Focus Monke vs Focus Tycoon
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Focus Monke
This app uses a gamified approach to the Pomodoro technique, turning focus sessions into underwater dives. Earn rewards and build a vibrant reef by staying focused, with distracting apps automatically blocked. It's designed for those who struggle with distractions and need gentle encouragement.
- Gamified Pomodoro timer
- App blocking via Screen Time
- Reef building and fish collection
- Reward system with bananas and bonuses
- Streak tracking without guilt
- Customizable app blocking
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Your focus grows a tiny ocean. Focus Monke is a pomodoro timer with a heart. Every focus session is a dive: press start and Monke, a little guy in a big brass diving suit, takes his submarine down. He stays down as long as you stay focused. Surface at the end, and the reef you're building is a little more alive than you left it. HOW A DIVE WORKS - Pick your time, press START. That's the whole job. A classic 25-minute pomodoro, a two-hour deep session, whatever the day needs. - Your distracting apps go quiet. Focus Monke uses Apple's Screen Time to block apps for exactly as long as you're diving. When you surface, they come back. No willpower required. - Finish the dive and the good part happens: bananas, a spin of the bonus wheel, and sometimes a brand-new fish. BUILT FOR DISTRACTED BRAINS If your brain treats "just five minutes of scrolling" as a legally binding contract, welcome aboard. Focus Monke was made for the easily distracted, ADHD very much included. Short sessions still count. Rewards land every single time, not someday. No shame, no productivity sermons. Just a monke who believes in you. YOUR REEF Every fish in your aquarium was earned by focusing. Commons, rares, a few legends from the deep. Each one is hand-drawn and swims around your reef like it has somewhere to be. Feed them bananas. Name your tank. Take a selfie with Monke. It's your ocean, and you made it out of homework. DIVE TOGETHER Focus is easier when someone else is also focusing. Join a session and your monke takes a seat in the sunken ship alongside up to nine other divers, timers running, everyone quietly at work. Dive in at 2am and there's still a crew to sit with. Nobody can message you. Nobody can distract you. Just the quiet, specific comfort of a room where everyone is doing the thing they came to do. Leave whenever you like. The ship keeps sailing. DRESS UP YOUR MONKE Tap Monke and the dressing room opens. Hats, hair, glasses, beards, earrings, costumes, backgrounds, and diving gear that gets stranger the deeper you go. Every item is bought with bananas, and bananas come from focusing. There is nothing to buy with real money in there, ever. Your look follows you into the submarine, onto your stats, and into the ship next to everyone else's. STREAKS WITHOUT GUILT Show up and your streak grows, with milestones actually worth reaching. Miss a day and nobody yells at you. The reef is the reason to come back, not a red badge. CERTIFIED DIVER Focus Monke is free to use. Going Certified supports one small developer and one small monke, and unlocks: - 3x bananas and bigger bonuses after every dive - Choose exactly which apps get blocked, or let a dive block them all - The gold diving suit (Monke looks fantastic in it) - Special items in the shop And thanks to Certified Divers, there are no ads. For anyone. Ever. Certified Diver is available as an auto-renewing subscription (monthly or yearly) or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions are charged to your Apple Account and renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in Settings > Apple Account > Subscriptions. GOOD QUESTIONS - Does it work offline? Yes, everything except group sessions. Airplane mode is honestly great for focusing. - Do I need an account? No. Open the app, start a dive. - Where does my data go? App blocking runs entirely on your device through Apple's own Screen Time. We never see what you do on your phone, and nothing is sold to anyone. Group sessions share just what the crew can see: your diver name, your flag, your monke's look. THE SMALL PRINT, WARMLY Hand-drawn art. One developer. One monke doing his best. If Focus Monke helps, tell a friend. The reef grows one dive at a time, and so does this little app. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://focusmonke.com/privacy.html
Focus Tycoon
Enhance focus with a Pomodoro timer and app blocker designed to minimize distractions. Build habits, track workouts, and practice mindfulness, all while growing a virtual railway station.
