Comparison

Pomodoro by Elsa vs Cairn

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

Head to head
About

Pomodoro by Elsa

This app helps you focus on tasks and take restorative breaks with a customizable timer. It offers features to block distractions, build better routines, and track your progress. Syncs across devices and integrates with Apple Health.

Highlights
  • Customizable focus and break durations
  • Distraction blocking
  • Progress tracking and daily goals
  • Ambient soundscapes
  • Cross-device sync
  • Apple Health integration
Features
Read full description

Make time for what matters. Pomodoro is a thoughtful focus timer built for steady work and restorative breaks. Choose a rhythm that fits your day, reduce distractions, and see the progress you are making—without creating an account. FOCUS YOUR WAY • Set custom focus, short-break, and long-break durations • Choose how many sessions come before a long break • Start, pause, reset, or auto-start the next session • Organize sessions with your own task tags • Keep time visible with Nightstand mode and Live Activities BUILD A BETTER ROUTINE • Review sessions, focus minutes, streaks, and active days • Set a daily goal and follow your progress • Get personalized Focus Coach insights from your session history • Add optional daily and session-completion reminders • Save completed sessions as Mindful Minutes in Apple Health MAKE SPACE TO CONCENTRATE • Block selected distracting apps during focus sessions • Choose ambient music and soundscapes for your workspace • Personalize color themes, fonts, and timer size FOCUS ACROSS YOUR DEVICES • Start and track sessions from Home Screen widgets • Use Siri and App Shortcuts for quick timer controls • Connect your focus mode with Focus Filters • Continue from the Apple Watch companion app • Keep preferences and history in sync through iCloud The core timer is free to use. Pomodoro Premium is an optional one-time purchase that unlocks the Focus Coach, advanced app blocking and reminders, and every theme, font, and focus sound. No subscription. Health, notification, and Screen Time access are optional and requested only when you use the related feature. Pomodoro is a productivity aid and does not provide medical advice or guarantee particular outcomes.

About

Cairn

Features
Read full description

Focus that leaves something behind.Cairn is a calm Pomodoro and deep-work timer. Finish a focus session and it forges a small, one-of-a-kind keepsake — a piece of generative art that's yours to keep, forever.No streaks to guilt you. No trees that die. No ads, no subscription, no tracking. Buy it once.Plant a focus. Grow a garden of your work.Every completed session blooms into a unique keepsake and joins your terrarium — a quiet, growing record of the time you gave your attention. Each one is deterministic and permanent: the same focus always grows the same object, and it never withers.Why Cairn feels different• A keepsake, not a chore. Reward without the gamified guilt — nothing dies if you stop.• Buy once, keep forever. One purchase unlocks everything. No subscription, ever.• Private by design. 100% on-device. No account, no ads, no tracking, works offline.• Calm, not hustle. Built for deep work, study, and reading — not dopamine loops.Everything you'd want in a focus timer• Pomodoro and custom-length sessions for study, work, and reading• A living garden/terrarium of everything you've grown• A diary calendar and honest stats — hours, rhythm, materials• Home & Lock Screen widgets, Live Activity & Dynamic Island, Control Center• Apple Watch app with complications — start a focus from your wrist• Full iPhone + iPad, light & dark, and accessibility supportCairn Pro — one purchase, foreverUnlock every material, palette, and the full garden with a single buy-once purchase. No subscriptions, no upsells.Focus is fleeting. What you make of it doesn't have to be.

Screenshots

Pomodoro by Elsa4 screens
Cairn4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pomodoro by Elsa at none against Cairn's 1. Pomodoro by Elsa also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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. Cairn sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pomodoro by Elsa asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Pomodoro by Elsa versus Cairn: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPomodoro by ElsaCairn
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size157 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperElsa LozanoPham Van Hai

In-app purchases

None

Pomodoro by Elsa

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Cairn

One-time1
  • Cairn Pro · Lifetime Unlock$1.99

Questions

Is Pomodoro by Elsa free?
Pomodoro by Elsa is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cairn free?
Cairn is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pomodoro by Elsa or Cairn have ads?
Neither Pomodoro by Elsa nor Cairn shows ads.

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