Comparison

Cairn vs HabitLeaf

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

Head to head
About

Cairn

Features
Read full description

Stack before you scroll. Cairn helps you stop scrolling by adding one small pause before distracting apps open. Choose the apps you want to protect. When you reach for one, iOS shows a Screen Time shield. Open Cairn, build the requested stone structure, and earn a short window to continue. It is enough to break the reflex. Often, that is all you needed. What's in Cairn - Stack: balance stones into target structures before the app opens. - Short unlock windows: earn a few intentional minutes, then the shield returns. - Multiple rituals: Stack, Breath, Trace, Walk, and Untie. - Stone styles: granite, basalt, riverstone, obsidian, marble, moss, and moonstone. - Sunday reflection: save a private weekly reflection about the pauses you kept. - Lock Screen widget: see minutes reclaimed today at a glance. Built for focus - Uses Apple's Screen Time controls for app blocking. - No account. - No cloud. - No ads. - Your watched-app list stays on your device. - Haptics, sound, and calm visual design built around one idea: interrupt the reach before it becomes a scroll. Free Cairn includes core blocking and daily stack rituals. Cairn Pro unlocks deeper rituals, stone styles, custom unlock windows, weekly reflection, and more ways to hold the trail. Cairn is not a dashboard for judging your phone use. It is a small threshold between impulse and action. Privacy Policy: https://cairnfocus.github.io/privacy/ Terms of Service: https://cairnfocus.github.io/terms/

About

HabitLeaf

Features
Read full description

HabitLeaf turns your daily habits into a living garden. Every habit you plant starts as a seed. Check it off each day and it sprouts, grows and blooms. Skip too often and it wilts. Stay consistent for 66 days, the point where research says a routine becomes automatic, and your plant is fully grown: your habit is formed. YOUR HABITS, AS PLANTS Choose from 50 hand-drawn plant species: flowers, trees, fruits, herbs, desert plants and exotic jungle species. Each one grows through 10 stages, from seed to evergreen. Your home screen becomes a garden that shows, at a glance, how your life is going. BUILT ON HABIT SCIENCE The growth curve follows habit-formation research: it takes most people about 66 days of repetition before a behavior becomes automatic. HabitLeaf tracks exactly that journey. Once a habit is formed, your plant is protected: one bad week will not undo months of work. EVERYTHING A SERIOUS TRACKER NEEDS - Flexible schedules: daily, several times per day, weekly or monthly goals - Streaks that handle real life: week and month goals count properly, time zones and daylight saving included - A clean heatmap for every habit, so you see your consistency at a glance - Detailed statistics: current streak, best streak, completion rate, trends - Reminders with personality: short coaching nudges instead of generic alerts - 100 hand-drawn habit icons and 21 colors to make each habit yours - Categories to group your habits - Share any habit as a beautiful progress card - Archive finished habits without losing their history - Full backup and restore, your data stays on your device CELEBRATE PROGRESS Level-ups are celebrated. When your plant reaches a new stage you see it grow, and when a habit is formed after 66 days you get the moment it deserves. HABITLEAF PRO Start with 3 habits and 10 plant species. One single purchase unlocks unlimited habits, unlimited reminders, all 50 species and backup. No subscription, pay once and keep your garden forever. Plant your first seed today. Small steps, growing daily.

Screenshots

Cairn4 screens
HabitLeaf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Cairn at every 2 days against HabitLeaf's every 2 months. HabitLeaf's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Cairn sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and HabitLeaf sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cairn ships an update every 2 days, HabitLeaf every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
Cairn versus HabitLeaf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCairnHabitLeaf
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 days โ€” betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS17.015.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size5 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerabiodun oyetomiIdeaBridge GmbH

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Cairn

Subscriptions2
  • Cairn Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Cairn Pro Yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Cairn Lifetime$99.99
1 purchases

HabitLeaf

One-time1
  • HabitLeaf Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Cairn free?
Cairn is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HabitLeaf free?
HabitLeaf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Cairn or HabitLeaf have ads?
Neither Cairn nor HabitLeaf shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cairn or HabitLeaf?
Cairn ships an update every 2 days, and HabitLeaf every 2 months. Most recently, Cairn was updated on October 31, 2026 and HabitLeaf on October 28, 2026.

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