Comparison

Focus vs DailyPlanner

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

Head to head
About

Focus

This app helps users improve concentration and productivity by breaking work into structured intervals with scheduled breaks. It offers task management, detailed statistics, and syncs across all Apple devices, including Apple Watch and widgets.

Highlights
  • Customizable Pomodoro timer
  • Unlimited to-do lists
  • In-depth productivity statistics
  • iCloud sync across Apple devices
  • Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets
  • Apple Watch app
Features
Read full description

Do your best work. Focus helps you concentrate with timed focus sessions built on the Pomodoro technique, track your tasks and projects, and see real progress — across all your Apple devices. A calm, proven rhythm: plan, work, break, review. “[…] a tool that can genuinely make people more productive” – MacStories.net “[…] a must-have for anyone who finds themselves easily getting distracted or forgetting to take occasional breaks.” – iDownloadBlog.com I always use Focus when… … I need to start a deep-work session … I want to stop procrastinating and finally begin … I want to break a big project into focused sprints … I’m studying and need to concentrate … I want to protect my time from distractions … I want to build a daily focus habit … I want to see what I actually got done today … I want structure without a heavy, complicated system Benefits * Start focusing in seconds: pick a task, start a session, get to work * The proven Pomodoro rhythm — plan → work → break → review — that gives your attention somewhere to go * Sessions and tasks together: a focus timer plus real task, project, and time tracking (most apps split these into two) * See your progress: daily and weekly activity and goals make focus feel earned, never nagged * Restful breaks that are part of the rhythm, not slacking * Calm and encouraging — momentum, never hustle, grind, or guilt Features * Timed focus sessions with flexible session and break lengths * Tasks, projects, and time tracking * Daily and weekly activity and goals * In-app Learning: short, friendly guides you can apply as you read * Widgets, Live Activities, and Dynamic Island * Siri, Shortcuts, and Spotlight via App Intents * Seamless iCloud sync * Built-in accessibility * Privacy first: your data stays on your devices and in your own iCloud * Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro * Handcrafted by real humans :-) Focus is free to start. Focus Pro unlocks everything with a 7-day free trial. Thanks for doing your best work with us! We’re always improving Focus. If you have feedback or an idea, we’d love to hear it. About us Focus is made by Jan & Kerstin, two independent app developers based in Germany. We built Focus for our own workdays — to concentrate, make real progress, and still keep things calm. Our goal: a productivity app that’s a joy to use every day. We built this tool for ourselves — and now we’d love to share it with you! Questions? We offer friendly support. Just drop us a note at support@meaningful-things.com and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can. Privacy & Terms https://meaningful-things.com/privacy https://meaningful-things.com/terms

About

DailyPlanner

Organize your day with a paper-inspired digital planner. Features an hourly timeline, task management, notes, and weekly goals. Includes focus timers, customizable themes, and iCloud sync for seamless planning across devices.

Highlights
  • Hourly daily planner timeline
  • Weekly goals and task management
  • Private journaling
  • Focus timer with intervals
  • Task templates and attachments
  • Home screen widget and Apple Watch support
  • JSON backup and PDF export
Features
Read full description

