Sourdough Bread Timer vs Crusty
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sourdough Bread Timer
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Sourdough doesn't wait for you. Levain runs your whole bake from one timeline — every stage, every fold, every proof — and its alarms ring through silent mode so you never sleep through a shape again. Most timers count down once. A real loaf needs eight stages across eighteen hours, half of them overnight. Levain was built for that. ONE TIMER, EVERY STAGE Chain autolyse, mix, bulk ferment, folds, shape, cold retard and bake into a single schedule. Every step shows the clock time it will actually happen, before you start — so you know tonight whether you are pulling bread out at 7am or at noon. Long bakes get Next Day markers where the timeline crosses midnight. ALARMS THAT ACTUALLY WAKE YOU Stage alerts ring through silent mode and Focus, the way a Clock alarm does. Loud alarms are per stage: quiet for the overnight retard, loud for the oven. LIVE ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN The countdown lives in the Dynamic Island and on your Lock Screen. Glance at the stage name, the step number and the time left without opening the app. DOUGH THAT RUNS LATE When a stage ends the clock keeps counting up instead of resetting. Dough is ready when it is ready — Levain waits, and tells you how far over you are. BUILD YOUR OWN BREAD Drag stages into a timeline, scrub durations on a rotary dial, and drop ingredients, temperatures and humidity targets onto any step. Baker's percentage is calculated as you go, with levain counted as half flour and half water. A JOURNAL OF EVERY LOAF Log a bake and it becomes a photo on your calendar. The background is lifted off your loaf on device, so the bread sits as a sticker on the day you baked it. Notes, a gallery, the ingredients and the timeline it really ran on are kept as a snapshot — editing the recipe later never rewrites history. Starts with Classic Sourdough and Sourdough Focaccia. No account, and nothing leaves your phone. FREE AND PRO Free includes 3 recipes with the full multi-stage timer, loud alarms and Live Activity. Levain Pro unlocks unlimited recipes and the full photo bake journal, with a 7-day free trial. Available monthly, yearly, or as a one-time purchase. Monthly and yearly plans renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in Settings. Terms of Use: https://liuys614.github.io/levain/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://liuys614.github.io/levain/privacy.html
Crusty
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Good bread takes a day or two. Crusty makes it fit around yours. Tell Crusty when you want to eat, and it works backward through the levain, the folds, the shaping, and a night in the fridge. Every hands-on moment lands when you’re awake and free. If your time can’t work, it says so, offers the soonest one that can, and suggests what would make it sooner. Or just tap Start now. PLANS THAT FIT YOUR WEEK • Pick a time, or start right now • Milder or tangier: more time in the fridge, same ready time • Folds and shaping never land while you’re asleep • Log a step early or late and the rest of the bake replans TWO BAKES, ONE OVEN • Run up to three bakes at once • Crusty keeps them from needing the oven at the same time YOUR CALENDAR COUNTS • Crusty works around meetings in the calendars you choose • Optionally add your bake to a Crusty calendar WHILE YOU BAKE • A reminder for every step and fold, with log and snooze buttons • Lock Screen countdown and Home Screen widgets • Cook mode: big type, screen stays on • Siri: “Log the next step in Crusty” ON YOUR WRIST AND YOUR IPAD • Apple Watch: the next step, a live countdown, and one tap for Folded or Done • Watch complications for every face; log a starter feed from your wrist • On iPad, the whole bake sits beside what’s next STARTERS THAT LEARN • Keep one starter or several, each with its own schedule • Predicted peaks that get closer every time you mark one • Know when to feed so it’s ripe as the levain goes in • “Is it ready?” check and a starter guide YOUR RECIPES • Country sourdough, whole wheat, pizza, focaccia, challah, brioche, and bagels • Write your own in grams or cups, import from a link or pasted text, and share with friends • Baker’s percentages: scale and tweak, and the timing follows A BAKE LOG THAT TEACHES • Real step times, dough temperatures, photos, and how it turned out • Plain-language patterns across bakes, and side-by-side comparisons • Search, tags, spreadsheet export, and full backups PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No ads. No tracking. Your data stays on your devices, synced through your own iCloud if you like.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Crusty at none against Sourdough Bread Timer's 3. Crusty also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 8 days) and iOS requirement (18.0 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
Both are free to download. Sourdough Bread Timer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Crusty asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sourdough Bread Timer ships an update every 8 days, Crusty daily. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.
| Parameter | Sourdough Bread Timer | Crusty |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | YI SHIH LIU | Jon Fleschler |
In-app purchases
Sourdough Bread Timer
- Pro Monthly: Unlimited Journal$3.991 Month
- Pro Yearly: Unlimited Recipes7 Days trial$15.991 Year
- Pro Lifetime: Unlimited Bakes$29.99
Crusty
No in-app purchases









