Comparison

Minus 5 vs OffShelf

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

Head to head
About

Minus 5

This app limits your daily tasks to five slots, encouraging completion. Unfinished items carry over with visual cues to track their age. It offers recurring tasks, customizable levels, and weekly reviews to boost productivity.

Highlights
  • Five daily task slots
  • Age badges for overdue tasks
  • Recurring task setup
  • Level-based slot increases
  • Weekly review charts
  • Markdown export
  • Widgets and Siri integration
Features
Read full description

Minus 5 is a daily to-do list with one rule: five things. That's it. Every other task app gives you infinite room, and infinite room is how you end up with a 40-item list you're too tired to look at. Minus 5 gives you five slots. Most to-do lists count up forever. This one counts down to zero. If you open your task manager, feel your stomach drop, and close it again — this is built for you. — THE RING — One neon progress ring is the entire interface. The big number in the middle is what's LEFT, not what you've done. When it hits zero: "you've earned the day." Close the app. Go outside. — FIVE SLOTS, ON PURPOSE — The cap isn't a limitation, it's the product. Five is roughly what a person actually finishes in a day. Everything beyond five is a wish list pretending to be a plan. — STREAKS THAT DON'T PUNISH YOU — Finish at least one thing a day and your streak grows. Miss a day and a Streak Freeze covers you automatically — you earn one every 10 days and can bank two. No shattered-streak animation, no guilt trip, nothing to buy back. A day off isn't a character flaw, it's a Tuesday. An optional evening nudge (off by default, at a time you pick) tells you what's still open before midnight. — AGE BADGES — Anything you don't finish carries into tomorrow with a small 1d / 4d / 2w tag, warming from grey to red the longer it sits. A nudge, not a punishment — delete what's not going to happen. You'll feel better. — LEVELS — Consistency unlocks capacity. Start at 5 slots. Clear your whole list seven days in a row and the next level opens: 7 slots at Level 2, 11 at Level 3, and up. The app rewards follow-through, not list-making. — RECURRING THINGS — Daily, weekly, monthly, or custom-day things that appear on schedule, with reminders that say exactly what — no generic "tackle your things." Stretch every morning. Pay rent on the 1st. Gym Mon/Wed/Fri. — PROGRESS — A 30-day curve, your weekly rhythm, and a consistency grid where each square is one week of the year. Best streak, active days, and how many days you cleared all five. Honest numbers, no dashboards. — RANKINGS — See how your streak stands against everyone else's, worldwide and in your own country. Free, anonymous, and you can leave any time. You get a made-up name like "Bright Otter" plus a few digits of your own — no real names, no accounts, no email. — WIDGETS & LOCK SCREEN — Home Screen (small and medium), and all three Lock Screen styles — circular, rectangular, and inline. Your ring, glanceable, without opening anything. — SIRI & SHORTCUTS — "Hey Siri, add a thing to Minus 5." Works from the Lock Screen, AirPods, CarPlay, anywhere Siri lives. — APPLE WATCH — A real Watch app and complication. Check things off from your wrist. — EXPORT — Copy your list as Markdown, share it, or send things straight to Things 3 or Reminders. Your data is portable. — CALENDAR MIRROR (optional) — Pull today's events in as read-only one-liners ("Meeting · 6–8pm"). They don't count toward your five and don't carry over — just context. — iCLOUD SYNC — Your things sync privately across your devices through your own iCloud account. No accounts, no tracking, no telemetry, no analytics. The only thing that ever leaves your iCloud is a streak number for Rankings, under a made-up name — and you can leave them any time. — THEME & ACCESSIBILITY — Light, Dark, or System. Nine neon accent colors with automatic contrast. Text size override (Default / Large / Larger / Huge). Full VoiceOver support. — MINUS 5 PRO — The five things stay free, forever. Pro is a one-time unlock — bought once, not rented — adding progress stats and streak history, the Apple Watch app and complication, the calendar mirror, unlimited recurring templates, and custom reminder times. Widgets, Siri, export, Rankings and iCloud sync stay free for everyone. No ads. No subscription. No analytics. No tags. No projects. Just five things.

About

OffShelf

This app helps you focus by blocking distracting applications during timed study sessions. Track your progress, set goals, and study with friends to improve your productivity.

