Comparison

MNML vs Backtick

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

Head to head
About

MNML

Features
Read full description

MNML is a collection of beautifully designed, ready-to-use widgets for your Home Screen and Lock Screen. Designed for people who love clean, distraction-free iPhone setups. Add clocks, calendars, year progress, date and health widgets that make your iPhone feel clean and intentional. No setup. No templates. Just beautifully designed widgets. Ready to use. MINIMAL WIDGETS FOR EVERY DAY → Clock widgets — bold digital clocks, dot clocks, ring clocks, block clocks and more → Calendar widgets — see today, the date or a full month at a glance → Progress widgets — track your day, week, month and year progress with dots, bars, lines and rings → Apple Health widgets — show steps or heart rate from Apple Health → Lock Screen widgets — keep your date, calendar, progress or steps close by FOR A CLEANER HOME SCREEN MNML is not a widget maker. You do not need to create a layout, design a theme or dig through hundreds of templates. Every widget is thoughtfully designed to look great on your Home Screen or Lock Screen. Pick a design, choose the look and type style you like, then add it to your iPhone. MAKE IT YOURS → Explore 49 ready-to-use widgets across clocks, calendars, progress and health. → Choose from 22 carefully selected fonts. → Choose from four beautiful widget styles: White, Gray, Black or Gradient Black. MINIMAL. AESTHETIC. READY TO ADD. Whether you want a minimal clock widget, an aesthetic calendar widget, a year progress widget, a simple date widget or a clean steps widget, MNML gives you a focused collection built for everyday glances. HOW TO ADD WIDGETS 1. Find a minimal widget you like in MNML. 2. Long-press your iPhone Home Screen or Lock Screen. 3. Add MNML Widgets and choose your design. MNML Pro unlocks the full collection of minimal widgets and future additions. Purchase options are shown clearly in the app before you buy. Support: https://minimalwidgets.com/support Privacy Policy: https://minimalwidgets.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Backtick

Transform your home and lock screens into a functional terminal. Display real-time data like calendar events, weather, and system status, or integrate with your GitHub and focus sessions. Customize with various themes and interactive widgets.

Highlights
  • Functional terminal display
  • Live data integration (calendar, weather, GitHub)
  • Full-page and console widgets
  • Interactive widgets with tap actions
  • Customizable themes
  • Lock screen and StandBy support
  • Shortcuts and Siri integration
Features
Read full description

Backtick turns your home and lock screen into a terminal. Not a picture of one — a working one. Panels drawn with hairline rules, a tab bar you actually tap, a cursor that genuinely blinks, and your real life inside it: calendar, reminders, weather, steps, battery — and now your GitHub, your focus sessions and anything your automations want to say. FULL-PAGE WIDGETS (iOS 27) The Terminal fills an entire home screen page — now, next up, tasks, weather and system as one live session. The Console goes full page too, with bit idling above the menu. THE WIDGETS — 35 OF THEM • Terminal — five panels switched by tapping tabs on the widget; small, medium, large and full page • Console — a navigable menu: arrows move, enter selects, esc backs out, without opening an app • git log — your GitHub contribution graph, streak and recent activity • focus — one tap starts a timer, with a Live Activity on your lock screen and Dynamic Island • curl — any number from a JSON endpoint you choose, with a sparkline of recent values • echo — shows whatever you send it from Shortcuts; build automations that write to your home and lock screen • Weather — current, hourly and forecast; the small one pages when you tap it • Clock — a live 7-segment face with ticking seconds, zero battery cost, 12h or 24h • Countdown — days to a date you pick; ticks live on the final day, counts up after • Daylight — sunrise to sunset as a gauge, golden hour, light left • Year Progress — every day of the year as a dot; watch it fill • Elapsed — day, week, month and year as block gauges • Month — the full month with event markers • Timeline — upcoming events with durations drawn to scale • Steps — today's count and distance, with the week as bars • Disk — storage as a block gauge • Moon — tonight's phase as a dot matrix • motd — a daily line from bit, free • bit — a resident terminal creature. It has moods, it types little lines, its heartbeat blinks, and it reacts when you poke it. Bond over time. LOCK SCREEN Nine rectangular widgets (next up, tasks, weather, forecast, hourly, elapsed, battery, daylight, echo), six circular gauges, and inline status lines. STANDBY Charge your phone on its side and the Terminal, Weather, Clock and bit widgets switch to big, glanceable layouts you can read from across the room. THEMES Six full terminal palettes — Dracula, Gruvbox, Nord, Solarized, Catppuccin and Tokyo Night — or classic true black with one of five accent phosphors. Every widget follows instantly. SHORTCUTS, SIRI & CONTROL CENTER • "Set Backtick Message" puts any text on the echo widgets — when you arrive at work, when your battery runs low, whenever • Start or stop a focus session from Siri, Shortcuts or Control Center • Tick your top task, poke bit, or jump to your agenda from Control Center or the Action button BUILT LIKE A TOOL • Tick reminders off from the widget — writes straight to Apple Reminders • Tap a section to open YOUR apps: choose which calendar, reminders and weather apps widget taps launch • Battery, weather and steps refresh in the background through the day • Live clocks, countdowns and a blinking cursor with zero widget refreshes • True black. Made for OLED and dark home screens. PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION • No account, no sign-in, no Backtick server — there isn't one • Calendar, reminders, steps and device stats are read on-device via Apple's frameworks • Weather comes from Apple Weather using your approximate location • git log and curl talk only to the addresses you give them; an optional GitHub token stays in your phone's keychain • Nothing is collected. There is nowhere to collect it to. FREE / PRO The Terminal widget, Next Up, the inline status line, motd and the classic amber theme are free forever. One purchase unlocks everything else — every widget, every palette — no subscription, no upsell treadmill. — Privacy policy: https://backtick.app/privacy.html Terms of use: https://backtick.app/terms.html

Screenshots

MNML4 screens
Backtick4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Backtick at weekly against MNML's every 5 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. MNML sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Backtick sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MNML ships an update every 5 weeks, Backtick weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
MNML versus Backtick: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMNMLBacktick
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—4 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSrivishnu RamakrishnanElvis Mederos

In-app purchases

3 purchases

MNML

Subscriptions2
  • Minimal Widgets Pro Weekly$1.997 Days
  • Minimal Widgets Pro Yearly7 Days trial$5.991 Year
One-time1
  • Minimal Widgets Pro Lifetime$9.99
1 purchases

Backtick

One-time1
  • Pro$4.99

Questions

Is MNML free?
MNML is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Backtick free?
Backtick is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MNML or Backtick have ads?
Neither MNML nor Backtick shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MNML or Backtick?
MNML ships an update every 5 weeks, and Backtick weekly. Most recently, MNML was updated on October 8, 2026 and Backtick on October 13, 2026.

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