Comparison

Mini Focus Timer vs smalltype

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

Head to head
About

Mini Focus Timer

This minimalist timer uses the Pomodoro technique to help you focus for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break. It features a simple interface with a circular dial and a large start button, offering focus, short break, and long break phases. Track your progress with daily, weekly, and monthly charts.

Highlights
  • Minimalist Pomodoro timer
  • Focus, short break, long break phases
  • Circular glass dial interface
  • Home & lock screen widgets
  • Apple Watch complications
  • Daily, weekly, monthly focus charts
Features
Read full description

Focus 25, rest 5. That's it. MiniFocus is the simplest Pomodoro timer for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch โ€” one glossy glass dial, one big start button, and a gentle ping when the phase ends. โ€ข Three phases only โ€” focus, short break, long break โ€ข Big circular glass dial in the iOS 26 Liquid Glass tone โ€ข Home & lock screen widgets โ€” running timer ยท today stats ยท quick start โ€ข Apple Watch complications โ€” your remaining time, always one glance away โ€ข Universal โ€” iPhone, iPad, and a paired Apple Watch app, all in one โ€ข Daily, weekly, monthly focus charts โ€ข No sign-up. No ads. No tracking. No IAP. No account, no cloud โ€” everything lives on your device. The point isn't measuring time. It's not drifting away for 25 minutes.

About

smalltype

Read full description

Short notes, many times a day, saved as plain .md files in real folders. Open the same folder on your Mac in VS Code, Vim, or any editor. Calm, minimal, and ready for iPhone Duo. smalltype is for your notes. The small ones, the quick ones, the big ones, the unpolished ones. It's a fast, quiet place to type. ## Start No tutorial, no setup screen. Tap New Note and start typing. Leave one empty and it quietly disappears, so you never end up with a pile of blank untitled notes. That's the whole app. ## Yours Every note is a real .md file, sitting right there in the Files app. You can open it, copy it, or back it up yourself, anytime. Delete one and it still goes to Recently Deleted, same as any other file: nothing's gone for good. ## Sync or Don't Keep notes in iCloud Drive to have them on every device. Or keep them On My iPhone, fully local, never leaving your device. Either way, you can switch anytime. ## Visible Markdown Markdown markers stay gently visible as you type. What you see is exactly what's in the file. A bar above the keyboard types the markers for you, with undo and redo a tap away. ## Organize Folders, search, and quick note-making, all from one screen. Nothing to set up first. Put "daily" in a folder's name and new notes inside it get today's date as their name. ## No Catch No ads. No subscription. No tracking. No account, ever. Markdown notes. Yours to keep.

Screenshots

Mini Focus Timer4 screens
smalltype4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Mini Focus Timer at daily against smalltype's every 5 days. Mini Focus Timer also leads on device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mini Focus Timer ships an update daily, smalltype every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
Mini Focus Timer versus smalltype: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMini Focus Timersmalltype
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyDaily โ€” betterEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size3 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLim SangjinHerman Haidin

In-app purchases

None

Mini Focus Timer

No in-app purchases

None

smalltype

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mini Focus Timer free?
Mini Focus Timer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is smalltype free?
smalltype is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Mini Focus Timer or smalltype have ads?
Neither Mini Focus Timer nor smalltype shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mini Focus Timer or smalltype?
Mini Focus Timer ships an update daily, and smalltype every 5 days. Most recently, Mini Focus Timer was updated on October 12, 2026 and smalltype on October 8, 2026.

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