Highlights
  • Pomodoro and deep-work timer modes
  • App blocking during focus sessions
  • Study progress tracking by topic
  • Daily streaks and weekly planner
  • Co-study sessions with friends
  • Live activity and home screen widgets
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

OffShelf is a study timer and study tracker for anyone whose phone keeps winning. Start a focus session, block the apps that pull you away, and watch your study hours add up, alone or with friends. Pick a topic. Press start. That is the whole ritual. — A FOCUS TIMER THAT KEEPS COUNTING — • Pomodoro (25/5), long deep-work blocks, or open-ended sessions • Face-down mode: the timer only runs while your phone lies face down. Pick it up and it pauses. • Runs on wall-clock time, so locking your phone or taking a call can't pause it or inflate it • Live on your Lock Screen, in a Live Activity and on your Home Screen widget • Timer styles you'll want to look at: a candle under the night sky, a train, a gravity timer that tilts with your phone, an hourglass and more • Study to rain, white noise, a fireplace or the forest — BLOCK DISTRACTING APPS (PREMIUM) — Pick the apps that steal your time, like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat or Netflix, and OffShelf blocks them with Screen Time for as long as your session runs. — A STUDY TRACKER THAT KEEPS THE RECEIPTS — Every finished session is filed under a topic, so your progress stacks up into a record you can actually look at: • Study hours per topic, with levels that climb as they add up • A daily streak, with a weekly Streak Freeze so one bad day doesn't erase a month • An activity heatmap and a daily study chart • Milestones, achievements, coins and Focus XP • Tap "Distracted" to log what pulled you away — STUDY WITH FRIENDS — • Pair with a study buddy: see when they're studying and what they finished today, and nudge them when they go quiet • Start a live co-study session and share one clock • Take on your friends in weekly focus competitions • Climb Today's Focus League, a daily leaderboard of real focus minutes — PLAN YOUR WEEK — • One weekly planner for every topic: tap to add a study block, drag to move or resize, repeat it weekly or keep it to one day • Daily focus goals for the things that can't wait • Don't know where to start? "Pick for me" chooses your next topic based on what you've been neglecting — A STUDY FRIEND THAT CHEERS YOU ON — Your study mascot keeps you company while you focus and talks to you about your day. — WORKS OFFLINE — OffShelf starts fast and works without a connection. A weak signal never stands between you and a focus session. OFFSHELF PREMIUM • Block distracting apps during focus sessions • Distraction patterns: see what actually pulls you away • Planning and focus insights • A monthly report with PDF export • Two streak rest days every week • More timer styles • The Royal Magic mascot collection • No ads Your topics, sessions, notes and schedules stay private to your account. Notification controls, account reset and full account deletion are in Settings. Start your next session in two taps. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://brjoub.com/offshelf-privacy

Screenshots

Minus 54 screens
OffShelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Minus 5 at free against OffShelf's freemium. Minus 5 also leads on device support (4 vs 2). OffShelf's advantage is ratings volume (5 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, update cadence and 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

Both are free to download. Minus 5 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and OffShelf sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Minus 5 against 5.0 for OffShelf. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: OffShelf has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Minus 5 ships an update every 6 days, OffShelf weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Minus 5 versus OffShelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinus 5OffShelf
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings15 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB145 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperVictor FlorianBasheer Rjoub

Customer experience

Minus 5

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

OffShelf

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Minus 5

One-time1
  • Minus 5 Pro$0.99
4 purchases

OffShelf

Subscriptions3
  • OffShelf Premium — Weekly$2.997 Days
  • OffShelf Premium$6.991 Month
  • OffShelf Premium — Annual$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • OffShelf Premium Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Minus 5 free?
Minus 5 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is OffShelf free?
OffShelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Minus 5 or OffShelf?
Minus 5 and OffShelf are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 5 ratings respectively.
Do Minus 5 or OffShelf have ads?
Neither Minus 5 nor OffShelf shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Minus 5 or OffShelf?
Minus 5 ships an update every 6 days, and OffShelf weekly. Most recently, Minus 5 was updated on November 5, 2026 and OffShelf on October 31, 2026.

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