Comparison

Spoons vs Spoon Manager

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

Head to head
About

Spoons

This app helps manage your daily energy levels by assigning tasks a 'spoon' cost. It visually tracks your available energy and task commitments, preventing overcommitment and promoting a guilt-free approach to productivity, especially for those with chronic conditions or fatigue.

Highlights
  • Spoon-based energy tracking
  • Manual task placement
  • Honest bucket caps
  • Calm task carryover
  • Low Energy Mode
  • Projects, tags, priorities
Features
Read full description

Plan your day around the energy you actually have — not the energy you wish you had. Spoons is an energy-aware task planner built around Spoon Theory. Set your capacity for the day, give each task an energy cost, and see what you can realistically take on before you've overcommitted. Spoon theory was named by Christine Miserandino, who used a handful of spoons to explain to a friend what living with lupus felt like. The idea is simple: every task costs energy, and you only have so much to spend each day. Spoons turns that idea into a practical planner. HOW IT WORKS Each morning, tell Spoons how many spoons you have today. Rate tasks from 1 to 5 based on how much energy they take, then decide where they belong: • Today • Tomorrow • Next Day • Soon • Someday • On Hold Each bucket has a spoon cap, so you can see how much of your available energy you've committed. If you're taking on too much, Spoons gently pushes back — rebalance your day, or consciously decide that today is a bigger day than usual. Anything you don't finish rolls forward automatically. No guilt. No streaks. No shame. WHY SPOONS IS DIFFERENT • Plan around energy, not just time. See what you can realistically fit into the capacity you have today. • You stay in control. Place tasks where you want them. No algorithm decides what your day should look like. • See your limits before you hit them. Spoon caps show how full your day is. • Unfinished tasks roll forward instead of becoming another thing to feel guilty about. • Built for low-energy days. Low Energy Mode hides everything that isn't Critical or High priority when you need to simplify your day. • Projects, tags, due dates, and priorities give you the fundamentals of a task manager — without the pressure. • Light and dark themes follow your system settings. FREE FOREVER The full task manager is free. You don't need an account to use Spoons, and your tasks are stored locally on your device. There is no paywall blocking the core task-planning experience. Use Spoons for as long as you want without paying for Premium. PREMIUM When you're ready for more: • Cloud sync across iPhone, iPad, and soon the web • Recurring tasks — daily, weekly, monthly, or every X days • Full-text search across tasks, notes, and tags • Completion statistics and a yearly heatmap to see your patterns • Quick-add bar — add a task without opening a detail screen Premium is $3.99/month or $29.99/year and includes a 7-day free trial. WHO IS SPOONS FOR? • People living with chronic illness, fatigue, or pain conditions • People with ADHD who need a smaller, more realistic to-do list • Anyone recovering from burnout • Anyone who regularly plans more than they can realistically accomplish • Anyone who's tired of ending the day feeling like they "didn't do enough" Your energy isn't unlimited. Your planner shouldn't pretend that it is. PRIVACY Free users never need to sign in, and your tasks stay on your device. Spoons collects basic, anonymous usage analytics — such as app opens, daily check-ins, and task activity — tied to a private device ID rather than your name or email. This helps us understand whether Spoons is helping people and improve the app. There is no advertising, third-party analytics SDKs, ad tracking, or data brokerage. Premium cloud sync is opt-in and runs through Supabase. Subscriptions are managed through RevenueCat and Apple, which receive your purchase and subscription status. We don't sell your data. Spoons is inspired by Christine Miserandino's essay at butyoudontlooksick.com. Spoon theory belongs to the community; this app is a love letter to it. Subscription terms: Spoons Premium automatically renews until cancelled. Manage or cancel through your Apple ID subscription settings. Cancelling stops future renewals; existing paid periods are not refunded. The free trial converts to a paid subscription unless cancelled at least 24 hours before it ends.

About

Spoon Manager

Track your daily energy levels and activities to understand patterns and plan your day. Features include mood check-ins, task management, habit tracking, and calendar integration. Designed for individuals managing chronic illness or fatigue.

Highlights
  • Daily energy check-ins
  • Task and habit tracking
  • Mood and gratitude journaling
  • Calendar integration
  • Customizable dashboard widgets
  • Pattern analysis charts
Features
Read full description

Spoon Manager is an easy-to-use energy tracker based on Spoon Theory. Check in on your energy each morning and night, record what you do, spot your patterns, and plan your day with confidence. Whether you're managing chronic illness, chronic pain, fatigue, ME/CFS, autism, ADHD, or anything else that affects your energy, Spoon Manager helps you stay in control. It's a calm, native app for iPhone and iPad — no accounts, no ads, no tracking. Everything stays on your device. WHAT'S INSIDE • Morning & night check-ins. Each morning, log how many spoons you're starting with; each night, log what's left. See how your days really go instead of guessing — and catch a low patch before it becomes a crash. • An optional pulse reading. Rest a fingertip on the camera for a wearable-free resting heart-rate check-in — a wellness reading, not a medical measurement. No watch or band required. • To-dos that meet your brain halfway. Break a big task into small steps, name the first move, jot why it matters, add a reward, and estimate the time — with dates, reminders, and repeats. • Habits, your way. Count-based or simple, shown as a visual heatmap with streaks that forgive a rest day. • Routines. Run a morning or wind-down routine step by step, at your own pace. • A daily journal. A calm space to reflect, with a one-tap mood check-in, "what shaped today" factors, gratitude, and a morning intention. • Calendar. Day, week, and month views with your Apple Calendar — and, if you like, your Google Calendar — shown right alongside your day. • Goals. Link the to-dos and habits that move a goal and watch its progress bar fill. • See your patterns. Charts bring your energy, mood, and habits together so you can spot what helps and what drains you. • Build-your-own home. Arrange and resize a dashboard of widgets, plus home-screen and lock-screen widgets for your spoons and your week. • Make it yours. Color themes with light and dark mode, an optional Face ID lock, and journal export anytime. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Spoon Manager is built to need none of your data. There are no accounts, no server, no ads, and no analytics or tracking SDKs. Everything you create stays on your device. The one time Spoon Manager goes online is if you choose to connect Google Calendar — a read-only link that shows your events in the app and never sends your data to us. Made by a small independent developer.

Screenshots

Spoons4 screens
Spoon Manager4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Spoon Manager at none against Spoons's 2. Spoons's advantage is ratings volume (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 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. Spoons sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Spoon Manager asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Spoons against 5.0 for Spoon Manager. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spoons ships an update every 9 days, Spoon Manager every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Spoons versus Spoon Manager: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpoonsSpoon Manager
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB7 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperMatthew BesteJohn Traugott

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Spoons

Subscriptions2
  • Spoons Premium Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Spoons Premium Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
None

Spoon Manager

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Spoons free?
Spoons is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Spoon Manager free?
Spoon Manager is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Spoons or Spoon Manager?
Spoons and Spoon Manager are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Spoons or Spoon Manager have ads?
Neither Spoons nor Spoon Manager shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spoons or Spoon Manager?
Spoons ships an update every 9 days, and Spoon Manager every 5 days. Most recently, Spoons was updated on October 16, 2026 and Spoon Manager on October 25, 2026.

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