Panoo vs Focal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Panoo
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Panoo turns your notes into something you actually want to look at: colorful paper notes, pinned to a warm cork board. Write a note, choose its paper, its pattern and its pin, then drag it anywhere on the board. It looks like the board above your desk, and that is exactly the point. Notes you can see are notes you remember. A REAL WIDGET, NOT A SCREENSHOT You choose which note goes on your Home Screen. Add several widgets and give each one a different note. Edit the note and the widget updates itself. Small, medium and large on iPhone, plus an extra large size on iPad. IT SYNCS BETWEEN YOUR DEVICES Turn on iCloud sync and your notes and boards move between iPhone and iPad on their own. There is no server of ours in between: the data sits in your own iCloud storage. Leave it off and Panoo keeps working completely offline. YOU BUILD THE BOARD ⢠7 frame designs: plain wood, classic moulding, rope, aluminium, carved and more ⢠16 frame colors and two corner shapes, so hundreds of combinations ⢠15 paper patterns: plain, lined, grid, stripes, zigzag, hearts, stars ⢠12 pins: classic thumbtacks, glass beads, flowers, stars, even a little cat ⢠9 color palettes for your paper ⢠4 fonts, including handwriting ⢠Light and dark theme, both free MORE THAN A PRETTY BOARD ⢠Checklists: ticked items get a line through them, visible right on the board ⢠Mark a finished note as done and spot it on the board at a glance ⢠Reminders: a notification at the exact time you choose ⢠Several boards: keep work, home and shopping apart ⢠Pinch a note to resize it, twist it to any angle ⢠Share any note as an image ⢠Landscape on iPhone, and the whole app rotates on iPad BUILT FOR ⢠Anyone who keeps paper sticky notes on a desk ⢠People who live off shopping lists and to-do lists ⢠Students and workers who want class, meeting and idea notes in plain sight ⢠Anyone who wants a Home Screen worth looking at YOUR NOTES STAY YOURS No account. No sign-up. No ads, not one, in any form. Panoo never sends your notes to a server of ours. With iCloud sync on, the data only goes to the iCloud storage of your own Apple Account. FREE AND PREMIUM Panoo is free to use, and the free version is not crippled: unlimited notes, unlimited boards, unlimited reminders, iCloud sync, light and dark theme, 5 paper patterns, 3 pins, 3 frame designs, 4 frame colors, 2 palettes, 2 fonts and one widget note. Panoo Premium unlocks the rest: every pattern, pin, frame design and frame color, every palette and font, and as many widget notes as you want. Premium is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Pay once and it stays yours; restore it any time on any device signed in to the same Apple Account. SUPPORT Questions and ideas: info@koalstudios.com Privacy Policy: https://koalstudios.com/en/panoo/privacy Terms of Use: https://koalstudios.com/en/panoo/terms
Focal
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See the time you have left. Focal turns a countdown into something you can look at: a colored disk that shrinks as your time runs out ā the same idea as the timer on a classroom wall, in your pocket, on your lock screen, and on your desk while the phone charges. ONE THING AT A TIME A routine in Focal is a chain of short steps, each with its own length. Focal shows you the step you are on and nothing else, then moves to the next one by itself. Morning launch, shutdown, cleaning sprint, a study block ā start with ten ready-made routines or build your own. TIME YOU CAN SEE, EVERYWHERE ⢠Full-screen timer in three shapes: disk, bar, or pie ⢠Live Activity and Dynamic Island ā the countdown keeps running on your lock screen ⢠Home and Lock Screen widgets for your next routine ⢠Put the phone on its side while charging and StandBy becomes a desk timer ⢠Start from Siri, the Action Button, or Control Center BUILT FOR THE WAY ATTENTION ACTUALLY WORKS ⢠Gentle haptics at the halfway mark and in the final minute ⢠When time is up the clock keeps counting, and Focal taps you on the shoulder at five and fifteen minutes ā the alarm for when you fall into something too deep ⢠Add a minute without losing your place ⢠Eight themes, including high-contrast and a quiet monochrome one NOTHING LEAVES YOUR PHONE. No account. No cloud. Nothing you make ever leaves your phone ā the timer works in airplane mode, because it never needed the internet. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Focal at every 3 days against Panoo's every 3 weeks. Panoo's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Panoo sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Focal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Panoo ships an update every 3 weeks, Focal every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Panoo | Focal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 days ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad ā better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 ā better | 18.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | KORAY ALAGOZ | Ho Van Dai |
In-app purchases
Panoo
- Lifetime Unlock$3.99
Focal
- Focal Pro ā Monthly$0.991 Month
- Focal Pro ā Yearly$7.991 Year
- Focal Pro ā Lifetime$24.99