- Pomodoro timer with Live Activities
- App blocker with customizable gates
- Habit building and tracking
- Workout logging with Apple Health sync
- Guided breathwork and meditations
- Offline functionality
- On-device AI coach
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Study without the scroll. Choose one task, start a focus session and give distracting apps a pause. Your focused time helps your railway station grow. The timer, app blocking and core progress are free; Pro is optional. — NEW IN 2.2 — A HOME YOU ARRANGE. Tiles you order yourself, so what you actually open sits where your thumb already goes. START WITH ONE SESSION. A shorter introduction puts your first session before optional reminders, app protection and cloud backup. ASK OUT LOUD. Start a run, make today gentle or open First Aid with Siri, from Shortcuts, or from a Control Centre button. WHERE YOUR DATA LIVES. One page: what sits on the device, what is backed up, and what never leaves. Built from what the app really does. A STATION THAT GROWS WITH YOU. Put focused time into your station, and explore railway puzzles in the arcade. — THE TURNSTILE — Blocking shouldn't feel like fighting your own phone. Open a blocked app and you meet a gate, not a wall: hold still a moment, or breathe a few cycles. It opens for a few minutes, then closes. You can always turn back. Strengthening a block happens at once; easing it off waits for a delay you set. Schedules, per-activity profiles, pass length and both free gate styles are free. Always. — ONE APP, FIVE WAYS TO GROW — • FOCUS. A calm Pomodoro-style timer with Live Activities and a Dynamic Island countdown. Sideways for a wider view. • TRAIN. Log workouts as you go — sets, reps, weight and rest — with trends, records and optional Apple Health sync. • BUILD. Small habits into routines, routines into rituals. Quit what you want gone; a slip is data, not failure. • BREATHE. Guided breathwork, meditations and grounding, plus a First Aid kit for when overwhelm shows up. • REST. Wind-downs, back-to-sleep sessions, mornings that start steady. — MADE FOR REAL DAYS — Easily distracted? The gate catches the reach before the hour vanishes. Studying, anxious, or quitting something? There is a door for each, and no lecture behind it. — WHY IT FEELS DIFFERENT — • Consistency you can recover. Showing up is measured over two weeks, so a missed day nudges it instead of wiping it out. • It forgives out loud. One page lists every rule already protecting you, with your live numbers in it. • One world, not a pile of apps. Focus, fitness, habits, calm and sleep add up instead of scattering across five apps. • A coach that stays on your phone. ATLAS learns your best focus windows and nudges, never lectures. All on-device. • Privacy by default. Works offline. Backup optional. No ads. — FREE & PRO — Free forever: focus sessions, app blocking with schedules and profiles, the Turnstile, gentle days and time away, habits and detox, every breathwork protocol, the First Aid kit, the Desk, workout tracking, unlimited analytics history, missions and ranks, Live Activities, Apple Health sync and private Crew accountability. Pro adds depth — the custom template builder, journeys you chain yourself, premium rituals and journaling, the full audio and meditation libraries, in-workout coaching, body metrics, guided programs, multiple goals with pace projections, the Signal Box and Arithmetic gates, Commitment Lock, your weekly deep audit, premium themes and cloud backup. Make time. Build something. — SUBSCRIPTION TERMS — Focus Tycoon Pro is an auto-renewing subscription: US prices: $29.99/year, with a 14-day trial for eligible subscribers, or $4.99/month. Prices vary by region. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. It renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the period ends, and is charged within 24 hours prior to that. Manage or cancel anytime in Settings > Apple Account > Subscriptions. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://focustycoon.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Focus Tycoon at 5.0 against Focus Monke's 4.5. Focus Monke's advantage is ratings volume (15 vs 1) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). On price, review sentiment, 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. Focus Monke sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Focus Tycoon sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Focus Tycoon holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Focus Monke has 15 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Focus Monke ships an update weekly, Focus Tycoon every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 15, 2026.
| Parameter | Focus Monke | Focus Tycoon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (15 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 298 MB | 128 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Benjamin Haun | Alberto Sebastian Valverde |
Customer experience
Focus Monke
Focus Tycoon
In-app purchases
Focus Monke
- Certified Diver Monthly$3.991 Month
- Certified Diver Annual7 Days trial$17.991 Year
- Certified Diver Annual1 Year trial$17.991 Year
- Certified Diver Lifetime$29.99
Focus Tycoon
- Focus Tycoon Pro$4.991 Month
- Focus Tycoon Pro7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Questions
Is Focus Monke free?
Is Focus Tycoon free?
Which has better reviews, Focus Monke or Focus Tycoon?
Do Focus Monke or Focus Tycoon have ads?
Which is updated more often, Focus Monke or Focus Tycoon?
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