iZen vs MacroCalorie
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iZen
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A real reboot for your mind iZen is an offline three-layer recovery toolkit built for long-term mental fatigue. It is not a passive meditation audio player or a read-only article app. When stress hits, breathe within 90 seconds, mix a soundscape, or take a one-minute check-in. Lasting pressure drains more than willpower. Recovery means lowering what drains you and raising what restores you. Three layers, so you always know what to do now and why it helps. LAYER 1: QUICK RESET For moments when fatigue spikes, your heart races, or your mind goes blank. - Breath Workbench: 4-7-8, box breathing, physiological sigh, resonant patterns. Orb and box layouts. Ink wash and luminous themes. Spoken guidance, eyes-closed haptics that can dim the screen, cue tones, Zen mode, and Live Activity. - Guided player: SOS, grounding, acupressure, and mindfulness in timed steps. Pause, back, skip, +30 seconds, optional voice and soundscape. Lock Screen follows the step. - Soundscape Mixer: rain, ocean, stream, wind, fire, pink noise, brown noise, bowls. Made on device. Presets for focus, calm, sleep, and SOS. - Grounding 5-4-3-2-1, acupressure, emotional SOS, and NSDR-style rest. LAYER 2: DAILY REBUILD Five to fifteen minutes a day. - Mindfulness, focus, and sleep rhythm. - Movement for BDNF, steady blood sugar, hydration. - Mood journal with emotion, intensity, filters, sorting. After saving, on-device insight (Apple Intelligence or local rules) names a feeling, a need, and one next step. Crisis language opens grounding and help. LAYER 3: ROOT RELIEF Reduce sources that keep draining you. - Three must-dos per day to fight decision fatigue. - Meal, outfit, and schedule templates. - Boundaries and emotional labor. - Cognitive reframe: situation, thought, evidence, a balanced view. The same reading can follow, including a look back over the week. DAILY ZEN: 500 ANCHOR LINES One stable line per day on Home and widgets. Shuffle anytime. Five themes: calm, release, focus, sleep, compassion. Shareable Zen cards. SCIENCE LIBRARY: 17 ARTICLES Five categories: breath and nervous system, cognition and recovery, body rhythm, work and emotion, product principles. Takeaways, evidence levels, practice links, and a non-medical note. CHECK-IN AND HOME One-minute check-in for sleep, task load, or people drain. Recommendations stay local. The recovery score uses only real signals: recent sleep, an on-device mood, optional HRV and resting heart rate versus your baseline, and this week's mindful minutes. Six ten-second moods on Home, a widget, or Siri: Calm, Anxious, Tired, Angry, Low, Bright. Low battery, Needs a reset, Steady, or Replenished points to a layer. Until a signal arrives, the score stays blank on this device. FAVORITES AND ZEN LISTS Star practices and quotes. Custom Zen Lists for commutes, bedtime, or SOS kits. SEARCH AND BROWSE Local index for practices, quotes, and science. Search tab on iOS 18 plus. Three-layer guide cards. Deep links such as izen://browse/instant for Shortcuts. CRISIS HELP Helplines for 30 plus regions: locale preview, phone, SMS, and web. Open from Home or the SOS widget. Reference only, not medical advice. SYSTEM INTEGRATION Widgets: Daily Zen, Quick Breathe, streak, SOS, mood, and three must-dos. Lock Screen and Control Center (iOS 18+). Siri logs a mood, starts a practice, or reads today's line. Optional HealthKit: mindful minutes, State of Mind, sleep, HRV, resting heart rate. Body signals stay on device. Optional iCloud and reminders. Spotlight off. On iOS 26, the top edge softens to a quiet blur. EXPERIENCE AND PRIVACY English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Themes, accent colors, alternate icons. iPad and VoiceOver. Offline-first, no account, ads, or analytics. Data on device unless iCloud is on. Educational tools only, not medical care. iZen 1.2.0 adds a recovery score that waits, guided steps, eyes-closed breath, and a quiet reading of what you wrote. Stop for a moment. Your nervous system deserves care.
MacroCalorie
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MacroCalorie is a privacy-first calorie tracker. You log what you eat, see your calories and macros, and your data stays yours. There's no account to create, no tracking, no ads, and no analytics. Your journal, profile, and the foods you add stay on your devices and sync across them through your own iCloud. You can log offline, and it syncs when you're back online. Your data, your devices • Syncs across your devices through your private iCloud • No account, no sign-up • No trackers, no ads, no analytics Simple, honest tracking • Log a portion and see your calories for the day • Macro breakdown for carbs, protein, and fat • A ring that fills toward your daily goal • Your last 7 days at a glance A goal based on you • Basal metabolism and maintenance from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation • Lose, maintain, or gain, and fine-tune the number by hand A reference food catalog, built in • Around 3,500 CIQUAL 2025 (ANSES) foods, searchable offline • Add your own foods too Available in English and French. Nutrition data: Ciqual 2025 table, ANSES (Open Licence / Etalab).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: MacroCalorie at Free against iZen's $0.59. MacroCalorie also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). iZen's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.5). On update cadence, 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
MacroCalorie is free to download; iZen costs $0.59 up front. iZen sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MacroCalorie asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iZen | MacroCalorie |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.59 | Free — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 天从 何 | Sylvain Muller |
In-app purchases
iZen
- Reward developers$0.99
MacroCalorie
No in-app purchases









