Task Focus vs Easel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Task Focus
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One thing is enough. Task Focus does one thing. It pauses the apps that pull you away, for as long as one task takes. You write down the one thing you are doing, you pick what to pause, and everything else waits. There is no countdown. Not on the screen, not in a notification, not anywhere. A focus ends when you say it is finished โ not when a timer decides you failed. WHAT IT DOES โข Pauses the apps you choose, using Screen Time. Feeds, timelines, the endless pull-to-refresh โ closed until you are done. โข Puts the one thing on your Lock Screen and in a widget, so it is always one glance away and never out of sight. โข Gives everything back the moment you tap "I'm done". One toggle in Settings takes it back too, any time. โข Keeps what you finished, so a week adds up to something. NOTHING HERE IS A TARGET No streaks to break. No score to keep up. No badge for a good week and no guilt for a quiet one. The history is a record, not a report card. FREE, AND PRO Pausing apps is free and always will be. Task Focus Pro is everything the app remembers afterwards: โข Every session you finish, kept for good โ free keeps this week โข What your focus actually adds up to โข A profile for each kind of focus, so the right apps pause for the right work Pro opens on its own for seven days, the first time you finish a focus. Nothing to sign up for and nothing to cancel. When the seven days are up, history goes back to the last week, insights to this week, and profiles to one โ nothing is deleted, and pausing apps carries on free as always. One payment. No renewal. Nothing to cancel. YOURS TO TAKE WITH YOU Your history follows you between your own devices through your iCloud account, and exports as a file you keep โ whatever you use next. Nothing is collected. What you focus on, and what you choose to pause, stay on your device and in your own private iCloud database. We cannot read either one.
Easel
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Easel turns focus into something you look forward to. Choose how long you want to concentrate. As your timer runs, a genuine masterpiece slowly emerges from the fog, painted from the center outward. When you finish, the painting is fully revealed and yours to keep in your personal gallery. No feeds. No noise. Just you, your work, and a quiet moment with a great painting. WHY EASEL A calmer way to focus. The reward is not a buzzing notification. It is a beautiful work of art, appearing only if you see your session through. Real masterpieces. Every painting is a genuine public domain work from the great museums, by artists like Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Turner, and Vermeer. Single sessions or full Pomodoro cycles. Focus once, or run classic Pomodoro blocks with breaks and earn a painting for each one. Your personal gallery. Every completed session adds its painting to a collection that grows with your focus. Focus with intention. Choose a collection to focus with, from serene landscapes to old master portraits. Quiet company. Optional ambient piano, drawn from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, plays gently while you work. Beautiful on every device. Widgets bring a painting of the day to your home and lock screen. Easel is free, made by one person, with a small tip jar for anyone who wants to support it. No subscriptions, no ads, no pressure. Focus. Reveal. Keep.
Screenshots
Verdict
Task Focus and Easel are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters โ price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them โ neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Task Focus sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Easel sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Task Focus | Easel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | โ |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad โ better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 74 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Sascha Thiele | Adam Markocki |
In-app purchases
Task Focus
- Task Focus Pro$9.99
Easel
- Buy me a coffee$2.99
- Nice Coffee$4.99
- Coffee Pot$9.99





