Emphasis vs Session
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Emphasis
This app helps you achieve deep focus using the Pomodoro Technique. It blocks distracting apps, provides ambient sounds, and tracks your focused time to help you understand your work patterns and reach your goals.
- Customizable focus timers
- Distracting app blocking
- Ambient soundscapes
- Focus time statistics
- Focus hours scheduling
- Home screen widgets
- Cross-device synchronization
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Emphasis is an ADHD-friendly Focus Timer. It is built around the principles of the Pomodoro Technique, which in a nutshell are bursts of intentional focused work followed by short breaks. Every couple of hours you take a longer break to recharge and get ready for the next cycle. Following this approach lets you get into the flow state without much effort. Plan your day ahead with time blocks for focused work and start the timer. Emphasis will take care of blocking out distracting apps like social media or video streaming services. It will also provide you with a steady layer of ambient sound that helps your brain feel anchored instead of hunting for the next distraction, because for an ADHD mind, silence can feel restless. Emphasis tracks the time you spent focused and gives you a nice overview of how you spend your days. Use it long enough and you will see patterns that will help you move towards your goals. Emphasis is fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem with Widgets and a watchOS app. You can also use it on your MacBook, all synced together seamlessly. Here is the full list of features: * Customizable focus timers. You define the duration of your focus time, short and long breaks, as well as the length of the focus cycle. You can also set up reminders for each timer. * Block Distracting Apps. You can select the apps that get you out of your flow and Emphasis will block those apps during your focus sessions. * Sonic Spaces. Emphasis comes with a set of ambient sounds & binaural beats. You can fully customize and create ambients that are aimed to aid your focus or relax you during your yoga session. * Statistics. Emphasis tracks your focused time and displays it in the form of interactive stats. Each focus timer has a color assigned to it so you can see how you spend your days at a quick glance at an Emphasis calendar. * Focus hours schedule. Emphasis lets you block out time-wasting apps during your focus hours. I can't tell you how many times this feature brought me back to what matters when my hand reached out for a phone to scroll some social media, only to get reminded by Emphasis that I'm on focus hours. * Widgets. Emphasis comes with a set of widgets that let you start your timers or have your focus time statistics right on your home screen. * Works on your Apple Watch, MacBook & iPad all seamlessly synchronized. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Session
Track your progress towards mastering skills by logging dedicated practice time. Manually log sessions or use the automatic timer to record your efforts. Start making measurable progress on your goals today.
- Create custom activities
- Manual session logging
- Automatic timer
- Track progress towards goals
- Skill mastery tracking
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ty for 5+ years of Session! but it's time to start a new arc. search timespent on the app store to see what's next. —cal --- "The secret to getting ahead is getting started." ―Mark Twain They say it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill, but who's counting? Now, you can with Session. Create an activity, and log sessions manually or with the automatic timer. Whether it's for 10 hours, 100, 10,000 or more – start making progress towards your goals today.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Session at none against Emphasis's 6. Session also leads on iOS requirement (13.2 vs 17.0). Emphasis's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Emphasis sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per month. Session asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Emphasis against 4.7 for Session. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.1K and 935 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Emphasis's written reviews are positive against 77% of Session's.
Emphasis ships an update fortnightly, Session every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 11, 2026.
| Parameter | Emphasis | Session |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.1K ratings) | 4.7 (935 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.9% of reviews — better | 76.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K — better | 935 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.2 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 91 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aleksandr Fiodorov | Glasshouse Studio, LLC |
Customer experience
Emphasis
Session
User reviews
Emphasis
From 1.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Minimalistic and simple design
- 👍 Customizable timer settings
- 💡 Helpful for productivity and focus
- 🚀 Sleek and intuitive interface
- 👍 Visually appealing countdown timer
Room to improve
- 🔒 Subscription model required for full features
- 🐛 Sync and login issues
- 🐛 Bugs and crashes after updates
- 🔋 Battery drain issues
- 🐛 Unreliable notifications and alerts
Session
From 935 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Aesthetically pleasing
- ⏱️ Helpful for time management
- 💻 Simple and easy to use
- 🧠 Motivating for productivity
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes when trying to edit activities
- 🔍 Lack of customization options (e.g. color, icon, order)
- 🗑️ No ability to delete activities
- ⏱️ Timer issues (stops unexpectedly, doesn't continue in background)
Bugs and requests
Emphasis
Reported bugs
4 issues- Timer not working correctly after breaks
- Task lists not saving properly
- App crashing on launch for some users
- Sync issues causing data loss
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to track individual tasks and time spent
- Landscape mode support
- Apple Watch app integration
- More color theme options
- Improved statistics and progress tracking
Session
Reported bugs
3 issues- Timer inconsistencies when exiting the app
- Inability to add time manually (only minutes, not hours)
- App crashes when trying to add a session manually
Requested features
6 requests- Add delete and rename session functions
- Implement activity editing (color, icon, name, description)
- Provide activity reordering capability
- Include activity time tracking by day/week/month/year
- Add Pomodoro timer functionality
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- Integrate music playback or nature sounds
In-app purchases
Emphasis
- Emphasis Premium Subscription$3.491 Month
- Emphasis Premium Subscription$4.991 Month
- Premium Feature (Yearly Promo)$12.991 Year
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- Emphasis Premium Subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Lifetime premium$29.99
- Lifetime premium$59.99
Session
No in-app purchases









