Desk Clock vs Strange Clocks
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Desk Clock
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Turn your iPhone into a beautiful desk clock. Prop it on a nightstand, a dock, or your desk, pick a face, and let it run. The screen stays awake for as long as the clock is up. TEN FACES, EACH ONE CRAFTED - Digital, in three materials: solid, frosted, and glass - Flip, the classic split-flap board - Analog, a Bauhaus-inspired dial with a golden second hand - E-ink, quiet as paper - Pixel, LED, and Time Tuner, for a warm retro glow - Card, Caption, and Photo, ambient faces with personality Swipe to change faces. Long-press to browse them all in a gallery. EASY ON YOUR EYES AT NIGHT Most faces sit on a true black canvas, so the screen stays quiet in a dark room and OLED displays sip power. The Photo face goes further: its scenery changes from day to night with the real sun in your time zone. MADE FOR THE DESK AND THE BEDSIDE - Works in portrait and landscape - No ads, no account, nothing to set up FREE TO USE, ONE PURCHASE TO OWN IT ALL Digital, Flip, and E-ink are free, and you can preview every face live. A single lifetime purchase unlocks all ten. No subscription. PRIVACY Desk Clock collects no data. No analytics, no tracking, nothing leaves your iPhone.
Strange Clocks
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Strange Clocks turns "what time is it?" into a small daily puzzle. Instead of one clock face, you get 15, each a different, real way humans (and machines) have told time throughout history: from a Cold War-era German clock made of lamps to the way a resistor's color bands encode a number. Every clock is stranger than the last, but none of them stay strange for long. Each one ships with a short animated guide that highlights exactly what to read and when, plus a live calculation line so you can watch the math happen in real time. WHAT'S INSIDE - 15 unusual clocks: Berlin Clock, Word Clock, Binary Clock, Cistercian Clock, Fibonacci Clock, Tix Clock, Hex Clock, Maya Clock, Moon Clock, Polar Clock, Resistor Clock, Decimal Time, Internet Time, Roman Hours, and the Prague Orloj. - An animated how-to-read guide for every single clock, no exceptions. - Widgets for Home Screen, Lock Screen, and StandBy, in small and medium sizes. - Clock Wall mode: turn your iPhone, or the inner display of iPhone Duo, into a live wall of clocks, screensaver-style. - 10 languages: English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Korean, and Italian. ONE CLOCK ON US Pick any clock as your gift and keep it free, forever: live in the app, on your widgets, and in StandBy. Every how-to-read guide is free for all 15. Want them all? A single one-time purchase of $1.99 unlocks every clock. No subscription, no recurring charges, no ads, and no tracking, ever. PRIVACY Strange Clocks doesn't collect your data. The one place it asks for location, to compute local sunrise and sunset for the Roman Hours clock, is used entirely on your device and never leaves it. Fifteen clocks. One phone. Zero reasons to know what time it "normally" is.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Strange Clocks at every 3 days against Desk Clock's every 2 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
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. Desk Clock sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Strange Clocks sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Desk Clock ships an update every 2 months, Strange Clocks every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | Desk Clock | Strange Clocks |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 days โ better |
| 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 | 14 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Anh Phong | KIP Networks |
In-app purchases
Desk Clock
- All Access$9.99
Strange Clocks
- Unlock all 15 clocks$1.99
Questions
Is Desk Clock free?
Is Strange Clocks free?
Do Desk Clock or Strange Clocks have ads?
Which is updated more often, Desk Clock or Strange Clocks?
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