Benchpad vs Quartz

Benchpad is a scratchpad, not a second brain. Three pads. You name them — Work / Personal / Scratch, Today / This Week / Someday, whatever fits your head. No folders, no tags, no filing decisions. Open, type, close. WRITE WITHOUT DECIDING Every note app asks "where does this go?" before you've written a word. Benchpad doesn't. Three pads means the decision is already made. WORKS ON A PLANE Offline-first, not offline-tolerant. Every keystroke saves to your device before any network request. Sync happens in the background when you're online — and merges conflict-free if you edited on two devices at once. CONSTRAINT IS THE PRODUCT Benchpad is for people who want to write things down — not maintain a system. A note app that knows when to stop. When you can't create infinite folders, you write instead of organizing. Constraint isn't a compromise. It's the product. A REAL EDITOR Headings, checklists, tables, code blocks with syntax highlighting, images, file attachments all with slash commands and a block editor. NO AI. NO ADS. NO DATA MINING. Nothing reads, summarizes, or trains on your notes. Notes are encrypted at rest. Plain markdown — copy everything out anytime, no lock-in. FREE FOREVER, REALLY One pad, the full editor, offline support, sync, and an archive of 100 notes — free, no credit card, no time limit. Pro ($10/year flat) unlocks all three pads, all six themes, attachments, voice-note audio, and Markdown/PDF export. Benchpad is for people who want to write things down — not maintain a system. A note app that knows when to stop.

Quartz is a focus timer that fits the way you actually work — not the other way around. Three modes, one flow. Pomodoro — the classic cycle: focused sessions, short breaks, a long break when you've earned it. Fully adjustable, with named presets and sequences that vary session lengths across a cycle. Free Roam — an open-ended count-up for the days you just want to start and see where the focus takes you. Flowmodoro — work as long as the flow lasts, then take a break you earned: Quartz computes it from how long you focused. Switch between them anywhere — and Quartz always asks before ending a running session, on every device. Everywhere you work. iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch — one purchase, everything included. Start and control any mode from your wrist. On the Mac, a menu-bar timer shows your session at a glance, with full controls one click away, and Quartz can open at login. Widgets, Lock Screen widgets, and Live Activities keep your session visible without opening the app. Attach your work. Create tasks and attach one to a session — your focus time is credited to the work it served. History keeps an honest record: finished sessions, skipped ones, and exactly how long each really ran. Understand your focus. Stats show your day at a glance. Quartz Pro adds Insights: completion rate, streaks, adherence, focus by task, your best hours and days, a focus heatmap, and per-device breakdowns — each with clear headline numbers, not just charts. Private by design. No account. No ads. No tracking. Your data lives on your device and in your own private iCloud — invisible to us, synced by Apple. You can even turn iCloud sync off per device. Free forever: the full Pomodoro experience, Free Roam, tasks, history, core stats, widgets, Live Activities, the Apple Watch app, the Mac menu bar, iCloud sync, Focus Filters, and Shortcuts. Quartz Pro (subscription or one-time lifetime, 7-day free trial): Flowmodoro, named presets and badged starters, sequences, custom presets, four premium themes, and the full Insights suite. Nothing you have is ever taken away. Made by one developer who wanted a timer that respects your time — and your data. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/