Loop Focus vs Solace

a minimal focus timer that helps you build deep work habits — without the noise. Start a session, pick a tag, and focus. Loop runs quietly in the background, tracking your time through the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen. When you're done, your session is saved automatically. - Simple by design : No Pomodoro pressure. No forced breaks. Just a clean timer that stays out of your way and lets you work at your own pace. - Tags for every kind of work: Create custom tags — Study, Work, Exercise, Reading, or anything else. See exactly where your time goes. - Stats that actually mean something: Weekly and monthly charts show your focus patterns at a glance. - Built for your rhythm: Night owl? Set a custom day boundary (e.g. 3 AM) so your late-night sessions count toward the right day. - Always within reach: Live Activity, Home Screen widget, Apple Watch companion app. - iCloud sync: Your sessions sync automatically across all your devices via iCloud. Start a session on your iPhone, check your stats on another device — everything stays in sync.

Solace is a focus app for people who are tired of tricking themselves. Most productivity apps rely on willpower. You tap a button, you promise yourself this session will be different, and ten minutes later you're back in the feed. Solace takes willpower out of the equation. To start a focus session, you physically scan an NFC tag. To end one, you scan the same tag again. That's it. If your tag is across the room, in another bag, or locked in a drawer, your distractions stay blocked — because getting back in means getting up. Focus sessions in Solace use Apple's Screen Time system to block whatever pulls you off course: • Specific apps • Entire app categories • Websites • Adult content (optional) • In-app purchases (optional) • App installs and deletions (optional) Create as many focus modes as you want — one for deep work, one for studying, one for reading, one for the gym. Pick a mode, scan your tag, and everything in that mode gets blocked until you scan again. Solace even prevents itself from being deleted during an active session, so you can't uninstall your way out of a commitment. Alarms are gated the same way. Solace's optional alarm feature (iOS 26 and later) rings until you scan your tag. There's no snooze button, no slide-to-dismiss, no escape hatch. If you set the alarm, you're getting up. WHAT MAKES SOLACE DIFFERENT • NFC-locked sessions — the tag is the key, not a password you can talk yourself around • Runs entirely on-device — no accounts, no cloud, no analytics, no trackers • Focus stats for today, this week, this month, and all time • Multiple focus modes for different contexts • Emergency unblocks for real life situations — used sparingly, gone when they're gone • A clean, dark-first interface built for SwiftUI and iOS PRIVACY FIRST Solace collects nothing. No sign-in. No email. No anonymous telemetry. No crash reporting from third parties. Your focus history, blocked apps, and alarm settings live on your device and nowhere else. When you delete Solace, every trace goes with it. REQUIREMENTS • iPhone with NFC support (iPhone 7 or later) • iOS 17 or later for focus sessions • iOS 26 or later for the NFC-gated alarm • Any NDEF-writable NFC tag. Solace-branded tags are available, but any tag works. GETTING STARTED Open Solace, grant Screen Time and NFC permissions during the short onboarding, pick your first focus mode, and scan your tag. You're in.