Etched vs Mastery Timer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Etched
This app transforms practice hours into a visual journey of personal growth. Choose an archetype, set a mastery goal, and log your practice time to see your avatar evolve and your story unfold. Track any skill, from music to coding, with detailed progress and motivational reminders.
- Archetype-based skill tracking
- Visual avatar evolution
- 10,000 hours or custom goal setting
- Unlimited skill tracking
- Live session timer with XP
- Manual time entry
- 13-week calendar heatmap
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Etched turns hours of practice into a living legend. Most tracking apps show you a number. Etched shows you who you're becoming. Choose your archetype — The Wizard, The Outlaw, The Vampire, The Villain, The Dragonborn, or The Alchemist. Set your goal: 10,000 hours or a custom target. Then start practicing. Every hour you log moves your story forward. Track every skill. Build every legend. Add any skill — guitar, chess, Spanish, coding, running, whatever you're mastering. Each skill has its own rank progression, its own XP, its own chapter in your legend. Nothing is forgotten. 12 ranks. One legendary destination. Every archetype has 12 ranks illustrated in a Da Vinci-inspired style. As your hours accumulate, your avatar evolves. Rank up on any skill, at any time — even while the timer is running. Your legend, written as you practice. The Legend Chronicle writes your story as you train — 150+ archetype-specific legend entries written in each voice The story only continues if you do. Built for the long game. - Live session timer with XP tracking - Manual time entry for sessions you forgot to clock - Star ratings and mood tracking per session - 13-week calendar heatmap - Streaks, forecasts, and mastery progress across every skill - Daily practice reminders in your archetype's voice - One-time unlock. No subscription. Ever. Etched is free to download. The Wizard archetype — with all 12 ranks, full Legend access, and unlimited skill tracking — is completely FREE. Unlock all five remaining archetypes (The Outlaw, The Vampire, The Villain, The Dragonborn, and The Alchemist) for $4.99, once, permanently. No subscription. Ever. The clock is ticking. Start your legend.
Mastery Timer
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Mastery Timer turns the time you spend getting good at something into visible progress. Pick the skills you want to master. Writing, reading, an instrument, a language, a sport, meditation, anything. Give each one a daily goal, and fill its bar a little more every day. Every minute counts toward the bigger picture: the path to 10,000 hours of mastery. As your hours add up you rise through 25 ranks, from your very first session to true mastery, and the app tells you something new at every single hour. Not only at the milestones, every hour. What is shifting in your craft, what you have unlocked, how far you have come. No points to lose. No guilt. No streaks that punish you for a missed day. Lifetime hours and ranks only ever go up. If you skip a day, a streak simply starts again, quietly. Mastery Timer is built for years of use, not for a quick hit. Features - Create as many skills as you want, each with its own daily goal - A clean bar you fill each day, with a gentle gong when you reach your goal - A lifetime mastery view: your hours, your current rank, and encouragement that changes every hour - Tailored progress for each kind of skill, from writing to music to fitness - Fully offline and private. Your practice stays on your device. No account, no data collected - A calm, distraction free design The work is the point. Mastery Timer just makes the hours add up where you can see them.
Screenshots
Verdict
Etched and Mastery Timer are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Etched sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Mastery Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Etched | Mastery Timer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | — | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 63 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Posido Vega | Arjun Gupte |
In-app purchases
Etched
- Unlock All Archetypes$4.99
Mastery Timer
- Friends$1.99







