Comparison

Minus 5 vs Tomato Dial

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 (optional) — See how your streak stands against everyone else's, worldwide and in your own country. Free, and off until you switch it on. 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 — and only if you turn on Rankings. — 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

Tomato Dial

Features
Read full description

Start focusing without setting up projects, tasks, or complicated routines. Turn the tomato dial, choose any duration from 1 to 60 minutes, and release to begin the countdown automatically. Tomato Dial brings the feel of a classic mechanical Pomodoro timer to iPhone and iPad. Its dimensional dial, continuous turning gesture, haptic feedback, and optional ticking sound make it easy to settle into study, work, or deep-focus sessions. Features: • Turn the tomato dial to choose 1–60 minutes • Automatic countdown after you release the dial • Clear dimensional minute markings • Haptic feedback at minute and five-minute intervals • Pause, resume, or reset whenever you need • Optional ticking and completion sounds • Seven visual tomato themes No account. No ads. Works offline. Your preferences stay on your device, and the app does not collect personal data.

Screenshots

Minus 54 screens
Tomato Dial2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Minus 5 at 4 against Tomato Dial's 2. On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Minus 5 versus Tomato Dial: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinus 5Tomato Dial
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVictor Florian玉凤 崔

In-app purchases

None

Minus 5

No in-app purchases

None

Tomato Dial

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Minus 5 free?
Minus 5 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tomato Dial free?
Tomato Dial is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Minus 5 or Tomato Dial have ads?
Neither Minus 5 nor Tomato Dial shows ads.

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