Comparison

TimeDots vs Gridless

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

Head to head
About

TimeDots

Visualize your time with a unique dot-based calendar. Track days, months, years, or your entire life to gain perspective on progress and urgency. Customizable widgets and themes keep your important moments visible.

Highlights
  • Visual time representation with dots
  • Countdown tracking for events
  • Home screen widgets
  • Customizable themes and styles
  • Privacy-focused, on-device data
Features
Read full description

Time is the one thing you can't get back. TimeDots turns your year, your month and every countdown into a calm grid of dots, one dot per day, so you can see exactly how much time is left. Every day a dot fills in. It's a quiet daily nudge to make today count. SEE YOUR TIME AT A GLANCE • Your whole year as dots, filling in as the days pass • Days left front and center: in the year, the month, or until your next event • Year by month: a calendar of dots that shows where each month starts and where today sits • Hold and drag across the dots to explore any day COUNT DOWN TO WHAT MATTERS • Trips, birthdays, exams, weddings, launches and deadlines • Every event gets its own grid with live progress • Recurring events roll forward automatically • A small celebration when a countdown reaches its day HOW WAS TODAY? • A 5‑second daily check‑in: pick one of five moods • Your dots take on the colors of your days, so your year becomes a mood map • Add a short note to any day you want to remember • An optional morning reminder with how many days are left • Hide the check‑in once you've answered, if you prefer a cleaner screen ON YOUR WRIST, LOCK SCREEN AND HOME SCREEN • Home Screen widgets in every size • Lock Screen widgets • Live Activities and Dynamic Island • A redesigned Apple Watch app: next event first, check in from your wrist, turn the Digital Crown to move through the days, and complications that show up in the Smart Stack when they matter MAKE IT YOURS • 24 themes, from Midnight to Aurora • Alternate app icons • "Life in Weeks": your whole life, one dot per week • Share cards made for your story • iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch • Built for iPad, with full Dynamic Type, VoiceOver and Increase Contrast support Free to download. Upgrade to Pro to unlock every theme, widget and feature. Stop letting the days blur together. Make every dot count.

About

Gridless

This app transforms your phone into an offline survival expert. Download an on-device AI and trusted guides to access information and identify plants without an internet connection. It offers a comprehensive library of survival knowledge, tools, and a unique camp mode for group use.

Highlights
  • On-device AI for offline queries
  • Plant and animal identification
  • Offline Wikipedia and custom knowledge packs
  • Offline GPS maps and field tools
  • Campfire mode for group access
  • Import personal documents
Features
Read full description

Gridless turns your phone into an offline survival expert. Download an on-device AI and the guides you trust while you still have signal — then everything works with no internet, no cell service, and no account. Your questions, photos, and location never leave your device. THREE STEPS TO GET READY 1. Download an on-device AI. Choose a model like Llama 3.2 or Gemma 3 — it runs entirely on your phone, with no cloud and no subscription. 2. Add the knowledge it draws from. Download curated topic packs, survival books, and offline Wikipedia — or import your own PDFs and e-books. The AI answers from the material you trust. 3. Head off-grid. Ask anything and get clear, grounded answers — even deep in a dead zone. ASK ANYTHING, OFFLINE First aid, water purification, fire, shelter, foraging, knots, navigation, signalling — get step-by-step guidance from an AI grounded in real survival references, not a lucky guess from the cloud. IDENTIFY PLANTS & ANIMALS Point your camera at a plant, mushroom, or animal to get likely names on the spot — completely offline. Built for learning in the field. (Identification only — Gridless never gives a safety or edibility verdict.) A WHOLE REFERENCE LIBRARY, OFFLINE • Curated packs: first aid, water, fire, shelter, foraging, navigation and more • Offline Wikipedia — from a compact medical reference to the full encyclopedia • Repair and skills libraries: car and motorcycle repair, electronics, woodworking • Import your own PDFs, e-books, and manuals • Built-in readers and search, so your whole library travels with you OFFLINE MAPS & FIELD TOOLS • Offline GPS maps that show where you are with no signal — save areas before you go • Compass, level, altimeter, flashlight, and timer • Sun and moon times, celestial navigation, Morse code, unit converter • Field notes and packing checklists to stay organised CAMPFIRE MODE — ONE PHONE HOSTS THE WHOLE CAMP Light the campfire and anyone on your Wi-Fi or personal hotspot joins from their web browser — no app to install, no internet, no account. Around the fire, your group gets: • A camp notice board — notes, urgent alerts, and "heading out, back by 6" check-outs • A shared task list anyone can add to or check off • Ask the fire — guests can put questions to your phone's offline AI from their own browser • Your whole library: survival books, imported documents, and encyclopedia articles The fire dims itself after 15 minutes of inactivity to save your battery. BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP FOR OFFLINE Most offline AI apps put a general-purpose model on your phone and stop there. Gridless goes further: • Semantic search — we pre-computed custom vector indexes for every downloadable encyclopedia pack, so the AI retrieves the right article by meaning, not just matching words. • 450,000+ species identification — the plant and animal identifier draws on a purpose-built embedding table built by analysing millions of organism images across the tree of life. Not a generic image model — a dedicated offline species database covering plants, fungi, insects, birds, reptiles, and more. • All of it on-device — every index, every vector, every species weight lives on your phone. No cloud lookup, no latency, no privacy trade-off. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Gridless runs the AI directly on your device. No accounts, no tracking, nothing uploaded. What happens on your phone stays on your phone. BUILT FOR Hikers, backpackers, hunters, and campers heading off-grid · preppers and emergency planners · anyone who wants trustworthy answers when the signal drops. Download Gridless before your next trip — and be ready when there are no bars left. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://gridlessoffline.com/privacy

Screenshots

TimeDots4 screens
Gridless4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Gridless at free against TimeDots's free with in-app purchases. Gridless also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.3). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. TimeDots sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Gridless sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TimeDots ships an update every 2 weeks, Gridless every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
TimeDots versus Gridless: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTimeDotsGridless
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings—6 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.315.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB96 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAdemola Mayowa OlatunjiJAMES SHANNON

Customer experience

TimeDots

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Gridless

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

TimeDots

One-time1
  • TimeDots Pro$2.99
1 purchases

Gridless

One-time1
  • gridless$4.99

Questions

Is TimeDots free?
TimeDots is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Gridless free?
Gridless is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do TimeDots or Gridless have ads?
Neither TimeDots nor Gridless shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TimeDots or Gridless?
TimeDots ships an update every 2 weeks, and Gridless every 3 days. Most recently, TimeDots was updated on October 24, 2026 and Gridless on October 24, 2026.

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