Comparison

10,000 Hours vs Mastery Timer

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

Head to head
About

10,000 Hours

Features
Read full description

10,000 Hours - Mastery Tracker is a practice tracker for people serious about getting better at something — whether that's playing guitar, learning a language, writing fiction, coding, drawing, chess, or any skill that rewards sustained effort. The premise is straightforward. Pick what you want to improve at, decide how many hours you want to invest, and log your practice sessions as you go. Over weeks and months, you'll see your time accumulate, your patterns emerge, and your progress build. This isn't a habit tracker or a to-do list. It's a focused tool for one thing: helping you keep showing up for the work that matters to you, and giving you a clear picture of what you've done. WHO IT'S FOR This app is for anyone working toward a long-term goal, including: • Language learners tracking study, immersion, and conversation practice • Artists and writers building a consistent creative practice • Students preparing for exams, certifications, or daily study habits • Developers, designers, and other professionals leveling up specific skills • Career changers building new expertise for a transition or promotion • Researchers, academics, and serious readers tracking deep work hours • Athletes and fitness enthusiasts counting training hours toward goals • Competitive players in chess, esports, or other strategy games • Performers — actors, dancers, comedians, public speakers — refining their craft • Musicians logging practice toward auditions, recitals, or personal mastery • Hobbyists going deep on photography, woodworking, cooking, or any craft • Anyone returning to a skill after a break and wanting to rebuild consistency TRACK YOUR SKILLS • Add new skills as you need, each with a custom name, icon, color, and description • Set targets at common milestones (100, 1,000, or 10,000 hours) or any number you choose • Add optional weekly and monthly goals • See an estimated completion date based on your current pace • Organize with priority levels, tags, and per-skill settings RUN SESSIONS • Start the built-in timer when you sit down to practice • Pause and resume as needed • Add quick notes mid-session to capture thoughts AFTER EACH SESSION • Rate how focused you felt • Add notes on what you worked on • See your progress update in real time • Continue with the same skill, switch to another, or stop UNDERSTAND YOUR PATTERNS • Activity heatmap covering the last 12 months • Daily, weekly, and monthly breakdowns • Per-skill trends, totals, and averages • Best time of day and most productive weekday • Focus quality distribution • Current streak and upcoming milestones HOME SCREEN WIDGETS • Multiple sizes for quick glances • Show today's total, current streak, or all your skills at once ADDITIONAL SETTINGS • Light and dark appearance • Optional daily reminders and streak alerts • Language selection • Data export (Pro) WORKS OFFLINE The app does not require an account, sign-in, or internet connection. Your practice data lives on your device. No cloud account, no profile, no social feed. Daily reminders and language preferences are available if you want them. You can also export/import your data to a JSON file for backup/restore purposes.

About

Mastery Timer

Features
Read full description

Mastery Timer turns the time you spend getting good at something into visible progress. Pick the skills you want to master. Writing, reading, an instrument, a language, a sport, meditation, anything. Give each one a daily goal, and fill its bar a little more every day. Every minute counts toward the bigger picture: the path to 10,000 hours of mastery. As your hours add up you rise through 25 ranks, from your very first session to true mastery, and the app tells you something new at every single hour. Not only at the milestones, every hour. What is shifting in your craft, what you have unlocked, how far you have come. No points to lose. No guilt. No streaks that punish you for a missed day. Lifetime hours and ranks only ever go up. If you skip a day, a streak simply starts again, quietly. Mastery Timer is built for years of use, not for a quick hit. Features - Create as many skills as you want, each with its own daily goal - A clean bar you fill each day, with a gentle gong when you reach your goal - A lifetime mastery view: your hours, your current rank, and encouragement that changes every hour - Tailored progress for each kind of skill, from writing to music to fitness - Fully offline and private. Your practice stays on your device. No account, no data collected - A calm, distraction free design The work is the point. Mastery Timer just makes the hours add up where you can see them.

Screenshots

10,000 Hours4 screens
Mastery Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Mastery Timer at none against 10,000 Hours's shown. On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. 10,000 Hours sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Mastery Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 5 level
10,000 Hours versus Mastery Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter10,000 HoursMastery Timer
PriceFreeFree
Update frequency—Every 2 days
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.416.4
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB55 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperThieu KhueArjun Gupte

In-app purchases

1 purchases

10,000 Hours

One-time1
  • Time Tracker Pro$9.99
1 purchases

Mastery Timer

One-time1
  • Friends$1.99

Questions

Is 10,000 Hours free?
10,000 Hours is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mastery Timer free?
Mastery Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do 10,000 Hours or Mastery Timer have ads?
10,000 Hours shows ads; Mastery Timer does not.

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