Comparison

Start Now vs Sift

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

Head to head
About

Start Now

This app helps you overcome procrastination by focusing on starting tasks with a simple, one-tap timer. Track your progress and build consistency with a clean, minimalist design.

Highlights
  • One-tap focus timer
  • Unlimited task creation (Pro)
  • Progress tracking
  • Daily and weekly stats
  • Gentle reminders
  • Minimalist design
Features
Read full description

Stop waiting. Start doing. Start Now helps you overcome procrastination by making it easy to begin. Instead of overwhelming to-do lists and complicated productivity systems, simply choose what you want to work on, tap Start, and build momentum one focused session at a time. Whether you're studying, working, cleaning, reading, writing, or tackling a personal project, Start Now helps you stop overthinking and start making progress. No complicated productivity system. No endless planning. Just action. Features: • One-tap focus timer • Create unlimited tasks (Pro) • View your progress • Track daily and weekly stats • Build consistency over time • Gentle reminders • Beautiful minimalist design Why you'll love Start Now: • Start a focus session with a single tap • Create and organize tasks that matter to you • Track every completed work session automatically • View your daily, weekly, and all-time progress • Stay motivated by seeing your consistency grow • Enjoy a clean, distraction-free interface designed to keep your attention where it belongs Built for real life: You don't need the perfect plan before you begin. Progress is built through small, consistent actions, and Start Now is designed to help you take that first step whenever you're ready. Use Start Now for: • Studying and homework • Work and side projects • Reading • Writing • Creative projects • Household tasks • Daily routines • Building better habits Start Now Pro: Upgrade to Start Now Pro to unlock unlimited tasks and support the continued development of the app. More premium features will be added over time at no additional cost for active subscribers. Privacy first: Your focus sessions and progress belong to you. Start Now is designed to help you spend less time managing productivity and more time actually getting things done. Small steps lead to big results. Start now. Terms of Use (EULA): https://startnowapp.framer.website/terms Privacy Policy: https://startnowapp.framer.website/privacy-policy

About

Sift

Features
Read full description

Every document scanner reads your page. Then it saves the file as "2024-05-22 00:45:29" and hands you an empty folder. Sift uses what it just read. Scan a receipt and it saves as "Blue Bottle Coffee - Receipt - Mar 2026", already filed under Receipts. You tap Save, not Rename. Then, weeks later, you swipe down on your Home Screen, type "lease", and there it is - because Sift indexes the text inside every scan into iOS Spotlight. All of it happens on your iPhone. Sift has no servers, no account, and makes no network calls. THE LIBRARY THAT FILES ITSELF • Automatic titles - Sift finds the letterhead, the vendor, and the date, and writes the title for you • Automatic filing - receipts, bills, IDs, contracts, medical records, tax documents, notes • Everything editable - it's a suggestion, not a decision. Change anything before you save. FIND ANYTHING, INSTANTLY • Search the text inside your documents, not just their filenames • Find scans from your Home Screen with Spotlight - no need to open Sift first • Every result opens straight to the document SCANS THAT WORK EVERYWHERE ELSE • Real searchable PDFs - Sift writes an invisible text layer into every export, so you can select and search the text in Preview, Acrobat, or Files. Not just a picture of a page. • Clean captures with automatic edge detection and perspective correction • Four filters - Original, Enhanced, Grayscale, Black & White - applied to every page at once, not one at a time • Import what you already have - photos and PDFs from Photos or Files, read and filed the same way • Sign and mark up a page with your finger - save your signature once and stamp it on any document • Reorder, rotate, split, and drop pages; export as PDF, compressed PDF, or JPG • Fine-tune brightness and contrast on top of the four filters ASK YOUR DOCUMENTS (ON SUPPORTED DEVICES) On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, ask Sift about any scan - "what's the total?", "when does this lease end?" - and get answers from that document, generated entirely on your device. If the answer isn't in the document, Sift says so instead of guessing. No cloud AI, ever. SCAN FROM ANYWHERE • "Hey Siri, scan with Sift" • Add scanning to a Shortcut, your Action Button, or Control Center PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION, NOT BY PROMISE • No servers. No account. No sign-up. No network calls. • No analytics. No ads. No third-party SDKs of any kind. • No tracking permission prompt - because there is nothing in Sift to track you with. • Your IDs, contracts, and medical records never leave your iPhone. They can't - there's nowhere for them to go. • Want Sift locked? Long-press its icon and choose Require Face ID - iOS locks it system-wide FREE FOREVER - GENUINELY Unlimited scanning. Unlimited pages. Text recognition. Automatic titling. Automatic filing. Search. Spotlight. PDF export. No limits, no watermark, no ads. We can give this away because it all runs on your device and costs us nothing to serve. There is no paywall in onboarding, ever, and nothing above is gated. Sift shows the price twice on its own, after it titles your first scan and after your first export. Both have a full-size Not now and block nothing. SIFT PRO (OPTIONAL) Adds encrypted backup & restore (pack your whole library into one password-protected file you save wherever you like), document expiry reminders, batch tools, text export, watermarked exports, and password-protected PDFs. Every plan and its true cost is shown on one screen, with the price printed on the button. Weekly or Yearly (each with a 7-day free trial you have to actually choose), or a one-time Lifetime purchase in Settings. Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends, and are managed in your Apple Account settings. Lifetime is a one-time purchase and never renews. Privacy Policy: https://ajain26.github.io/app-policies/sift/privacy-policy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Start Now4 screens
Sift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Start Now at 15.0 against Sift's 17.0. 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. Start Now sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $19.99 per year and Sift sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Start Now versus Sift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStart NowSift
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better—
Update frequency—Every 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCHIAMAKA N EKWEGHAnshul Jain

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Start Now

Subscriptions1
  • Start Now Pro Annual$19.991 Year
3 purchases

Sift

Subscriptions2
  • Sift Pro (Weekly)7 Days trial$6.997 Days
  • Sift Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Sift Pro (Lifetime)$79.99

Questions

Is Start Now free?
Start Now is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sift free?
Sift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Start Now or Sift have ads?
Neither Start Now nor Sift shows ads.

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