Comparison

Terminal Tock vs Backtick

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

Head to head
About

Terminal Tock

Features
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Remember those gorgeous clocks at the airport? The ones with the mechanical digits that flip down with a satisfying clack? Yeah, we turned that into an app. You're welcome. Meet Tock — a split-flap clock for your iPhone and iPad that's so beautiful you'll check the time just to watch it move. The real deal. Every digit flips with physics-driven animation — gravity pull, overshoot, bounce, settle. We didn't just animate a number change. We simulated the whole mechanical dance. The colon pulses. The digits cascade on launch. World clocks that actually look good. Add cities from anywhere on Earth and watch their times tick in perfect split-flap sync. New York, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Auckland — wherever your people are, Tock keeps you connected without looking like a spreadsheet. Weather, because why not. Each city shows current temperature and conditions with minimal weather icons. Powered by Open-Meteo — no API key, no account, no nonsense. It just works. Home screen widgets. Small widget shows the time. Medium widget shows the time with seconds, city name, and AM/PM. Both look like tiny split-flap boards on your home screen. Finally, a widget that sparks joy. Customize everything. Toggle seconds on or off. Switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius. Add any city, remove any city. It's your clock — we just made it pretty. The highlights: Stunning split-flap animation with real physics Power-on cascade effect on launch 12-hour format with AM/PM Multiple world clocks with live weather Home screen widgets (small & medium) Add any city and timezone Fahrenheit or Celsius toggle Seconds display toggle Dark, premium aesthetic No ads. No subscriptions. No tracking. Privacy-first. Always. Tock runs entirely on your device. The only network requests are to Open-Meteo's free weather API — no accounts, no tracking, no analytics. We don't collect your data because we genuinely don't care what time zone you're stalking. Stop checking the time on a boring digital clock. Let Tock make it an experience.

About

Backtick

Transform your home and lock screens into a functional terminal. Display real-time data like calendar events, weather, and system status, or integrate with your GitHub and focus sessions. Customize with various themes and interactive widgets.

Highlights
  • Functional terminal display
  • Live data integration (calendar, weather, GitHub)
  • Full-page and console widgets
  • Interactive widgets with tap actions
  • Customizable themes
  • Lock screen and StandBy support
  • Shortcuts and Siri integration
Features
Read full description

Backtick turns your home and lock screen into a terminal. Not a picture of one — a working one. Panels drawn with hairline rules, a tab bar you actually tap, a cursor that genuinely blinks, and your real life inside it: calendar, reminders, weather, steps, battery — and now your GitHub, your focus sessions and anything your automations want to say. FULL-PAGE WIDGETS (iOS 27) The Terminal fills an entire home screen page — now, next up, tasks, weather and system as one live session. The Console goes full page too, with bit idling above the menu. THE WIDGETS — 35 OF THEM • Terminal — five panels switched by tapping tabs on the widget; small, medium, large and full page • Console — a navigable menu: arrows move, enter selects, esc backs out, without opening an app • git log — your GitHub contribution graph, streak and recent activity • focus — one tap starts a timer, with a Live Activity on your lock screen and Dynamic Island • curl — any number from a JSON endpoint you choose, with a sparkline of recent values • echo — shows whatever you send it from Shortcuts; build automations that write to your home and lock screen • Weather — current, hourly and forecast; the small one pages when you tap it • Clock — a live 7-segment face with ticking seconds, zero battery cost, 12h or 24h • Countdown — days to a date you pick; ticks live on the final day, counts up after • Daylight — sunrise to sunset as a gauge, golden hour, light left • Year Progress — every day of the year as a dot; watch it fill • Elapsed — day, week, month and year as block gauges • Month — the full month with event markers • Timeline — upcoming events with durations drawn to scale • Steps — today's count and distance, with the week as bars • Disk — storage as a block gauge • Moon — tonight's phase as a dot matrix • motd — a daily line from bit, free • bit — a resident terminal creature. It has moods, it types little lines, its heartbeat blinks, and it reacts when you poke it. Bond over time. LOCK SCREEN Nine rectangular widgets (next up, tasks, weather, forecast, hourly, elapsed, battery, daylight, echo), six circular gauges, and inline status lines. STANDBY Charge your phone on its side and the Terminal, Weather, Clock and bit widgets switch to big, glanceable layouts you can read from across the room. THEMES Six full terminal palettes — Dracula, Gruvbox, Nord, Solarized, Catppuccin and Tokyo Night — or classic true black with one of five accent phosphors. Every widget follows instantly. SHORTCUTS, SIRI & CONTROL CENTER • "Set Backtick Message" puts any text on the echo widgets — when you arrive at work, when your battery runs low, whenever • Start or stop a focus session from Siri, Shortcuts or Control Center • Tick your top task, poke bit, or jump to your agenda from Control Center or the Action button BUILT LIKE A TOOL • Tick reminders off from the widget — writes straight to Apple Reminders • Tap a section to open YOUR apps: choose which calendar, reminders and weather apps widget taps launch • Battery, weather and steps refresh in the background through the day • Live clocks, countdowns and a blinking cursor with zero widget refreshes • True black. Made for OLED and dark home screens. PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION • No account, no sign-in, no Backtick server — there isn't one • Calendar, reminders, steps and device stats are read on-device via Apple's frameworks • Weather comes from Apple Weather using your approximate location • git log and curl talk only to the addresses you give them; an optional GitHub token stays in your phone's keychain • Nothing is collected. There is nowhere to collect it to. FREE / PRO The Terminal widget, Next Up, the inline status line, motd and the classic amber theme are free forever. One purchase unlocks everything else — every widget, every palette — no subscription, no upsell treadmill. — Privacy policy: https://backtick.app/privacy.html Terms of use: https://backtick.app/terms.html

Screenshots

Terminal Tock4 screens
Backtick4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Backtick at 5.0 against Terminal Tock's 1.0. Backtick also leads on ratings volume (4 vs 1). Terminal Tock's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Backtick sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Terminal Tock asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Backtick holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Terminal Tock versus Backtick: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTerminal TockBacktick
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings14 — better
Update frequency—Weekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size0 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDARREN,PAUL BRELESKYElvis Mederos

In-app purchases

None

Terminal Tock

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Backtick

One-time1
  • Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Terminal Tock free?
Terminal Tock is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Backtick free?
Backtick is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Terminal Tock or Backtick?
Backtick is rated higher. Terminal Tock averages 1.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Backtick averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Terminal Tock or Backtick have ads?
Neither Terminal Tock nor Backtick shows ads.

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