DailyPlanner — خطّط ليومك واكتب أفكارك وركّز على ما يهمك. مخطط يجمع تنظيم المهام وجلسات التركيز والتدوين والكتابة على مخططات PDF في مكان واحد، بالعربية والإنجليزية. التخطيط والمهام • صفحات لليوم والأسبوع والشهر والسنة • جدول زمني لترتيب يومك وبطاقات مهام واضحة • قوالب مهام ومدة وتكرار بحسب أيام الأسبوع • ملاحظات ومرفقات صور وفيديو وصوت وتسجيلات صوتية • تذكيرات وبحث وإحصائيات التركيز • مؤقت وجلسات تركيز مرتبطة بالمهام • عرض ملاحظات المهمة ومرفقاتها وتشغيلها داخل جلسة التركيز • أصوات للجلسات مع التحكم في إيقافها واستئنافها دفاتري • استيراد مخططات PDF والصور وملفات ZIP • التنقل عبر روابط المخطط وصور الصفحات المصغرة • ستة أنواع أقلام مع ضبط السُمك والشفافية والألوان • قلم تمييز مع خيار الخط المستقيم • ممحاة للخط كاملًا أو للمسح الدقيق • إضافة النصوص وتنسيقها والملصقات وتحريكها وتكبيرها وتدويرها • دعم Apple Pencil على الآيباد والرسم بالماوس على الماك • تحريك وتكبير بإصبعين وتراجع وحفظ تلقائي للتعديلات التدوين والتخصيص • يوميات وملاحظات خاصة بك • محرر ملصقات للصفحات والمهام والملاحظات • استيراد الملصقات وفصل العنصر عن خلفية الصورة تلقائيًا • ثيمات وألوان وأيقونات بديلة • تصميم Liquid Glass على iOS 27، مع واجهة بديلة للأنظمة الأقدم • دعم حجم الخط حسب إعدادات الجهاز معك على أجهزتك يعمل على الآيفون والآيباد والماك وApple Vision Pro، مع تطبيق للساعة وويدجت وأوامر Siri. مزامنة iCloud اختيارية، وتشمل سلة المحذوفات. تتوفر أيضًا أدوات النسخ الاحتياطي والاستعادة وتصدير PDF. الشراء والخصوصية شراء التطبيق مرة واحدة دون اشتراك أو تجديد تلقائي. يمكنك استخدامه محليًا على جهازك، مع مزامنة اختيارية عبر حساب iCloud الخاص بك. لا نبيع بياناتك. DailyPlanner brings planning, focus, journaling and PDF notebooks together in Arabic and English. PLAN YOUR DAY Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly pages, an hourly timeline, task templates, custom weekday recurrence, durations, reminders, search and statistics. Keep photos, videos, audio and voice recordings with your tasks. FOCUS WITH CONTEXT Start task-linked focus sessions and keep task notes and attachments beside your timer. Play attachments within the focus screen and control your selected session sound. MY NOTEBOOKS Import PDF planners, images and ZIP files. Follow planner links and browse page thumbnails. Write with six pen styles, adjustable thickness, opacity and colors. Highlight, erase whole strokes or fine areas, add formatted text and decorate with movable, resizable and rotatable stickers. Apple Pencil support on iPad and mouse drawing on Mac, with undo and automatic saving. MAKE IT YOURS Keep journals and notes. Personalize pages and tasks with stickers, automatic background separation for imported stickers, themes, colors and alternate icons. Liquid Glass design on iOS 27, with an alternative interface on earlier supported systems. Dynamic Type follows your device text-size settings. ACROSS YOUR DEVICES Use DailyPlanner on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro, with an Apple Watch companion, widgets and Siri actions. Optional iCloud sync includes the trash. Backup, restore and PDF export tools are also available. One-time app purchase. No subscription or auto-renewal. Use locally or enable optional sync through your own iCloud account. We do not sell your data.

Screenshots

Focus4 screens
DailyPlanner4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Focus at Free against DailyPlanner's $5.99. DailyPlanner's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 57%) and in-app purchases (none vs 9). On update cadence, 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

Focus is free to download; DailyPlanner costs $5.99 up front. Focus sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. DailyPlanner asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Focus ships an update every 10 days, DailyPlanner every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Focus versus DailyPlanner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFocusDailyPlanner
PriceFree — better$5.99
Rating4.4 (1.8K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews57.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.8K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscriptionPaid — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS18.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size311 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMeaningful Things GmbH & Co. KGAsmaa Almutairi

Customer experience

Focus

All ratings1,841 ratings
Positive86.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative10.8%
Written reviews307 reviews
Positive57.0%
Neutral12.7%
Negative30.3%

DailyPlanner

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Focus

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Infinite intro screen
  • Prompts to set up app on every open
  • Timer resets unexpectedly
  • Sync issues between iPhone, iPad, and Watch
  • Notifications not working as expected

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to duplicate tasks
  • Calendar integration
  • Background sounds
  • Customizable timer lengths
  • Automatic focus mode switching
Show 1 more
  • More detailed analytics and reporting

DailyPlanner

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Focus

Subscriptions9
  • Focus - Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Focus - 3 Months$14.993 Months
  • Focus Yearly$19.991 Year
Show 6 more
  • Focus Yearly$27.991 Year
  • Focus Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Focus Early Bird7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Focus Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Focus Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Patron Subscription7 Days trial$59.991 Year
None

DailyPlanner

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Focus free?
Focus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DailyPlanner free?
DailyPlanner costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Focus or DailyPlanner have ads?
Neither Focus nor DailyPlanner shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Focus or DailyPlanner?
Focus ships an update every 10 days, and DailyPlanner every 3 weeks. Most recently, Focus was updated on November 6, 2026 and DailyPlanner on October 31, 2026.

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