Comparison

FocusRoad vs Cold Focus

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

Head to head
About

FocusRoad

Features
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Turn your focus time into a road trip. No guilt. Drive anywhere real. Collect every city. Pick any two places on Apple Maps, set your focus time and press Start. Your car drives the real road while the timer runs. When time is up, you arrive. The drive is virtual: you stay at your desk, your focus does the driving. HOW IT WORKS • Choose a start and a destination anywhere in the world • Set a session length, Pomodoro rounds and a purpose • Breaks become rest stops along the way • Pass real towns along the route and see the next one coming up • Arrive and collect a postcard of your destination • "Continue the journey" sets off again from where you arrived • Or take a Journey: a long road trip, one leg per session • 7 expeditions on real roads; the Grand Tour and custom journeys are free NO GUILT, NO PENALTY Switch apps or lock your phone: your drive keeps going. Follow it on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island with a Live Activity, and get a gentle notification at each rest stop and on arrival. COLLECT THE WORLD • A vintage travel-poster postcard for every destination: common, rare or legendary • Share any postcard as a 9:16 story card • Postcard finishes with Road Pass: Classic, Golden hour, Noir and Pastel • Exploration achievements for cities, countries, continents and capitals • A collection map and a passport that stamps every country, continent, expedition and mission SEE YOUR PROGRESS • Week, month, year and all-time charts • Trip history, daily streaks and streak freezes • XP, levels, achievements and cars to earn in the Garage • 3 free weekly missions, plus Winter Roads from Dec 1 to Jan 6 • Year on the Road: your year in story cards to share, every December • A weekly Road Report card to share your week on the road • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, including a postcard widget FOCUS WITH FRIENDS Start a Convoy, share the 6-character code and depart together on the same route. See everyone's progress live. Joining is always free, and hosting a Convoy for two is free too. With Road Pass you can host up to 8 drivers. SOUNDS FOR THE ROAD Six ambient soundscapes that keep playing in the background: Rain on windshield, Night highway, Roadside café, Ocean waves, Forest rest stop and Cabin fireplace. FREE MEANS FREE Unlimited focus, any route, any duration. No account needed: start as a guest and Sign in with Apple whenever you want to back up and sync your progress. You can also block one distracting app or category during drives for free. ROAD PASS (OPTIONAL) • All six soundscapes (Rain on windshield is free) • Block any number of apps, categories and websites during drives with Screen Time • Host Convoys of up to 8 drivers • 6 more expeditions, 3 Garage cars and extra paints • Full stats history beyond the current week • 2 streak freezes every month • Share cards without a watermark Road Pass is available as an auto-renewing subscription: weekly or yearly, and monthly where available. If a plan includes an introductory offer for new subscribers, its price, length and the regular price it renews at are shown before you confirm. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://fluff-mice-37a.notion.site/Terms-of-Service-38c94ad0981280e3bdfedff64850d5f9 Privacy Policy: https://fluff-mice-37a.notion.site/Privacy-Policy-38c94ad0981280fd8493ef988fe223e7 Put the phone down. Go somewhere.

About

Cold Focus

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Your phone was designed by teams of engineers to hold your attention. One app standing against that has to be serious. Cold Focus is a calm, disciplined focus timer for students and anyone doing deep work. Start a session and the distractions get locked away. Not hidden behind your willpower. Actually blocked. No cheating your way out. Cold Focus is a subscription app. There is no limited free version: you get everything from day one. WHY COLD FOCUS IS DIFFERENT Most timers trust you to behave. This one doesn't have to. When you start a session, Cold Focus locks the apps that pull you away and watches for the little escapes: picking up your phone, bailing early. It keeps you honest, so the time you set aside actually becomes focused time. FOCUS SESSIONS - Set a session, put the phone down, go deep. - Distracting apps stay locked until you're done. - Optional penalties raise the stakes when you break focus, as gentle or as strict as you want. FOCUS SOUNDS - A calm ambient sound plays while your session runs, and keeps playing with the screen off or when you leave the app. - Rain, wind, a river, forest, brown and pink noise, or quiet music. Let them flow one after another, or pick one and stay there. - Mute it any time from the session screen. It mixes with your own music, so it never interrupts what you are already listening to. MEET STEVE Steve is your focus companion. Calm when you're locked in, honest with you when you drift. A little character, a lot of accountability. Focus doesn't have to feel cold and clinical. BUILD A DISCIPLINED IDENTITY - Keep streaks and climb through focus levels. - You're not just logging hours. You're becoming the kind of person who finishes what they start. SEE YOUR FOCUS CLEARLY - Clean weekly, monthly and yearly stats. - An AI focus coach reads your patterns and tells you, in plain language, where your attention is leaking and how to fix it. YOU'RE NOT ALONE See how many people are in a focus session right now, around the world. Quiet company for deep work. BUILT FOR THE ENEMY OF FOCUS Endless feeds, notifications, the reflex to check your phone every few seconds. Cold Focus is built to break that loop, for exams, deadlines, reading, or any work that deserves your full attention. YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Everything above is included. No locked corners, no ads, no upsells inside the app. Subscribe monthly or yearly. It's never too late to take your attention back. Your focus data stays yours. We only sync what you allow. Cold Focus is an auto-renewing subscription (monthly or annual). Payment is charged to your Apple ID at purchase. It renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms: https://coldfocusapp.github.io/coldfocus/terms-of-service.en.html Privacy: https://coldfocusapp.github.io/coldfocus/privacy-policy.en.html

Screenshots

FocusRoad4 screens
Cold Focus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: FocusRoad at every 8 days against Cold Focus's every 2 weeks. Cold Focus's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. FocusRoad sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days and Cold Focus sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FocusRoad ships an update every 8 days, Cold Focus every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
FocusRoad versus Cold Focus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocusRoadCold Focus
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.215.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB241 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFirat Onurcan PolatHASAN BURAK ERDIN

In-app purchases

2 purchases

FocusRoad

Subscriptions2
  • Road Pass · Weekly$6.997 Days
  • Road Pass · Yearly1 Year trial$49.991 Year
3 purchases

Cold Focus

Subscriptions3
  • Cold Focus Premium (Monthly)$7.991 Month
  • Cold Focus Premium (Yearly)$49.991 Year
  • Cold Focus Premium (Yearly)$59.991 Year

Questions

Is FocusRoad free?
FocusRoad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cold Focus free?
Cold Focus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do FocusRoad or Cold Focus have ads?
Neither FocusRoad nor Cold Focus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FocusRoad or Cold Focus?
FocusRoad ships an update every 8 days, and Cold Focus every 2 weeks. Most recently, FocusRoad was updated on October 25, 2026 and Cold Focus on October 31, 2026.

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