Chrono vs Turnwise
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Chrono
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We have all been trapped in that pod. The board is a clogged mess, someone has been staring at their hand for ten minutes trying to sequence a cantrip, your cold brew is empty, and you are aging in real time. Enter Chrono-Tithe. Chrono-Tithe is not just a sleek life counter. It is an automated tax collector for slow play. Instead of a passive chess clock everyone ignores, it enforces an escalating βTithe Tax.β Overstay your welcome in the think tank and your life total starts draining automatically. It is the perfect way to keep the table moving, or to quietly pressure the pod while you assemble your lock behind a wall of artifacts. CORE FEATURES (always free) THE TITHE ENGINE: An escalating turn timer that ramps through four tiers, from Standard to Accelerated to Punishing to Lethal. Choose the turn the tax starts to tighten and watch it change the way your pod plays. BLIND-TAP LIFE TRACKING: Zero-friction split cards. Tap the right side of a playerβs color block to gain life, tap the left to lose it. Press and hold to swing by 5 at a time. You never have to take your eyes off the board. FULL COMMANDER TRACKING: Poison, energy, experience, +1/+1, commander tax, and per-source commander damage, with 21 from a single commander tracked and flagged automatically. Monarch and the Initiative too. BUILT FOR THE TABLE: 2 to 6 players, format presets for Commander, 1v1, Two-Headed Giant, and Brawl, a pre-game lobby to set seating and decide who goes first, plus a dice roller, coin flip, and random-player picker. PLAY TOGETHER, ON EVERY PHONE: Connect the whole pod over local Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and everyone plays on their own screen, in sync. Tap your own life, pass your own turn, track your own commander damage, and watch it land on every device instantly. No internet, no accounts, no server. Joining a pod is always free. POST-GAME BREAKDOWN: Average turn length for every pilot and a golden Efficiency Star for the fastest player at the table. Hit Replay Pod to run it back with the same roster in one tap. MINIMALIST AND TACTILE: Deep true blacks, fluid gestures, and subtle haptics, designed to preserve battery and reduce visual fatigue during long matches. Scales cleanly from iPhone to a 12.9-inch iPad, and the screen stays awake during play. CHRONO-TITHE PRO (optional, one-time) The full game is free forever, with every life total, counter, timer, and tool included. A single one-time unlock (no subscription) adds: HOST MULTIPLAYER: Host a synced pod so the whole table plays on their own phones. Joining a pod is always free; hosting one is Pro. THEMES AND ACCENTS: Ten background themes and a full neon accent palette. CLOCK MODES: Alternate ways for the clock to bite. Three are live: Sudden Death (at the Lethal tier, overtime eliminates you outright), Time Bank (unused seconds roll into your next turn), and Chess Clock (one game-long budget per player). Team Clock is on the way, included free. TIMER-ONLY MODE: Switch the Tithe off to time turns with no life loss. COMMANDER ART AND SEAT COLORS: Set any commanderβs art as a seatβs background and give each seat its own color. MATCH HISTORY: Every pod saved and synced to your own iCloud, so it survives a reinstall or a new phone with no login. All future Pro features included, free. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No ads. No tracking. Your roster, settings, and history live on your device and in your own iCloud, never on our servers. Multiplayer is a direct device-to-device connection over your local network, not through any server of ours. Chrono-Tithe collects zero data about you. Set your pod. Start the clock. Pay the tithe. Chrono-Tithe is an unofficial fan-made utility. It is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Magic: The Gathering and Commander are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast.
Turnwise
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Turnwise is a turn clock for tables of 2β8 players β built for Commander and other Magic: The Gathering formats, trading card games, and board games where turns run long and someone always asks "whose turn is it?" Put one phone or tablet in the middle of the table. Every player gets a tile; a tap passes the turn on. The active player's clock is visible to everyone, and slow turns become a number instead of a vague feeling. THREE WAYS TO PLAY Classic β clocks count up, so you see where the time went: per turn, per round, per player, for the whole game. Add an optional turn limit, fixed (say one minute) or growing round by round as the game gets heavier. When time runs out the clock flags and blinks β the table decides what happens, never the app. Chess Clock β for two players: bullet, blitz and rapid presets in chess notation (1+0, 3+2, 5+3, 15+10 β¦), fully adjustable time and increment, four increment styles (Fischer before/after, Bronstein, simple delay) and an optional handicap so uneven pairings stay interesting. Hourglass β one pool of time between two players: while you think, your clock falls and your opponent's rises. Slow play arms your opponent. MADE FOR REAL TABLES β’ Seat map: arrange players the way you actually sit; pick who starts without anyone switching chairs β’ Time warning: a beep and a buzz before a turn runs out β at a fixed mark or a share of the turn β’ Optional elimination on timeout in classic games β always a question, never an automatism β’ Pause, undo a pass, eliminate players, keep playing until a winner stands β’ Game timeline and stats: every turn's duration, round totals, awards at the end β’ Timing is wall-clock based β backgrounding the app never loses a second AND NOTHING ELSE Turnwise is completely free and works entirely offline. No account, no ads, no tracking, no subscription β nothing is locked. If it improves your game nights, there's a voluntary tip jar; tipping changes nothing in the app. English, German, French, Spanish. Light and dark mode. iPhone and iPad.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Turnwise at 15.1 against Chrono's 18.6. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. Chrono sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Turnwise sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Chrono | Turnwise |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | β |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod β better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 15.1 β better |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NICHOLAS SALVATORE PUYA | Adrian Horstmann |
In-app purchases
Chrono
- Chrono-Tithe Pro$4.99
Turnwise
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$2.99
- Large Tip$3.99
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- Generous Tip$8.99
- Legendary Tip$17.99









