Comparison

DimDash vs Present

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

Head to head
About

DimDash

Features
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DimDash turns your iPad into a beautiful, always-on smart home dashboard with intelligent auto-dimming, device display controls, and full-screen kiosk mode for wall-mounted setups. Point DimDash at any Home Assistant, Grafana, Dashy, Homarr, Glance, Node-RED, or Flame dashboard and walk away. When you stop interacting with the screen, DimDash smoothly dims the display so it does not burn in or blast light across the room at night. Touch anywhere to wake it instantly. How it works DimDash loads your dashboard URL in a full-screen web view. An idle timer starts after your last interaction. When it expires, a smooth overlay fades in to dim the display. Touch the screen and the overlay fades out with your dashboard exactly where you left it. Device display controls DimDash can keep your device awake while the app is open so your wall panel does not lock. You can also enable DimDash Brightness to apply a chosen device brightness whenever the app is active. Dashboard customization Hide Home Assistant header or sidebar chrome with built-in kiosk URL controls. Use opt-in JavaScript Injection snippets to hide common nav bars, prefer dark mode, disable text selection, hide scrollbars, or add your own validated script that runs after the dashboard loads. Integration templates Getting started takes seconds. Choose from built-in templates for Home Assistant, Grafana, Dashy, Homarr, Glance, Node-RED, and Flame. DimDash auto-fills recommended settings. For Home Assistant, DimDash can discover local instances, run OAuth sign-in, pick a dashboard, securely store credentials, and silently refresh access inside the web view. Made for wall panels Full-screen display with no visible browser chrome. Keeps the screen awake while DimDash is open. Optional device brightness control. Pull-to-refresh for stuck dashboards. Supports HTTP and HTTPS, including local network addresses. Home Assistant header/sidebar hiding and JavaScript Injection with helpful snippets and syntax validation. Works on any iPhone or iPad running iOS 16 or later. DimDash Pro DimDash Pro is an App Store subscription that unlocks the full kiosk experience: Multi-Dashboard: configure up to 5 dashboards. Dashboard Cycling: automatically rotate through selected dashboards in your chosen order, with a custom duration for each dashboard. Preloaded Cycling: cycle dashboards stay loaded in the background for smoother transitions. Cycle Dimming Control: choose whether dimming applies to the whole cycle or stays disabled while cycling. Proximity Detection: uses the front camera locally to detect your presence, dim when you leave, and wake when you return. No video is recorded or transmitted. Scheduled Night Mode: apply deeper dimming during quiet hours. Custom Overlay Color: choose any dim overlay tint. Privacy first DimDash processes everything on-device. No account required. No analytics. No cloud backend. Dashboard credentials are stored in the iOS Keychain. Camera access for proximity detection is optional and can be revoked at any time. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.nick-renard.com/privacy

About

Present

This app transforms your phone into a calm, glanceable display showing time, date, weather, and upcoming calendar events. It minimizes distractions by offering no interactive elements, focusing on providing information at a glance. The dynamic sky display reflects real-time dusk and dawn, offering a visual sense of the day's progression.

Highlights
  • Glanceable time, date, and weather
  • Ambient calendar display
  • Dynamic real-time sky visualization
  • Offline functionality
  • Minimalist, distraction-free interface
  • On-device data processing
Features
Read full description

Enough things already ask for your attention. Present is not one of them. Set your phone on a stand and it becomes a calm, glanceable display: the time, the date, the weather, and a quick look at what is coming up. What matters right now, and nothing else. NOTHING TO TAP There are no controls on the readout. No settings screen. No feed, no badge, and no notification it can ever send you. Present is built to reduce what your phone asks of you, not to collect your attention — it slips into the background and is simply there when you look up. A GLANCE, NOT A SESSION The time and date, the current conditions, and the next few hours of your calendar scrolling under a fixed now-marker. You read it in a second from across the room and get back to whatever you were doing. TIME YOU CAN SEE WITHOUT READING Behind it all, a sky that dims through the real dusk where you actually are. Sunrise and sunset are computed on the device from your own coordinates. The sun climbs the edge of the screen and sets at the bottom right; the moon takes over at nightfall, drawn at tonight's true phase. Look up and you know roughly where you are in the day before you have read a single number. BUILT TO BE LEFT RUNNING The screen dims after a minute untouched and clears the moment you reach for the phone. The now-marker breathes and the clock's separator blinks — small movements that keep a bright, static screen from settling into one position all night. YOUR CALENDAR STAYS ON YOUR PHONE Events are read on the device, read-only, one day at a time. No title, location, attendee or time ever leaves it. Location is requested at kilometre accuracy and rounded before it reaches the weather service, which is the only thing the app talks to. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO No account. No sign-in. No cloud. No ads. No tracking. The clock, the sky and the moon need no network at all, so they keep working offline. This is Present — A Simple Clock Here & Now. Free. Nothing to buy, no ads, no subscription. Weather data from MET Norway. Requires iOS 17 or later. iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

DimDash1 screens
Present3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Present at none against DimDash's 2. On price, update cadence, ads 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. DimDash sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Present asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
DimDash versus Present: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDimDashPresent
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 daysEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Paid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNicholas RenardViable Labs LLC

In-app purchases

2 purchases

DimDash

Subscriptions2
  • DimDash Pro Monthly1 Month trial$0.991 Month
  • DimDash Pro Yearly$9.991 Year
None

Present

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is DimDash free?
DimDash is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Present free?
Present is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do DimDash or Present have ads?
Neither DimDash nor Present shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DimDash or Present?
DimDash ships an update every 3 days, and Present every 3 days. Most recently, DimDash was updated on September 13, 2026 and Present on October 3, 2026.

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