TimeBarX vs Cuebird
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TimeBarX
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TimeBarX puts a countdown where you’ll actually see it - a full-screen progress ring, Live Activities on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, and Home Screen widgets. Glance at your time remaining without opening the app or breaking focus. Set a timer with the slider, pick an end time, or type in plain English. “25 minutes”, “1h30m”, “2:00 PM” - just type and go. SEE YOUR TIME • Large circular progress ring that fills as time runs down • Drag the ring to set the duration, with a tick for each minute • Live Activities on the Lock Screen, StandBy, and Dynamic Island - pause, resume, or add 5 minutes without opening the app • Home Screen widgets with quick-start controls • Near-end pulse when five minutes remain START IN SECONDS • Duration slider (free) • End-time picker and natural language input (Pro) • Presets for common focus durations - customize or add your own (Pro) • Siri and Shortcuts: start, pause, resume, repeat, or start a named preset • Picks up where you left off after quitting or restarting POMODORO WHEN YOU NEED IT • Work, short break, and long break cycles • Configurable durations, cycle count, and auto-advance (Pro) • Live phase badge while a session runs A FINISH YOU’LL NOTICE • Completion screen with optional custom message (Pro) • Effects: flash, pulse, fade, or none (Pro) • Notifications with 5- and 10-minute snooze MAKE IT YOURS (PRO) • Custom colors and customizable presets • Segmented ring with 2–6 arcs • Smart auto-pause when face-down or idle • URL scheme automation (timebar://) • Session history and optional mood check-in • Light or dark app icon, or follow the system BUILT RIGHT • Native SwiftUI for iPhone and iPad • Optional iCloud sync of timer state and settings with your other TimeBarX devices • No subscription. No account. No tracking. ONE PURCHASE. MAC + IPHONE. Free to download. TimeBarX Pro is a one-time $3.99 purchase that unlocks Pro across Mac and iPhone. No subscription, no recurring fees. If you already own TimeBarX Pro on Mac, you don’t need to buy it again on iPhone.
Cuebird
This app helps users manage daily routines with visual and auditory cues, breaking them down into timed, color-coded steps. It supports shared routines for households and adapts to individual timing to ensure tasks are completed on schedule.
- Timed, color-coded routine steps
- Shared household routines
- Visual time bar for routine overview
- Auditory cues and voice recordings
- Proportional routine compression
- Real alarms, not notifications
- Adaptive timing based on actual usage
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See the time, hear your next step, walk out the door on time. Cuebird turns any routine (morning, lunch break, bedtime) into small, timed, color-coded steps and moves you through them automatically. Built for neurodivergent adults. Kind to every brain. HOUSEHOLDS Link the people you live with into a household. Start a routine and everyone gets a gentle offer to jump in, landing where you already are, not back at step one. Joining is one tap, and sitting one out is free: nobody is ever told either way. Be in more than one household at once, your own and the one at your mum's, and every routine says which one it came from. It is all end-to-end encrypted. DO IT TOGETHER In the same room, run a routine in step. Everyone starts on a shared 3, 2, 1, and pause, skip, or a minute back move for the whole group at once, so nobody is left behind. Near each other it is instant. Apart, it stays in sync across your household. Want your own timing? One tap, and your routine keeps going on its own. INVITE BY TEXT, OR BY QR Send someone a link. They tap it and they are in, even if your phone is closed. Together in person? Show the code on your screen for them to scan. Either way, one tap and they are in the household. TIME YOU CAN SEE While a routine runs, the whole screen becomes the current step's color. From across the room, mid-shower, without reading: blue means shower, amber means coffee. A color bar of the steps shows the shape of your time before you start. OUT THE DOOR ON TIME Set when a routine starts and when you have to be done. Cuebird shows the window, adds up your steps, and tells you plainly whether they fit. Running late? One control compresses the routine so you still walk out on time. HEAR YOUR NEXT STEP A chime marks every transition, or let Cuebird speak: "Next: Shower, 10 minutes." A 30-second heads-up warns before longer steps end. Prefer quiet? Silent mode keeps it to haptics. You can also record any step in your own voice. Recordings stay on your device and never sync. REAL ALARMS, NOT NOTIFICATIONS Give a routine a start time and days, and it rings with the system's full-screen alarm: through silent mode, through Focus, even with the app closed. Tap Start and you are already in it. BUILT THE WAY YOUR WEEK ACTUALLY WORKS One routine can ring at several times, each with its own days: weekdays at 7:00, weekends at 9:00. Your list sorts itself around today, and the Schedule view shows everything that will ring this week. IT LEARNS YOUR REAL TIMING Cuebird records every run and shows how long your routine ACTUALLY takes versus what you planned: "Morning really takes 42 minutes, not 35." Then it updates your plan with one tap. STARTING IS ONE TAP Every routine has a play button right on its card, no menus between you and momentum. For the times you do not need a whole routine, Quick Timer and Ring Me At are one tap away. NO SHAME BUILT IN Pause says "no rush." Skipping is a first-class button, and if you skip by mistake you can undo it. Need a minute back? Take one. Finishing celebrates every run, and one missed day never breaks your streak. That is what the habit-formation research actually says. Cuebird never scolds you. EVERYWHERE YOU NEED IT - Lock Screen and Dynamic Island Live Activity: glance without opening the app - Home Screen widget: start a routine in one tap - Apple Watch: your step and countdown on your wrist; pause, resume or skip from there - Siri and Shortcuts: "Start Morning in Cuebird," or run routines from your automations - Mac: runs on Apple silicon Macs too ONE PURCHASE COVERS YOUR FAMILY Family Sharing is on, so up to six family members get it with one purchase. You can also send any routine as a link, ready for their own times. ONE-TIME PURCHASE Buy it once. No subscription, no ads, no accounts, no analytics, no data collection. Your own routines sync through your private iCloud, no login ever. Households stay end-to-end encrypted, and Cuebird has no servers and cannot read any of it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: TimeBarX at Free against Cuebird's $0.99. TimeBarX also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). Cuebird's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (daily vs every 3 days). On ads 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
TimeBarX is free to download; Cuebird costs $0.99 up front. TimeBarX sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Cuebird asks for nothing beyond the download.
TimeBarX ships an update every 3 days, Cuebird daily. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | TimeBarX | Cuebird |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jonathan Tapia | Michael Petrillo |
In-app purchases
TimeBarX
- TimeBarX Pro$3.99
Cuebird
No in-app purchases









