Comparison

Transcend Timer vs Water

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

Head to head
About

Transcend Timer

This app provides a guided meditation experience with customizable phases for warming up, meditating, and cooling down. It automatically logs sessions to Apple Health and prioritizes user privacy with no account or internet required.

Highlights
  • Three-phase meditation timer (Warm Up, Meditate, Cool Down)
  • Customizable phase durations
  • Screen stays on during sessions
  • Automatic Apple Health logging
  • Adjustable brightness reduction
  • Background operation with screen lock
  • No account or internet required
Features
Read full description

Transcend Timer is a timer for Transcendental Meditation. It does one thing: it holds the length of your practice so you do not have to. Three phases. Warm Up to settle in, Meditation, then Rest. Set each one once and press play — the home screen shows the plan, so starting is never a decision. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO No guided voices. No courses, no narrators, no daily episode, no library to look through. Nothing plays unless you turn it on: the start and end sounds and the haptics are all off by default, because in TM the mantra is the technique and a bell is an interruption. THE SCREEN TELLS YOU WHERE YOU ARE Each phase has its own background, ordered by brightness rather than colour. Warm Up steps down toward meditation, meditation is nearly black, and rest lifts sharply. That lift is the largest change in light in the whole session and it happens the moment meditation ends — perceptible through a closed eyelid, so you can stay where you are until it comes. If you do open your eyes to check the time, the timer is large, centred, and set in figures that do not shift as they count down. PROGRESS Two counters: days you meditated, and days you meditated twice. A monthly calendar shows the shape of your practice — missed, once, twice — and pages back through every month you have kept. Completed sessions are written to Apple Health as Mindful Sessions. APPLE WATCH Run a full session from your wrist and leave the phone in another room. The Digital Crown sets the durations. The Smart Stack shows which phase you are in and how long is left. IF YOU WANT IT Curated sounds for the start and end of meditation, with their own volume so a cue can carry through twenty minutes of closed eyes. Ambiance: one looping sound that fades in as the session begins and out across the rest phase, at a volume set deliberately lower. Eight themes, each changing all four phases together and keeping the same order of light. Night dimming for sessions in the dark. Pause and resume, counting active time only. A daily reminder, if you set one. PRIVACY No account, no sign-in, no analytics, no advertising, no network requests. Your preferences stay on your device. Health data is read only to calculate your streaks and never leaves the phone. Transcend Timer is an independent app. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any Transcendental Meditation organisation, and it does not teach the technique.

About

Water

Features
Read full description

Water is a calm, beautifully designed water tracker built around a real fluid surface that tilts as you move your phone and ripples every time you log a drink. No clutter and no noise, just a living glass of water that fills up as you hit your daily goal. FEATURES - One tap logging: quick-add buttons plus a Custom sheet for exact amounts, with your own presets - Smart reminders: gentle notifications spread through the day, tuned to how much water you still need - Full water log: every entry grouped by day, swipe to delete, tap a day to see the details - Monthly calendar: progress rings show how consistent your hydration habit really is - Metric and imperial units: switch between milliliters and US fluid ounces anytime - Personal profile: age, weight and height help put your daily goal in context - Clean white journal: today's log and the monthly calendar live in a crisp white sheet that glides up from the bottom - Native iOS design: Liquid Glass buttons, haptic feedback on every tap, smooth spring animations throughout WHY WATER Most hydration trackers are noisy: streak counters, badges, social feeds. Water strips all that away and keeps the one thing that matters, how close you are to your goal right now, shown as an actual body of water that moves, catches light and responds to your phone's tilt. It is a water tracker and drink reminder built to feel calm to look at, every single day. Set your daily water intake goal in milliliters or ounces, pick a reminder schedule, and let Water do the rest. Your data stays on your device.

Screenshots

Transcend Timer4 screens
Water4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Water at weekly against Transcend Timer's every 2 months. Water also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.4). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Transcend Timer ships an update every 2 months, Water weekly. The most recent releases landed on August 23, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Transcend Timer versus Water: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTranscend TimerWater
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.416.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMartin Di GiglioSupafast Tech LLC

In-app purchases

None

Transcend Timer

No in-app purchases

None

Water

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Transcend Timer free?
Transcend Timer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Water free?
Water is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Transcend Timer or Water have ads?
Neither Transcend Timer nor Water shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Transcend Timer or Water?
Transcend Timer ships an update every 2 months, and Water weekly. Most recently, Transcend Timer was updated on August 23, 2026 and Water on September 13, 2026.

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