Comparison

Workout Timer vs Rounds

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

Head to head
About

Workout Timer

Create and save custom interval timers for various workout routines like Tabata and HIIT. Features audio cues, haptics, and voice announcements for phase changes. Keeps running with the screen locked and offers Live Activities on iOS.

Highlights
  • Build custom interval timers
  • Save and reuse timer templates
  • Audio cues and haptic feedback
  • Voice announcements for phase changes
  • Live Activities on iOS Lock Screen
  • Runs with screen locked
Features
Read full description

A workout interval timer for Tabata, HIIT, and any work-and-rest routine. Build a timer once, save it, and run it again with one tap. It's free to use. No paywall. No ads. No tracking. No accounts. What it does: - Build interval timers with warm-up, work, rest, recovery, and cool-down phases - Save timers as templates and run them again in one tap - Audio cues, haptics, and optional voice announcements at every phase change - Watch the phase, set, and time left on a clear countdown screen - On iOS, a Live Activity shows your timer on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island - Keeps running with the screen locked, so the phone can sit in your pocket Made for any interval discipline: - Rock climbing: hangboard and fingerboard repeaters (try 7 seconds on, 3 seconds off, for 6 sets), plus campus-board and no-hang protocols - Boxing, MMA, and martial arts: timed rounds with rest between them - High-intensity interval training and functional fitness: Tabata, EMOM, and AMRAP - Running and cycling: sprint and interval training - Strength and calisthenics: timed sets and supersets - Yoga, mobility, and stretching: hold each pose for a set time - Physical therapy and rehab: timed holds and repetitions - Meditation and breathwork: steady, repeating intervals If it has a "work for a bit, rest for a bit, repeat" shape, you can build it here. Your data stays with you. No accounts, no ads, no tracking. Your timers stay on your phone. The only network activity is the check for app updates, which carries no information about you. Open source: https://github.com/Josh-Approved/workout-timer What it doesn't do: No paywall. No ads. No tracking. No accounts. No subscriptions. The whole app is the whole app: every feature is here, free. Josh Approved is supported by the people who use it. No ads, no subscriptions, no data harvest. What keeps this sustainable is whether it's worth a few dollars to you. If it is, there's an optional tip jar in the app. Send feedback: feedback@joshapproved.com

About

Rounds

Features
Read full description

You set the work, you set the rest, and the timer takes it from there. Before every change it turns red and beeps once a second, so the end of a step reaches you with your eyes down. Rounds is free, with a small banner on the home screen and during workouts. One purchase removes the ads for good, on your iPhone, your iPad and your Mac. You pay once, nothing renews, and there is no subscription to cancel later. No account, no sign-up, no email address. Your workouts live on your device and travel between your devices through your own iCloud. Two ways to train Workout: you add exercises one at a time, give each one its own time, and drop rests in between. Take an exercise from the 45 built in across seven categories, or type your own name. What you type stays in the app, so next time it is one tap. Intervals: rounds of work and rest, with no exercise names. Set three numbers and you are done. Ten rounds of ninety seconds with thirty off, or eight rounds of twenty on and ten off, take the same three moves. Either one saves as a template with the times already in it. Edit it, duplicate it to change one thing without touching the original, put it in the archive, or delete it. The last seconds In the middle of an exercise you are looking at the floor, not at the screen, so the end of a step has to reach you without being read. The timer turns red and beeps once a second before every change. You choose how long that warning runs: the last 10, 5 or 3 seconds, set separately for exercises and for rests, because the end of a rest needs more notice than the end of a plank. The sound plays even when the phone is on silent, the way the built-in Clock does. If you would rather feel it than hear it, there is vibration. The screen stays awake while the timer runs, and time is counted from the clock, so the countdown does not drift. What you see while you work One number, big enough to read from the floor, and a ring that empties as the step runs out. The whole screen carries the phase: your accent color for work, a cool color for rest, red for the last seconds. Portrait and landscape are the same layout. Every start opens with three seconds of Get ready, so the first exercise does not catch you halfway through a movement. Every workout carries its own timer theme. There are ten of them, and you can build an eleventh from any background and any digit color. On top of that: an accent color for the app, more than thirty typefaces in five groups, and an emoji on the workout so you know it on the list without reading. On the Mac The same app in a window, with a sidebar for your workouts and the archive, a search field, a details panel, and the countdown filling the whole window. New workout is ⌘N, intervals ⇧⌘N, and ⌘, opens settings. Build a workout at the desk and it is on the phone by the time you are on the mat. What free means here A banner on the home screen and during workouts, and a full-screen ad at most after every other workout you finish. Never in the middle of an exercise. On iPhone and iPad the ads come from Google and, if you allow it, are matched to your interests. Your workouts stay out of it. On the Mac you only see our own. One purchase clears all of it for good, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. What the app does not do It does not weigh you, count calories or draw charts. It does not talk to a watch or to Health. It has no account. The only thing you give it is the name you type at the start, so it can greet you. When you leave the app, the timer stops and waits for you. Rounds speaks ten languages and follows the one your device is set to. Support: https://nanas.pro/support Privacy: https://nanas.pro/legal/privacy#rounds

Screenshots

Workout Timer4 screens
Rounds4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Workout Timer at none against Rounds's shown. Workout Timer also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Rounds's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs weekly). On price, in-app purchases 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. Workout Timer sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Rounds sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Workout Timer ships an update weekly, Rounds every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Workout Timer versus Rounds: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWorkout TimerRounds
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.4 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJosh Approved LLCAdrian Skobiej

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Workout Timer

One-time5
  • Tip$2.99
  • Tip$4.99
  • Tip$9.99
Show 2 more
  • Tip$19.99
  • Tip$49.99
1 purchases

Rounds

One-time1
  • Rounds without ads$9.99

Questions

Is Workout Timer free?
Workout Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Rounds free?
Rounds is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Workout Timer or Rounds have ads?
Rounds shows ads; Workout Timer does not.
Which is updated more often, Workout Timer or Rounds?
Workout Timer ships an update weekly, and Rounds every 4 days. Most recently, Workout Timer was updated on October 7, 2026 and Rounds on October 14, 2026.

Other comparisons