Island support for iPhone 14 Pro and newer • Get alerts when each round completes without opening the app DESIGNED FOR GONGFU: Unlike generic kitchen timers, this app understands gongfu brewing. Each tea type has carefully calibrated times that increase with each steep, following traditional gongfu methodology. Perfect for tea enthusiasts who want consistent, delicious results from their gongfu sessions.

About

Tea Timer io

This app provides precise brewing parameters for various teas, including temperature, ratio, and steep time. It supports multiple brewing styles and offers customizable settings for eleven different tea types. Enjoy a guided brewing experience with notifications and haptic feedback, all without ads or requiring an account.

Highlights
  • Precise temperature, ratio, and steep time
  • Supports standard, gongfu, Japanese, and cold brew styles
  • Presets for 11 tea types
  • Multi-infusion timer
  • Adjustable and saved brew settings
  • Offline functionality
  • Local notifications and haptic feedback
Features
Read full description

The tea timer that respects how tea is actually brewed. Whether you're pouring a quick cup of black tea or running a five-infusion gongfu session, Tea Timer gives you the exact temperature, ratio, and steep time for the tea in your cup. Not a generic 3-to-5-minute guess. Four brewing styles in one app • Standard. Single steep, the way most of the world drinks tea. • Gongfu. Sequential short infusions, each pour timed individually. • Japanese. Shorter, hotter, traditional Japanese style. • Cold Brew. Long, gentle extraction in the fridge. Eleven teas, dialed in Green, white, oolong, black, pu-erh, herbal, sencha, gyokuro, genmaicha, hojicha, and matcha. Each preset has a research-backed default temperature (°C or °F), a tea-to-water ratio in grams, and a per-infusion time. Add your own varieties under any tea type, each with its own temperature, ratio, and timing. Built for the brew, not the cup • Multi-infusion timer that walks you through every steep. • Adjust temperature, ratio, and time per tea, saved automatically. • Visual session progress so you never lose your place mid-flight. • Local notifications when your tea is ready. • Haptic feedback at start, finish, and each infusion change. • Works offline. No account required. Tea Timer now learns how you like your tea. • Rate a steep as too weak, just right, or too bitter, and future steep times adjust to your taste. See the adjustment, undo a stray rating, or reset it anytime. • Score a finished brew on aroma, flavor, body, and more. Every scale explains what it measures and what a good score looks like. • History logs every brew: steeps, sessions, teas tried, and your daily streak, with your tasting notes a tap away. • Keep your own teas under any type, like a Dragonwell under Green, with separate settings per brew style. • Time steppers on every brew style, and an option to end a gongfu session early. • New Midnight dark theme, plus five more. Designed to disappear into the ritual Calm color palette. Big, legible numbers. No ads. No social feed. No login. Open the app, pick the tea, hit start. That's it. For people who care about tea If you've ever ruined a cup because you forgot the timer, lost track of which infusion you were on, or wished your kitchen timer knew the difference between sencha and gyokuro, this app is for you. Tea Timer also runs free on the web at teatimer.app. Same presets, same brew, on whichever device is closest to your kettle. Brew better. Every cup.

Screenshots

Gongfu Tea Timer3 screens
Tea Timer io4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Gongfu Tea Timer at every 2 weeks against Tea Timer io's every 2 months. Tea Timer io's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Gongfu Tea Timer against 5.0 for Tea Timer io. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 6 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gongfu Tea Timer ships an update every 2 weeks, Tea Timer io every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Gongfu Tea Timer versus Tea Timer io: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGongfu Tea TimerTea Timer io
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings56 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.215.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRAYMOND LIU LUOWhite Rabbit Software

Customer experience

Gongfu Tea Timer

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Tea Timer io

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Gongfu Tea Timer

No in-app purchases

None

Tea Timer io

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gongfu Tea Timer free?
Gongfu Tea Timer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tea Timer io free?
Tea Timer io is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Gongfu Tea Timer or Tea Timer io?
Gongfu Tea Timer and Tea Timer io are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 6 ratings respectively.
Do Gongfu Tea Timer or Tea Timer io have ads?
Neither Gongfu Tea Timer nor Tea Timer io shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gongfu Tea Timer or Tea Timer io?
Gongfu Tea Timer ships an update every 2 weeks, and Tea Timer io every 2 months. Most recently, Gongfu Tea Timer was updated on October 8, 2026 and Tea Timer io on October 2, 2026.

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