Comparison

Nudge vs Focus Hour

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

Head to head
About

Nudge

Features
Read full description

Focus is hard when life keeps interrupting. Kids, coworkers, phone calls, that thing you just remembered โ€” it all adds up. Most timer apps punish you for being human. Nudge doesn't. **KEY FEATURES** - Gentle timer that pauses without punishment โ€” pause whenever life interrupts, resume when you're ready. No dead trees, no failed sessions, no guilt. - Background execution that actually works โ€” lock your phone, switch apps, put it in your pocket. Your timer keeps running and alerts you when it's time. - Silent vibration mode (Library Safe) โ€” a custom triple-pulse vibration pattern that works even on mute. Focus in libraries, open offices, and shared spaces without disturbing a soul. - Flexible presets โ€” Pomodoro, countdown, or open-ended count-up mode. Build timers that match how you actually work, not how a textbook says you should. - Session history with honest stats โ€” see your real focus time, pause count, and total duration. No inflated numbers, no gamified streaks to stress about. - Smart defaults & day context โ€” time-of-day greetings, remembered last preset, auto-start breaks. Nudge learns how you work and gets out of the way. **WHY NUDGE?** We built Nudge because every focus timer we tried made us feel worse. Paused? Failed session. Locked your phone? Timer stopped. Need silence? Too bad, here's an alarm. Nudge is different: - No shame for pausing. Life happens. Your timer understands. - ADHD-friendly. Flexible structures instead of rigid 25/5 boxes. Time awareness without time pressure. - Warm, not aggressive. Amber glow instead of red alerts. Encouraging copy instead of streaks and punishments. - One-time purchase. No subscriptions draining your account every month. **WHAT'S INCLUDED FREE** - Classic Pomodoro timer (25/5) - Up to 3 custom presets - Full session history - Silent vibration alerts - Background timer execution - All core features, no ads, no account required **NUDGE PRO โ€” $6.99 (one-time)** - Unlimited custom presets - Per-timer analytics and breakdowns - Time awareness mode (periodic gentle nudges for time-blindness) - Shortcuts integration - CSV data export - Priority support All your data stays on your device. No account needed. No tracking. Just you and your focus. Questions or ideas? hello@nudge-timer.com Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://nudge-timer.com/privacy

About

Focus Hour

Features
Read full description

Focus Hour is a task manager, a day planner and a focus timer in one app. No account. No sign-up. No email. No ads. Open it, plan tomorrow, and start. PLAN THE DAY, THEN DO IT Lists, folders and headings for structure. Tags, saved filters and search for everything else. Subtasks, checklists, markdown notes and photo attachments on any task. Due dates, defer dates, durations, recurrence, and reminders with buttons you can act on straight from the notification. TYPE IT, DON'T TAP IT Quick add reads what you write. "Draft the report friday 2pm #work !2" lands dated, tagged and flagged without touching a single picker. A PLANNER THAT KNOWS YOUR CALENDAR Your tasks and your existing calendar events on one timeline, so the plan reflects the time you actually have. Auto-plan drops the backlog into the gaps. Calendar events are read-only and never leave your device. FOCUS, PROPERLY A real Pomodoro cycle โ€” focus, a short break, and a longer reset after a few rounds โ€” with every duration configurable. Or a plain stopwatch. Synthesised ambient beds to work under: rain, waves, fire, and three kinds of noise. Start a session on a task and the time is logged against it. BUILD THE HABITS Daily, weekday or times-per-week habits, with count goals, streaks and notes. SEE IT WITHOUT OPENING THE APP Home Screen widgets for today's list โ€” with checkboxes that work right there โ€” and for the running timer. Lock Screen widgets for what's next and how long is left. An Apple Watch app to tick things off, log habits and run a focus session from your wrist. And a share sheet that sends a link, a screenshot or selected text from any app straight to your Inbox. MADE TO LOOK LIKE SOMETHING Three skins โ€” Ink, Carbon and Terminal โ€” with hard rules, a grotesk display face and monospaced figures. Not another rounded grey list. ALSO IN THE BOX An Eisenhower matrix, a weekly review, project templates, XP levels and badges, and focus statistics by day, list, task and hour. BUILT BY ONE PERSON I built Focus Hour for myself, in a year when AI finally made something like this achievable alone โ€” then kept building whatever people asked for. No team, no investors, and no roadmap written by anyone but the people using it. And no subscription: your own to-do list shouldn't be rented back to you month after month. Your tasks, notes and photos stay on your iPhone, and your calendar is read-only and never leaves the device. No tracking of you across other companies' apps or websites, and nothing shared with data brokers. TELL ME WHAT TO BUILD See something in another to-do app that you wish this one had? Email mark@vibecode.review. I read every message and I build what people actually ask for โ€” that is how most of this app got here. Install it and plan tomorrow tonight.

Screenshots

Nudge2 screens
Focus Hour4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Focus Hour at every 2 days against Nudge's weekly. Focus Hour also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Nudge sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Focus Hour sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Nudge ships an update weekly, Focus Hour every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Nudge versus Focus Hour: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNudgeFocus Hour
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 2 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch โ€” better
Requires iOS17.015.1 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size4 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRailsSquad OUMeng-Yi Hsu

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Nudge

One-time1
  • Nudge Pro$6.99
3 purchases

Focus Hour

One-time3
  • Unlock All Apps I Built$5.99
  • Unlock Focus Hour$9.99
  • Unlock Focus Hour$12.99

Questions

Is Nudge free?
Nudge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Focus Hour free?
Focus Hour is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Nudge or Focus Hour have ads?
Neither Nudge nor Focus Hour shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Nudge or Focus Hour?
Nudge ships an update weekly, and Focus Hour every 2 days. Most recently, Nudge was updated on October 25, 2026 and Focus Hour on October 24, 2026.

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