Comparison

hæl vs HerRhythm

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

Head to head
About

hæl

This app acts as a silent observer for your fasting periods and menstrual cycle, reflecting your body's natural rhythms through literary prose. It integrates with Apple Health to provide context-aware insights into your weight and fasting windows, offering a unique, non-prescriptive approach to wellness tracking.

Highlights
  • Fasting timer with literary observations
  • Menstrual cycle tracking via Apple Health
  • Phase-aware fasting window adjustments
  • Literary weight trend analysis
  • Weekly and monthly retrospective letters
  • On-device data privacy
  • Apple Watch and iPad support
Features
Read full description

hæl is a fasting timer that observes instead of coaching. the app watches the hours, reads the cycle, and reflects what it sees in prose. no prescription. no congratulation. most fasting apps count down and celebrate. hæl counts and stays quiet. the interface is a single ring. the language is literary. the body’s rhythm shapes what the app says and when. THE FIRST ENTRY hæl opens like a book: a title page, a note before the text, then a first entry written in your own blanks. fill what you like, leave the rest. THE FAST an ensō ring marks the hours. turn it to choose a duration, from eight hours to seven days, or tap the number to write any length: in hours, or by the time you will eat. tap to begin. the timer carries a name that changes as the fast deepens. lauds, prime, terce, vespers. names borrowed from the canonical hours. prose arrives about what the body is doing, not what it should do. overtime continues past the goal without comment. on longer fasts, the inner rings breathe. a day can be marked as rest instead, held without penalty. the fast itself is free and complete. THE CYCLE hæl reads the menstrual cycle through Apple Health, or from the dates you set. the ring tint shifts with the phase, and suggested windows follow it: shorter during menstruation, longer in the follicular days. cycle tracking is optional. non-cycle users receive their own prose register, rotating by month. THE BODY LEDGER weight is read against the cycle, on a ring that holds it. each morning is a bead on a thread. the ring swells where this body usually carries water, so a luteal rise rides inside the swell instead of reading as a gain. last cycle runs beside it as a faint thread: inside it, lighter than then. one line of prose says what the mornings show. the numbers can stay out of sight entirely. THE LETTERS weekly letters arrive on mondays: the fasting, the weight, the cycle, in the same quiet voice. monthly readings take the longer view. quarterly readings mark the turn of each season. once a year, a year-in-review colophon gathers the whole arc into one page. in the ledger, a correspondence appears one letter at a time, on the ensō, the canonical hours, the luteal phase, autophagy. a finite pool that goes quiet when the last page turns. THE COLOPHON when a fast ends, a page stays. the date spelled out, the hours witnessed, a line composed from what happened. a small ceremony, shareable. THE LEDGER a bound record of every fast, grouped by cycle or by month. past groups fold to a spine; tap one to unseal the colophons beneath. THE PRACTICE hydration tracking with eight water drops. notifications that observe the season, the morning, the phase. never demanding, always noticing. live activities on the lock screen and dynamic island. siri shortcuts for starting a fast or checking the hours. Apple Watch companion with a complication that carries its own witness line. iPad support. on iPhone Duo, open the fold and the pages lie open as a book. buttons and settings in eight languages. the prose stays in english. THE FULL WITNESS (one-time purchase) the free app sees the fast. the full witness sees the cycle. the ring becomes phase-aware. the body ledger reads the water and the last cycle. the letters and readings arrive in full. the ledger keeps its whole history, and its letters appear. milestone ceremonies mark the long stretches, seven days, thirty, ninety, a year. one purchase, nothing recurring. PRIVACY all data lives on-device, in Apple Health, and in your own iCloud. no account. no server of ours sees it. purchases are verified by Apple and RevenueCat; usage and purchases are counted anonymously by TelemetryDeck. neither sees your records. hæl is not a medical device. it does not diagnose, treat, or prescribe. fasts beyond forty-eight hours should be medically supervised. the app says so every time. settings links to eating disorder support.

About

HerRhythm

Features
Read full description

Understand your rhythm. Plan with confidence. HerRhythm is a calm, private period, cycle, ovulation and fertility tracker — built on one promise: your most personal health data never leaves your iPhone. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account, no email, no phone number required • All health records stay on your device — there is no cloud health server • No third-party analytics or tracking SDKs • App Lock hides the app behind Face ID • Your cycle data is never used for advertising • Export everything (PDF/CSV) or delete it all, any time MADE FOR FAMILIES HerRhythm is managed by you, an adult. You can add a gentle profile for your daughter (age 10+) — she never needs a phone, email, password or account, and her profile never shows advertisements. Record her first period when it comes, and the app shifts from soft preparation guidance to simple early-cycle tracking, always in reassuring language written for you as her parent. HONEST PREDICTIONS • Period estimates shown as a date range with clear confidence — never false certainty • A transparent, on-device calculation you can read about in plain language • Fertile-window and ovulation estimates for adults who want them • Estimates are informational only and must never be used as contraception A CALENDAR THAT TELLS THE TRUTH Recorded days, predicted days, fertile estimates and logged symptoms each look different — you always know what's fact and what's estimate. GENTLE, USEFUL INSIGHTS Cycle length trends, symptom patterns and plain-language summaries appear once there's enough data to be meaningful. No alarm, no diagnosis — just your own picture, clearly told. LEARN, AT THE RIGHT AGE A library of calm, plain-language articles — first periods, cycle basics, fertility awareness, perimenopause — filtered to each profile's age and life stage. WORKS WITH APPLE HEALTH (OPTIONAL) Sync your own cycle history with Apple Health if you choose. You control reading and writing separately, and predictions are never written as facts. HERRHYTHM PLUS (OPTIONAL SUBSCRIPTION) An optional monthly subscription that adds exactly three things: no advertisements, up to five family profiles instead of two, and the doctor-visit report — a printable summary of your logged cycles to take to an appointment. New subscribers can try it free for 7 days. Core tracking, all safety information, your full data export and every privacy setting are always free. IMPORTANT HerRhythm provides informational estimates only. It does not diagnose medical conditions, and fertility estimates must not be used as contraception. For medical questions, please consult a healthcare professional. Privacy policy: https://savedelete.com/apps/herrhythm/privacy Terms of Use: https://savedelete.com/apps/herrhythm/terms

Screenshots

hæl4 screens
HerRhythm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HerRhythm at none against hæl's 2. hæl's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. hæl sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. HerRhythm asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

hæl ships an update every 6 days, HerRhythm every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
hæl versus HerRhythm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterhælHerRhythm
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB17 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperKI-GEN STUDIOS LLCJaspal Singh

In-app purchases

2 purchases

hæl

One-time2
  • 14-day TrialFree
  • the full witness$19.99
None

HerRhythm

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is hæl free?
hæl is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HerRhythm free?
HerRhythm is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do hæl or HerRhythm have ads?
HerRhythm shows ads; hæl does not.
Which is updated more often, hæl or HerRhythm?
hæl ships an update every 6 days, and HerRhythm every 9 days. Most recently, hæl was updated on October 24, 2026 and HerRhythm on October 19, 2026.

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