Anca vs Exam Countdown & Study Timer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Anca
This app helps you minimize distractions and dedicate time to focused work. It visually represents your focused effort as a star map, turning invisible progress into a personal, revisitable path. Choose from two focus modes and optionally use NFC tags to start and end sessions.
- Two focus modes: Deep Space and customizable Focus Mode
- Optional NFC Anchor integration for session initiation
- Visual Focus Star Map to track progress
- Local-first data storage, no account required
- Focus session timer with target progress
- Gentle daily focus reminders
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Turn focus into stars Anca turns the time you spend focusing into something you can see and remember. Every completed session becomes a star in your personal constellation—a quiet record of the time you gave to what matters. Find your rhythm Choose a focus style that fits the way you work, whether you prefer structured focus-and-rest cycles or a more flexible session. Adjust your focus and rest times, start the timer, and let Anca keep the experience calm and simple. Build your own star map Each completed session adds another star to your constellation. Over time, your sky becomes a visual record of the time you chose to focus. There are no streaks, rankings, or points—only a record of the time you spent fully focused. Stay immersed Use optional app restrictions to reduce distractions while you focus. Anca’s quiet, deep-space interface keeps the timer at the center so you can stay with the task in front of you. Lifetime Premium Unlock the complete Anca experience with a one-time purchase. No subscription. Premium includes Star Signature, Aurora Atmosphere, and more ways to look back on how your focus has grown over time. Your focus. Your constellation. Start with one session. Let the time you spend focusing slowly become a sky of your own.
Exam Countdown & Study Timer
This app helps you track exam dates, plan study sessions, and monitor your progress. It offers a countdown clock, a study timer with Pomodoro support, and detailed history logs to visualize your learning journey.
- Countdown clock for exams and deadlines
- Study planner with color-coded subjects and tasks
- Live study time tracking with a timer
- Pomodoro focus timer
- Detailed study history and progress visualization
- Exam-style timer for timed practice
- Data backup and export
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Keep the countdown to your exam in sight every day, and bring planning, study-time tracking and focus together in one place. Stand the device on your desk and it works as an always-on countdown clock. Entrance exams, professional qualifications, civil service tests, long studies in accounting or law, job-hunting deadlines: it adapts to your goal. COUNTDOWN CLOCK A large analog clock with the digital time and a days-left counter in bold flip-style digits that stay readable from across the room. The date is always calculated from the current time, so the number stays correct after the app sits untouched or the day rolls over. MULTIPLE GOALS Alongside your main exam, add backup exams, mock-test dates and job-hunting deadlines. Each goal takes a type and a colour, and the clock shows the nearest one automatically. STUDY PLANNER Create colour-coded subjects and list tasks with due dates. The screen splits into Today and Upcoming, so it is clear what to work on now. Tasks can be grouped by goal, overdue ones are flagged by colour, and when today is done the app points to what comes next. TRACK STUDY TIME Enter the minutes by hand, or measure them live with the study timer. It counts upward while the current time and the days left stay on screen. Pause and resume freely; it auto-stops after a long stretch so a forgotten timer cannot ruin your record. Timing uses real elapsed time, so it stays accurate with the screen off. FOCUS WITH POMODORO A mode that alternates focused work with short breaks and signals each turn. The time you focus is added straight to your record. LOOK BACK ON WHAT YOU DID When you log time you can also add how it went, a score and a one-line note. All of it is optional, and one line is enough. The History tab brings it together: a score trend chart where tapping a point shows that session's note, a study calendar where the shade is the time you put in and the border is how the day felt, and the full list of records grouped by date and filterable by subject. Reading the note you wrote two weeks ago next to today's score is what makes progress feel real. Records can be edited or deleted later. STAY CONSISTENT See how many days in a row you have studied and how many days this week you took part, with the past seven days charted and broken down by subject. The weekly measure is forgiving, so a missed day is easy to recover from. EXAM-STYLE TIMER Register the start and end times of each section as a preset and rehearse with realistic timing. REMINDERS Get alerts for tasks whose due dates are near, plus a morning summary of the day. Set the time to fit your routine, or switch reminders off. BACKUP YOUR DATA Export your plan and records to a file and read it back to restore everything on a new device. Your data stays on your device: no account, nothing sent to a server. That also means a device change cannot be guaranteed to carry it over, so keeping your own file is easy, with an optional monthly reminder. LANGUAGES AND PRICING Available in English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese. All core features are free. An ad is shown at the bottom, and a one-time purchase removes it. You can log unlimited records for free; the free plan shows the last fourteen days of detail, older records are never deleted, and the same purchase unlocks the full history, note search and CSV export. Register your target exam, create your subjects, and list tasks with due dates. Then open the app each day, clear your tasks and log your time. The longer you keep it up, the longer your streak grows and the higher your chart climbs.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Anca at none against Exam Countdown & Study Timer's 1. Anca also leads on ads (none vs shown). Exam Countdown & Study Timer's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Exam Countdown & Study Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Anca asks for nothing beyond the download.
Anca ships an update every 4 weeks, Exam Countdown & Study Timer every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Anca | Exam Countdown & Study Timer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 51 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Heung Yu Mo | BEAK,K.K. |
Customer experience
Anca
Exam Countdown & Study Timer
In-app purchases
Anca
No in-app purchases
Exam Countdown & Study Timer
- Pro (ad-free + full history)$0.99









