Comparison

Effery vs Cairn Tasks

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

Head to head
About

Effery

Features
Read full description

Some things aren't meant to last. A grocery list. A Wi-Fi password. A recipe you'll try once. A thought that only matters today. Effery is a note-taking app where every note has a countdown. Set a timer — one hour, three days, a month — and when it's up, the note disappears. No clutter. No archive guilt. Just the notes that still matter. DESIGNED TO VANISH Every note gets a time-to-live. Pick from 1 hour to 1 month. When the timer runs out, a 24-hour grace period kicks in. After that — gone. BEAUTIFUL BY DEFAULT Notes appear as book spines with hand-crafted patterns. 24 colors across 8 families. 12 base patterns. 6 hidden patterns to discover through gestures, timing, and exploration. 18 PATTERNS. 6 ARE HIDDEN. Shake your phone. Open the app at dinner time. Use a specific color. Place your phone face-down. Each secret pattern unlocks through a different interaction — no instructions, just play. 14 THEMES From warm Sepia and Paper to AMOLED black and Nord blue. A Japan theme inspired by traditional off-white. Find the one that feels like yours. PRIVATE & ENCRYPTED AES-256 encryption. Face ID or password lock. No accounts. No servers collecting your data. Your notes exist on your device and your iCloud — nowhere else. iCLOUD SYNC Seamless sync across your Apple devices. Encrypted end-to-end. Your notes follow you. SMART NOTIFICATIONS Get reminded before a note expires. Alerts from 1 to 24 hours ahead so nothing important vanishes before you're ready. 5 LANGUAGES English, Italian, German, Spanish, French. ORIGIN I wanted to bake pangoccioli — Italian chocolate chip buns — for someone I love. I needed somewhere to save the recipe. Just for that night. I built this app for that one recipe. Then I kept building. Completely free. No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Just a small app made with care.

About

Cairn Tasks

Organize your day with a clean, focused to-do list. Create tasks, set due dates, and organize them with color-coded lists. Features include recurring tasks, subtasks, and a built-in timer for focused work sessions. Your data stays local, with no account or cloud sync required.

Highlights
  • Create, edit, and complete tasks
  • Set due dates and times
  • Organize tasks into color-coded lists
  • Recurring tasks
  • Subtasks
  • Built-in timer
  • Month view calendar
Features
Read full description

Cairn helps you organize your day with a clean, focused to-do list that stays out of your way. Build your task list one stone at a time. Create tasks, set due dates, organize by color-coded lists, and watch your progress stack up — no account required, no cloud sync to configure, no clutter. KEY FEATURES - Create, edit, and complete tasks with satisfying animations - Set due dates and times to stay on track - Organize tasks into color-coded lists and folders - Recurring tasks that auto-create the next occurrence when completed - Subtasks for breaking big tasks into smaller steps - Built-in timer for focused work sessions - Month view calendar to see your schedule at a glance - Auto-rollover moves unfinished tasks to today so nothing slips through - Search across all your tasks instantly - 6 beautiful color themes to make it yours - Dark mode support YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS Everything is stored locally on your device. No account needed, no sign-up, no data collection. Just open the app and start organizing. SIMPLE BY DESIGN Cairn is built for people who want a to-do app that does its job without overwhelming you with features you will never use. Add a task, check it off, move on with your day.

Screenshots

Effery4 screens
Cairn Tasks4 screens

Verdict

The call

Effery and Cairn Tasks are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Effery versus Cairn Tasks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEfferyCairn Tasks
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequency—Every 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStefano FagioliDacite Dev LLC

In-app purchases

None

Effery

No in-app purchases

None

Cairn Tasks

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Effery free?
Effery is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cairn Tasks free?
Cairn Tasks is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Effery or Cairn Tasks have ads?
Neither Effery nor Cairn Tasks shows ads.

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