Comparison

Focus Timer Desk Clock vs OpenFocus

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

Head to head
About

Focus Timer Desk Clock

Features
Read full description

Focus Timer Desk Clock turns your iPhone into an elegant, minimalist desk clock — completely free, zero ads, for all core features. Prop it on your desk: a refined black-screen clock with large digital time. Switch to focus mode anytime — tap to start, swipe to adjust brightness, volume, and ambient sound with silky-smooth gestures. ELEGANT DESK CLOCK Turn your phone into a refined, minimalist desk clock. Large digits on a calm black screen. The interface rotates with your phone in any orientation — perfect for landscape desk setups. Clock mode and focus timer in one beautifully simple app. FOCUS TIMER & STOPWATCH Set any countdown up to 99 hours. Start at 00:00:00 for stopwatch mode. Tap anywhere to start or pause. Optional periodic haptic reminders during long sessions. Flexible sessions — not a rigid pomodoro cycle, but works great for 25-minute blocks too. POMODORO MODE Optional automatic Pomodoro cycling — alternate focus and break sessions hands-free while the countdown runs, with a fully customizable break length. Off by default; countdown mode only. DISTRACTION-FREE PROGRESS BAR Swipe with two fingers to flip to a minimal progress bar — track time left without digits competing for your attention. Swipe back anytime for the numbers. SILKY-SMOOTH GESTURES Swipe left for brightness. Swipe right for volume. Swipe horizontally to change ambient sound. Gesture-first design keeps the running screen clean and effortless. AMBIENT SOUNDS Built-in ambient sounds for study, deep work, and calm focus. Rain, ocean, café murmur, library quiet, binaural beats, white noise, and more. Swipe to switch without leaving the timer. LIFT LOCK Optional Lift Lock encourages phone-down focus. Pick up your phone mid-session and the app helps you put it back down. FOCUS STATISTICS See how much you actually focused. Today's total, session count, and how today compares to your daily average — plus average session length and completion rate, free. Premium unlocks the full history: streaks, this week vs last week, best focus hours, and all-time totals. Everything stays on your device — no account, no sign-in. ZERO ADS. EVER. No banner ads, no interstitials, no rewarded videos. Nothing interrupts your session. Open the app and you're immediately in the zone — pure, clean, distraction-free. Rare in this category. COMPLETELY FREE Every core feature is free: timer, stopwatch, desk clock, ambient sounds, Lift Lock, swipe controls, and your daily focus stats. No signup. No account. No ads. No paywall on what matters. Ultra-minimal. One screen. Open and start. Timer completion uses on-screen alerts and haptics. Optional monthly auto-renewable subscription: unlocks the full premium focus experience — premium ambient sounds, animated focus companions, and the complete focus statistics history — with new sounds and animations added every month. Subscription name, length, and price are shown in the in-app purchase sheet before purchase. Terms of Use (EULA): https://tranbaphuc99.github.io/WBBDocs/focus-timer/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://tranbaphuc99.github.io/WBBDocs/focus-timer/privacy-policy

About

OpenFocus

This minimal timer app starts counting down the moment it's opened, offering a distraction-free way to manage focus and break intervals. It provides customizable durations, multiple visual themes, and optional features like long breaks and daily goals, all without ads or in-app purchases.

Highlights
  • Instant start timer
  • Customizable focus/break durations
  • Optional long breaks
  • 7 color themes
  • 4 timer faces
  • Lock Screen & Dynamic Island integration
  • Reliable alarms
Features
Read full description

OpenFocus is a minimal pomodoro timer that starts the moment you open it. Free, forever. No ads. No in-app purchases. No account. No subscription. Setup-free at launch — yet there when you want to tune it. — Features — Starts instantly The focus timer is already counting down by the time the screen appears. No start button. No mode to pick. Custom focus and break durations Default is the classic 25/5. Open the settings sheet (when stopped) to set focus (5–90 min) and break (5–30 min) independently, in 5-minute steps. Long break (optional) Pomodoro Technique–style long break. After every Nth completed focus (configurable, 2–8), the break extends to 3× its normal length. Off by default. 7 color themes Choose from mono, ink, sea, forest, sand, rose, dusk. The chosen theme applies app-wide and also to the Lock Screen Live Activity and Dynamic Island. 4 timer faces Pick how the countdown looks: ring (default hairline), digital (bedside-clock LCD), flip (mechanical split-flap tiles), or analog (single-hand). Digital and flip can rotate to landscape with a tap — handy when you prop the phone up on a desk. Adjust on the fly Settings open mid-session too. Color, face, daily goal, and keep-awake change instantly. Focus and break durations stay locked until you fully stop the timer, so the running countdown never desyncs from what you see. Daily session counter The app counts completed focus sessions per day (auto-resets at midnight). Optionally set a daily goal (1–20) to see progress like "today · 3 / 8" — leave it at 0 and only the count is shown. Keep screen awake (optional) When on, the screen stays on while the timer is in the foreground. Useful for the "place phone on desk and watch the countdown" workflow, without changing your device-wide auto-lock. Auto phase switching When focus ends, break begins. When break ends, focus begins. The cycle continues without you touching the screen. Lock Screen & Dynamic Island Built on iOS Live Activities. Check the remaining time from your Lock Screen or the Dynamic Island without opening the app. Beautifully animated Each theme has its own focus and break colors. Smooth color crossfades on phase change, subtle haptics, Apple-grade SF Symbol morphing — every transition feels native. Reliable alarms Powered by iOS 26 AlarmKit. Notifies you at the end of every focus and break interval, even in the background, even on silent. Privacy first We don't collect anything. Settings and timer state are stored only on your device. No network requests, no analytics, no tracking. — Best for people who — • Want to try the pomodoro technique without setup overhead • Like a single tap to start — but still want to tune their own cadence and look • Are tired of cluttered timer apps • Believe in minimal tools done well — Not for people who — • Need statistics or reports • Want task management built in OpenFocus is built by subtraction, not addition. Minimal at first. Quietly customizable when you ask for it.

Screenshots

Focus Timer Desk Clock4 screens
OpenFocus2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: OpenFocus at none against Focus Timer Desk Clock's 1. Focus Timer Desk Clock's advantage is iOS requirement (15.2 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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. Focus Timer Desk Clock sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per month. OpenFocus asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Focus Timer Desk Clock versus OpenFocus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocus Timer Desk ClockOpenFocus
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.2 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPhuc Tran BaYOSHIKI KOAKUTSU

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Focus Timer Desk Clock

Subscriptions1
  • One-month subscription package.$0.991 Month
None

OpenFocus

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Focus Timer Desk Clock free?
Focus Timer Desk Clock is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is OpenFocus free?
OpenFocus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Focus Timer Desk Clock or OpenFocus have ads?
Neither Focus Timer Desk Clock nor OpenFocus shows ads.

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