Comparison

Be Focused Pro vs Productivity Challenge Timer

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

Head to head
About

Be Focused Pro

This app helps you stay focused and productive by breaking down tasks into timed intervals with short breaks. It offers task management, customizable timers, progress tracking, and cross-device synchronization. Achieve your goals with structured work sessions.

Highlights
  • Task creation and management
  • Customizable work and break intervals
  • Progress tracking and reports
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets
  • Apple Watch support
Features
Read full description

Staying on task seems is a real challenge for our screen-bound generation. The Be Focused lets you get things done by breaking up individual tasks among discrete intervals, separated by short breaks. It’s a surprisingly effective way to retain motivation and focus. Create tasks, configure breaks and track your progress throughout the day, week or custom period. Use Be Focused on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac — everything stays perfectly in sync. Task Management • Create and manage tasks • Add notes and due dates to tasks • Organize tasks with tags and filters • Paste task lists from other apps Timer Control • Start, pause, or skip intervals • Auto-start the next interval (optionally) • Plan intervals needed for task completion and track accuracy • Manage completed intervals Timer Customization • Set durations for work sessions, short and long breaks • Define number of intervals before a long break • Set a daily goal for completed intervals • Assign different timer settings to individual tasks Reports • View detailed reports to monitor your progress • Export your data in CSV format Sounds and Notifications • Chronometer ticking sound with adjustable frequency • Variety of alarm sounds • Interactive notifications • Adjustable volume for alarms and chronometer Integration • Sync across all your devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac) * • Integration with Focus Matrix to manage tasks using urgent/important principle ** • Integration with Shortcuts app to automate workflow Quick Access • Widgets for Lock Screen and Home Screen • Live activities for Lock Screen and Dynamic Island • Control to start or stop the timer from the Lock Screen, Controls Center, or Action Button Automation • Integration with Shortcuts app (control tasks and timers via Shortcuts app) • Automate Shortcuts execution on events in Be Focused app Device Support • Apple Watch support • Also available for Mac • Dark and Light mode support * Sync with Mac requires Be Focused Pro for macOS, sold separately. ** Integration with Focus Matrix requires the Pro version of Focus Matrix, sold separately.

About

Productivity Challenge Timer

This app gamifies productivity by challenging users to work harder and track their habits. Earn ranks, unlock achievements, and monitor your work patterns over time to identify peak productivity periods. It focuses on intense work sessions and detailed time tracking for projects.

Highlights
  • Gamified productivity challenges
  • Rank and achievement system
  • Detailed work habit tracking
  • Project-specific time logging
  • Focus on uninterrupted work sessions
  • Productivity analytics by day/hour
Read full description

Productivity Challenge Timer aims to help you be more productive, more focused, waste less time and so on, you already know all that stuff. What this app is really about is challenging you to work harder and tracking your work habits. You'll earn/lose ranks depending on your performance, earn achievements and track your productivity over time, so you'll know how long you worked on what and during which days of the week and hours of the day you're at your most productive. Now here's a few things you should know before downloading: - This is not an organizer. If you can't keep track of what you're supposed to be doing, this is not the app for you. The app includes tracking of projects so you know how much time you spent working on each of your clients/books/websites/whatever - like a time sheet, but it's not meant to be an organizer or a to-do list. - This app will not let you pause work sessions or finish them early, so if you have a tiny baby-sized bladder and you need to pause every few minutes, this is not the app for you. The shortest work session you can set is 10 minutes and you're not supposed to be interrupted. Besides, I use this app too, and I'd be the first to abuse that pause feature to go look up useless nonsense instead of getting work done. - The purpose of this app is not to promote a healthy work-life balance, but to get you to work harder. Because of this, it does not recognize weekends or holidays or parenting or any other excuse people come up with to take time off, and it will demote you if you start slipping. Please don't expect the app to validate your personal goals, its sole purpose is to make you work harder, even when you shouldn't. That's it, thanks for reading and I hope you find this app as useful as I do.

Screenshots

Be Focused Pro4 screens
Productivity Challenge Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Productivity Challenge Timer at Free against Be Focused Pro's $19.99. Productivity Challenge Timer also leads on review sentiment (95% vs 81%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). Be Focused Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (3K vs 210). On update cadence, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Productivity Challenge Timer is free to download; Be Focused Pro costs $19.99 up front. Productivity Challenge Timer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Be Focused Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Productivity Challenge Timer holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Be Focused Pro has 3K ratings behind it against 210, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Be Focused Pro's written reviews are positive against 95% of Productivity Challenge Timer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Be Focused Pro ships an update every 5 months, Productivity Challenge Timer every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Be Focused Pro versus Productivity Challenge Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBe Focused ProProductivity Challenge Timer
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (3K ratings)4.8 (210 ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.6% of reviews95.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3K — better210
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB25 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperDenys IevenkoVladimir Jovanovic

Customer experience

Be Focused Pro

All ratings2,972 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral2.9%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews494 reviews
Positive80.6%
Neutral8.1%
Negative11.3%

Productivity Challenge Timer

All ratings210 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.4%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews267 reviews
Positive95.1%
Neutral1.9%
Negative3.0%

User reviews

Be Focused Pro

From 3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Helps stay focused
  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🚀 Keeps me on track
  • 👍 Great for productivity
  • 🚀 Customizable timers

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Sync issues between devices
  • 🐛 Notifications not working as expected
  • 🐛 Timers not always accurate
  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable
  • 🐛 Resets progress randomly

Productivity Challenge Timer

From 210 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Efficient and reliable
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly
  • 💡 Gamified approach motivates users
  • 📊 Comprehensive statistics and tracking
  • 🤖 Snarky and humorous personality

Room to improve

  • 🔊 Disruptive ads in free version
  • 🔔 Overly aggressive notifications
  • 🔒 Lack of cloud sync/backup
  • 🕰️ Inability to pause or extend sessions

Bugs and requests

Be Focused Pro

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Sync issues causing data loss
  • Timers not working correctly
  • Notifications not triggering on silent mode
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to set custom timers per task
  • Option to skip or pause breaks
  • Integration with Apple Watch complications
  • Better reporting and analytics
Show 1 more
  • Ability to import tasks from other apps

Productivity Challenge Timer

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional sound issues
  • Slow loading of historical data
  • Inconsistencies between iOS and Android versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Apple Watch support
  • Customizable timer durations
  • Ability to add notes to sessions
  • Weekend/holiday mode to avoid demotions
  • More advanced goal-tracking and analytics

In-app purchases

None

Be Focused Pro

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Productivity Challenge Timer

One-time1
  • Pro mode$8.99

Questions

Is Be Focused Pro free?
Be Focused Pro costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Productivity Challenge Timer free?
Productivity Challenge Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Be Focused Pro or Productivity Challenge Timer?
Productivity Challenge Timer is rated higher. Be Focused Pro averages 4.6 out of 5 from 3K ratings, while Productivity Challenge Timer averages 4.8 from 210 ratings.
Do Be Focused Pro or Productivity Challenge Timer have ads?
Neither Be Focused Pro nor Productivity Challenge Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Be Focused Pro or Productivity Challenge Timer?
Be Focused Pro ships an update every 5 months, and Productivity Challenge Timer every 3 months. Most recently, Be Focused Pro was updated on September 28, 2026 and Productivity Challenge Timer on September 18, 2026.

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