Comparison

Focus Pattern vs Tide

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

Head to head
About

Focus Pattern

Features
Read full description

Focus Pattern helps you choose a short sensory pattern when you feel scattered, tense, overloaded, or stuck. Pick a visual atmosphere, layer gentle sound, and follow a simple pattern to breathe, settle, and continue with steadier attention. Use Focus Pattern for: β€’ settling your attention before work or study β€’ taking a short reset between tasks β€’ grounding during overloaded moments β€’ pairing visual motion with soft sound textures β€’ creating a calmer focus atmosphere Focus Pattern includes ambient sessions, breathing patterns, grounding practices, humming, soft breath guidance, visual atmospheres, sound textures, and haptic cues. Focus Pattern is a wellness tool, not medical care. Stop any session that feels uncomfortable. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://focuspattern.com/privacy

About

Tide

Features
Read full description

Tide is a breathing timer, built around your own rhythm. Build a pattern from scratch: set your own hold times, chain together repeatable step sets, and choose whether a session ends after a set number of rounds or after a fixed length of time. Once it's saved, it works exactly like any other pattern in the app. Not sure where to start? Three patterns are ready to go: Box breathing (4-4-4-4): used to reset under pressure. Equal parts inhale, hold, exhale, hold. 4-7-8: a technique for unwinding. A long exhale that signals to your nervous system that it's safe to slow down. Calm (3-2-5-2): a gentle everyday pattern. Slightly longer exhale than inhale, designed for quiet moments and transitions. Tide also runs on Apple Watch. Start a session from your wrist with quick-start presets and rounds mode. Chime and haptic settings sync automatically between your phone and watch. No narration. No scores. Just the rhythm you choose. Tide is made by Quiet Leaf LLC. See what else we're building at quietleaf.dev.

Screenshots

Focus Pattern4 screens
Tide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tide at none against Focus Pattern's 1. Focus Pattern's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Focus Pattern sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Tide asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Focus Pattern ships an update weekly, Tide every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
Focus Pattern versus Tide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocus PatternTide
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly β€” betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo β€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch β€” better
Requires iOS16.0 β€” better17.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size26 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperThinking Systems LLCQuiet Leaf LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Focus Pattern

One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$9.99
None

Tide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Focus Pattern free?
Focus Pattern is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tide free?
Tide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Focus Pattern or Tide have ads?
Neither Focus Pattern nor Tide shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Focus Pattern or Tide?
Focus Pattern ships an update weekly, and Tide every 2 months. Most recently, Focus Pattern was updated on September 13, 2026 and Tide on September 20, 2026.

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