Tally vs Dotly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tally
This app helps you understand where your time goes by gently prompting you to log activities throughout the day. It provides visual breakdowns of your time, allowing you to identify patterns and achieve a better balance between productivity and rest.
- Gentle daily prompts for logging
- Quick-log from notifications
- Customizable categories with icons
- Visual daily timeline
- Balance bars for productivity and rest
- Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly insights
- Offline functionality
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You know the feeling. It's 9 PM and you're wondering where the day went. You were busy — but doing what, exactly? Tally answers that question. Not with timers or complicated tracking. Just a gentle nudge throughout the day: "What did you just do?" Tap a category and you're done. Three seconds, tops. Do this for a few days and something shifts. You stop guessing and start seeing. The afternoon you thought was productive? Mostly phone. The evening you felt was wasted? Actually a solid mix of cooking and reading. Tally doesn't judge. It just shows you the picture. YOUR DAY AT A GLANCE Your daily timeline is a visual map of how your hours were spent, color-coded by category. At a glance, you see the shape of your day — what you did, and what slipped by unlogged. LOG WITHOUT THINKING - A gentle nudge at the interval you choose - Quick-log directly from the notification — no need to open the app - Pick from your most-used categories with a single tap - Only active during your waking hours — you set the schedule CATEGORIES THAT FIT YOUR LIFE Tally comes with 10 default categories: Work, Rest, Exercise, Social Media, Reading, Commute, Cooking, Entertainment, Social, and Other. Add your own — unlimited, with custom icons and colors. Your categories should reflect how you actually spend time, not how you wish you did. BALANCE, NOT JUST DATA Tally tracks four dimensions of a well-spent day through balance bars: - Create: time spent on focused, productive work - Recharge: rest, exercise, cooking — recovery that actually counts - Focus: your day minus the distractions - Awareness: how much of your day you've accounted for Each bar has a personal target. When all four close, you've had a balanced day — by your own definition, not anyone else's. SEE THE PATTERNS The Insights tab breaks down your time across four views: - Daily: where today's hours went, charted by category - Weekly: seven days side by side — spot the rhythm of your week - Monthly: trends that only emerge over longer stretches - Yearly: the full picture of how your time adds up No scores designed to guilt you. Just clean data about your own life. BUILT TO STAY OUT OF YOUR WAY - iCloud sync keeps your data across all your devices - Dark mode that follows your system setting - Works offline — your data is local first, always - No account required. No sign-up. No analytics tracking you. Tally is completely free. Every feature, every insight, every category — no paywalls, no limits, no "upgrade to unlock" screens. WHAT TALLY IS NOT Tally is not a Pomodoro tool. There are no work/break cycles. Tally is not a billing tracker. There are no projects or clients. Tally is a mirror. It shows you where your time goes. What you do with that information is entirely up to you. Terms of Use: https://www.theblackholecompany.com/termsConditions.html
Dotly
Visualize your year with a beautiful dot grid, ring, or arc that fills up daily. Track important events with smart countdowns and build lasting habits with powerful daily tracking and insights. Personalize your experience with various styles, colors, and widgets.
- Visual year progress (grid, ring, arc)
- Event countdowns with reminders
- Daily habit tracking
- Progress insights and streaks
- Home screen widgets
- Customization options
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Dotly turns every day into visual progress. See your entire year as a beautiful dot grid, ring, or arc — and watch it fill up as each day passes. Track the events that matter most with smart countdowns, and build lasting habits with powerful daily tracking. YOUR YEAR, VISUALIZED Choose from 7 stunning progress styles: Classic Grid, Ring, Matrix, Month Blocks, Sleek Line, Segmented Arc, and Precision Text. Each one gives you a unique way to see how far you've come — and how much is ahead. TRACK WHAT MATTERS Create countdowns for birthdays, vacations, deadlines, or any date you're looking forward to. Pin your favorites, set reminders, and import events directly from your iPhone calendar. BUILD BETTER HABITS Add daily habits like drinking water, meditating, reading, or exercising. Set goals, track completions, and see your consistency grow over time. View your habits in four beautiful ways: list, cards, monthly calendar, or a GitHub-style heatmap. POWERFUL INSIGHTS Discover your streaks, completion rates, best day of the week, monthly trends, and more. Understand your patterns and stay motivated with data that actually helps. WIDGETS THAT INSPIRE Add beautiful widgets to your Home Screen — progress rings, habit heatmaps, event countdowns, and daily trackers. See your progress without even opening the app. MAKE IT YOURS Personalize with 13 accent colors, 5 icon shapes, 3 sizes, custom habit icons with emojis, and full light and dark mode support. Your app, your style. DOTLY PREMIUM Unlock everything with a single lifetime purchase — unlimited events, unlimited habits, all progress styles, signature colors, every widget, habit insights, calendar sync, smart reminders, and more. Pay once, keep forever. Download Dotly and start making every day count.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Tally at free against Dotly's free with in-app purchases. Dotly's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, ratings volume, 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. Tally sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Dotly sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Dotly holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 4 respectively.
Tally ships an update every 6 weeks, Dotly weekly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Tally | Dotly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (5 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Youssef Ismaili | VANIA SALES DE MESQUITA |
Customer experience
Tally
Dotly
In-app purchases
Tally
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$2.99
- Large Tip$4.99
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- Generous Tip$9.99
- Crazy Tip$49.99
Dotly
- Small Coffee$0.99
- Dotly Premium$1.99
- Medium Coffee$2.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Large Coffee$4.99
- Coffee Party$9.99








