Things take time vs Squirrel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Things take time
This app helps you track habits, routines, and personal metrics to visualize compounding progress over time. It displays multiple trackers simultaneously to reveal patterns and understand your growth. Designed for ease of use, it focuses on making tracking effortless and insightful.
- Track any habit, routine, or metric
- View multiple trackers side-by-side
- Visualize monthly progress at a glance
- Intuitive and effortless tracking design
- Detailed analytics for pattern recognition
- Privacy-focused with on-device data storage
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Good things take time. Real progress is built through small things done consistently — it won’t feel like much, until it does. Things take time is an app for tracking what matters, the small things, and seeing how they compound over time. KEY FEATURES • Track anything From habits and routines to personal metrics, notes, and daily actions — build trackers that fit your life, not the other way around. • See everything side by side Most apps show one tracker at a time, which hides the bigger picture. This one shows them all together so you can see patterns across your month. • Your month at a glance See how small things add up across your month, so you can stay consistent and notice real progress. • Built for ease of use Tracking should feel effortless. Everything is designed to be fast, simple, and intuitive. • Understand your patterns Detailed analytics for every tracker to help you uncover trends and better understand your progress over time. • Privacy first Your data stays on your device or in your iCloud. Nothing is collected, and nothing is tracked. Progress is often invisible in the moment. Things take time was built to make it visible — by showing how small things add up over time. Terms & Privacy: https://github.com/chesterhow/things-take-time/blob/main/terms-privacy.md
Squirrel
This app helps you reduce time spent on habit-forming apps by setting aside money for each time you open them. It connects screen time management with personal finance, encouraging savings and investment without direct financial transactions.
- App blocking for habit-forming applications
- Set aside money for each app opening
- Track savings history
- Optional portfolio tracking for investments
- No account or login required
- No ads or tracking
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Some apps you open on purpose. Some you open out of habit. Squirrel turns the habit into savings, money you keep and invest. I almost never chose to open Instagram, it was always a knee-jerk reaction to being on my phone with nothing better to do. Growing up, staying focused and managing my time has always been a real struggle for me, and as social media got bigger, I felt more and more susceptible to doom scrolling and being careless with how I used these apps. But I never wanted to delete them. I truly believe there's a time and place for all of them. A lot of my relationships are better because of social media, whether that be from sending memes to friends, looking back on old memories, meeting my college roommate (true story), and even meeting my now girlfriend (another true story). It would be hypocritical to say social media hasn't improved my life, it certainly has. But the problem is the other side of it, the hours I lost without consciously deciding to. I've tried the built-in screen time limits. I had Instagram capped at 40 minutes a day... that same week I spent 12 hours and 48 minutes on it, more than double my next most used app, because "ignore limit for today" is one tap away. The week after I started using Squirrel it was 1 hour and 45 minutes. The week after that, 56 minutes. That's just my usage, but the drop was hard to argue with. Squirrel is different because it doesn't treat these apps as the enemy. Other apps do the blocking part, but none of them connect it to the other thing people my age are behind on, which is investing. Two problems most college students and young adults have: too much time on their phones, and no idea where to start with money. Squirrel puts them together so each one fixes the other. HOW IT WORKS Pick the apps you want to put behind a decision. Opening one is your cue to set a few dollars aside for yourself. Nothing is charged. No money moves through Squirrel. It only records what you set aside. You invest it yourself, wherever you already invest, and tell Squirrel what you bought. The optional Portfolio upgrade tracks it so you can watch it grow. NOTHING IS CHARGED Opening a blocked app is always free. The amount you set aside is a note to yourself, like a swear jar. Squirrel never processes a payment for it, never connects to your bank or brokerage, and never moves money. You decide what to do with it, outside the app. There are no goals, no targets, no limits, and no streaks. There is nothing to fail. FREE AND PAID Blocking, setting money aside, and your savings history are free forever. The Portfolio view (holdings, growth charts, market prices, and projections) is an optional paid upgrade: $19.99 once, or $8.99/year auto-renewing. Prices may vary by region. Portfolio features shown in the screenshots are part of this upgrade, and have nothing to do with blocking or opening apps. No account, no login, no ads, no tracking. Everything stays on your phone and in your own iCloud. Squirrel is not a bank, broker, or financial advisor and does not give investment advice. You make every investment yourself. Any growth figures shown are illustrations, not guarantees. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://brian-hall-dev.github.io/squirrel-site/#privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Things take time at 7 against Squirrel's 1. Things take time also leads on iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Things take time sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Squirrel sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Things take time against 5.0 for Squirrel. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Things take time has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Things take time | Squirrel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (7 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chester How | BRIAN RICHARD HALL |
Customer experience
Things take time
Squirrel
In-app purchases
Things take time
- Things take time + Monthly$2.991 Month
- Things take time + Lifetime$34.99
Squirrel
- Portfolio Annual$8.991 Year
- Portfolio Lifetime$19.99





