Comparison

Trace vs VisibleHour

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

Head to head
About

Trace

A minimalist and private space for capturing thoughts, notes, lists, and memories. It offers a clean interface for free writing and quick searching, with optional Pro features for customization and enhanced security.

Highlights
  • Minimalist and calm interface
  • Free writing and reflections
  • Bullet and numbered lists
  • Quick entry search
  • Local-first private storage
  • Customizable themes (Pro)
  • App Lock with biometric support (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Your thoughts have a way of disappearing. Trace brings them back. Trace is a home for passing thoughts: ideas, notes, reflections, lists, and the things you don't want to lose. Catch one in three seconds, then get on with your day. Why people use Trace: - Open and write. No setup, no accounts, no folders to choose first - Bullet and numbered lists that continue as you type - Search everything you've ever written, including by date - Your draft is saved as you write, so a call or a crash can't take it - Deleted something by mistake? It waits 30 days - Export everything as Markdown or JSON, anytime, free - Light and Dark, free for everyone Built for everyday capture: - The idea you had in the shower - Something someone said that stuck - A list you need in ten minutes - The end of a long day Make Trace yours with Pro: - Cream, Sage, Midnight, and Cocoa themes - Four matching alternate app icons - App Lock with Face ID, Touch ID, or device passcode - Automatic iCloud sync on supported Apple devices Trace Pro is a one-time purchase. Light and Dark themes and journal export stay free for everyone. No account required. Trace runs no servers of its own. Your writing lives on your device, and Pro syncs it through your own iCloud.

About

VisibleHour

Features
Read full description

An always-visible view of time on your phone, your wrist, and your spatial workspace. The day, drained as it passes. Your session, draining as you work. A quiet tap on your wrist when you've been at something too long. For when 30 minutes feels like 5. VisibleHour is a single-purpose external time sense — designed for people whose internal clock isn't always reliable. For time blindness. For hyperfocus. For the moments when "just five more minutes" becomes an hour. The dial isn't a clock face you check. It's a clock face you live alongside, on every surface you already glance at. Three rhythms, on every screen. The day. Your waking hours rendered as a draining amber arc — from the moment you start your day until you wind it down. Tells you how much day is in front of you, not just what time it is right now. The session. A focused block — 15, 25/5 Pomodoro, 30, 60, or 90 minutes. The pie at the center drains as time passes — a visual timer at session scale. Tap it to zoom into a visual timer face with minute marks. Pomodoro mode shows two amber tones — work, then a softer break. The body. A quiet tap on the wrist at the interval you set — 60, 90, or 120 minutes. No banner. No streak. No "you've been at this for two hours" guilt. Just a tap that says: notice the time. Optional desk mode — keep your phone or iPad awake during a session so the dial stays visible while you work. Cross-device sync. Start a session on your Vision Pro while working in spatial. Within a second, the Live Activity appears on your iPhone Lock Screen and the dial fills on your Apple Watch. Stop on the Watch — every screen clears together. Powered by iCloud private database, with no telemetry leaving your device. Calendar-aware. Optionally show your day's events on the dial — a quiet ink line for each meeting, sitting alongside your session. Tap the dial to surface the next event's title. Widgets everywhere. Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets on iPhone. Native complications on Apple Watch in four families. A spatial widget on Apple Vision Pro that coexists with your email, your MacBook display, and whatever else is in your spatial workspace. What it isn't. This is not a habit tracker. Not a productivity hammer. Not a notification machine. There are no streaks, no leaderboards, no "you used the app 12 days in a row" celebrations. There's no analytics, no third-party SDKs, no ads. The whole product is one quiet answer to a quiet question — how much time has passed? Privacy. No tracking. No analytics. No third-party services. The only data that ever leaves your device is the small piece of state that syncs through your private iCloud (active session, day boundaries, awareness interval, appearance preference). Calendar events are read locally on each device — they never sync to the cloud. Made quietly by sthreelabs.

Screenshots

Trace4 screens
VisibleHour4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Trace at Free against VisibleHour's $4.99. Trace also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). VisibleHour's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months). On ads 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

Trace is free to download; VisibleHour costs $4.99 up front. Trace sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. VisibleHour asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Trace ships an update every 2 months, VisibleHour every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Trace versus VisibleHour: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTraceVisibleHour
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPedro Gomes do Nascimentosthreelabs LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Trace

One-time1
  • Trace Pro$2.99
None

VisibleHour

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Trace free?
Trace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is VisibleHour free?
VisibleHour costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Trace or VisibleHour have ads?
Neither Trace nor VisibleHour shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Trace or VisibleHour?
Trace ships an update every 2 months, and VisibleHour every 3 days. Most recently, Trace was updated on October 13, 2026 and VisibleHour on October 3, 2026.

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