Garda vs Hearth Island
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Garda
This app gamifies focus sessions by growing a virtual garden. Completing focus periods plants and nurtures digital flora, while neglect causes them to wither. Collect over 40 unique plant species and track your progress with detailed statistics.
- Virtual garden growth
- Focus session timer
- Plant collection (40+ species)
- Detailed statistics
- Garden customization
- Distraction-free focus
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Garda is a productivity app that turns your concentration into a living garden. Every focus session you complete plants and grows a real plant in your personal garden — neglect your focus and your plants wither away. With over 40 unique plant species to collect and grow, every session feels rewarding. Discover rare flowers, towering trees, lush succulents, and more as you build the garden of your dreams — one focused minute at a time. Pick the plants you want to grow, set your focus timer, and watch your garden come to life. Detailed statistics track your total focus time, daily streaks, session history, and overall progress so you always know how far you've come. Your garden is yours. Arrange it, expand it, and fill it with the plants you've unlocked through real, distraction-free focus. Privacy Policy: https://healthwellnessapps.com/garda/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Hearth Island
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Start a focus session. When you finish, a tiny 3D island grows - and it keeps living while you're away. FOCUS. EARN. GROW A LIVING WORLD. Hearth Island turns the minutes you focus into something you can see. Set a timer, put the phone down, and do your work. Every focused minute earns one Spark. Spend them to plant trees, build cottages, adopt a companion, and raise whole new islands out of the sea. Nothing here is bought with money. Sparks are earned only by focusing - that is the whole point. A WORLD THAT LIVES ON ITS OWN - Real day and night, drifting clouds, and rain that ripples the sea - Four seasons that follow your real calendar - spring blossom, summer fireflies, autumn leaves that fall and gather, winter snow on every roof - Mochi, a companion who wanders the island, plays with a yarn ball, and naps in a little bed - Plants that grow a stage with every session you complete THE FOCUS THAT EARNS IT - Simple sessions - pick a length, start, and focus - Leave the app mid-session and it gently pauses instead of punishing you; a screen wake-lock keeps the phone awake while you work - Optional Focus Shield quiets notifications for the length of a session - Early ends still bank the minutes you focused - you are never punished for stopping GROW THE ISLAND - Plant flowers, bushes, pines, oaks and maples - Build cottages, cabins, a greenhouse, a lighthouse and a dock - Raise new land - Sunny Meadow, Quiet Cove, North Ridge - from open sea - The flagship moment: build the Bridge and a brand-new isle rises, "New area discovered!", with more ground to make your own FREE, AND ACTUALLY GENEROUS The whole loop - focus, earn, plant, build, grow - is free. You can fill a whole island without paying a cent. HEARTH PREMIUM Premium opens the full catalog - palms, campfires, wishing wells, cabins, greenhouses, lighthouses, companion pieces, and new islands as they arrive. Premium items still cost the Sparks you earn by focusing; money only opens the catalog, it never buys progress. $4.99/month, $29.99/year with a 7-day free trial, or $59.99 once for lifetime. Everything lives on your device. No account, no sign-up, and your island is never uploaded anywhere. Requires iOS 15 or later; the living 3D world needs a device with WebGL2 (iPhone 8 and later). ---------- Hearth Premium is available as a monthly ($4.99) or yearly ($29.99, with a 7-day free trial) auto-renewable subscription, or a one-time Lifetime purchase ($59.99). Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://starnova-io.github.io/hearth-island/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://starnova-io.github.io/hearth-island/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Garda at daily against Hearth Island's every 11 days. Hearth Island's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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. Garda sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days and Hearth Island sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Garda ships an update daily, Hearth Island every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Garda | Hearth Island |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Every 11 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Health & Wellness Apps Limited | Nhan Vo |
In-app purchases
Garda
- Garda Weekly$7.997 Days
- Unlimited Annual Access7 Days trial$34.991 Year
Hearth Island
- Hearth Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
- Hearth Premium Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Hearth Premium Lifetime$59.99








