Comparison

Productive vs Yarn

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

Head to head
About

Productive

Build positive habits and achieve your goals with this comprehensive planner. Track progress, engage in challenges, and gain insights to enhance your productivity and well-being.

Highlights
  • Habit creation and management
  • Personalized goal programs
  • Guided challenges
  • Expert insights and articles
  • Customizable habit appearance
  • Progress statistics and streaks
  • Smart reminders and notifications
  • ADHD assistance features
Features
Read full description

Meet Productive - the app that helps you build positive life-changing habits. With Productive, you can set personal goals, track your progress, and focus on what makes you healthier, happier and more productive! FEATURES HABIT MANAGEMENT Create, complete, stop, or pause habits whenever it is convenient for you. Add notes to your habits to highlight the main points during the day. PROGRAMS Сhoose your goal, receive daily habit tips, reflection check-ins, and motivation prompts to get the boost you need. CHALLENGES Improve your daily routine by completing guided tasks and competing with other users from all over the world. ARTICLES Grow awareness of your own productivity and motivation with personalized expert insights. CUSTOMIZATION Customize the app the way you want! You can name your habit, choose a unique icon, and even pick its color. STATISTICS Track your habits and analyze progress by building motivating chains of completed habits and perfect days. The longer your chain of completed habits, the more likely you will keep the streak going. NOTIFICATIONS Set up smart reminders, and personalize the app to get notifications of what's scheduled for each part of the day. ADHD ASSISTANCE Manage distractions and deal with ADHD by concentrating on a focused daily routine. PREMIUM FEATURES - Unlimited number of habits - Endless motivation with various challenges - Full-text articles to draw inspiration - Improved reminders for individual habits - Location-based reminders - Motivating stats for each habit - Habit trends with week-by-week data SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Subscription payments will be charged to your App Store account at confirmation of your purchase. Subscriptions will automatically renew and you will be charged unless auto-renew is turned off or unless you cancel at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription or trial period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a premium subscription during the free trial period. The cost of renewal depends on the Subscription Plan you choose. Subscriptions and auto-renewal may be managed by going to Account Settings after purchase or by contacting Customer Support. If you have any questions or suggestions on how we can improve the application, please do not hesitate to contact us at productive@bendingspoons.com Privacy Policy: http://www.apalon.com/privacy_policy.html EULA: http://www.apalon.com/terms_of_use.html AdChoices: http://www.apalon.com/privacy_policy.html#4 California Privacy Notice: https://apalon.com/privacy_policy.html#h

About

Yarn

This app helps you understand and reduce phone addiction by prompting you to journal before accessing distracting apps. It uses AI to provide thoughtful prompts, allows voice or text entries, and offers features to set bedtime boundaries and enter focus sessions.

Highlights
  • Journal to unlock distracting apps
  • AI-powered journaling prompts
  • Set bedtime app boundaries
  • Focus sessions to block apps
  • Voice or text journaling
  • Understand emotional triggers for phone use
Features
Read full description

Meet Yarn, a screen time intervention app that makes you journal to unlock addictive apps. You can’t break a habit you don’t understand. Every time you reach for your phone, there’s an emotion driving it - boredom, anxiety, avoidance. Yarn untangles the emotional threads that cause us to reach for our phone. We made Yarn as an answer to a question: what if language models could end phone addiction? One that would meet us in these moments with nothing but a few tools to help us scroll less, and a wish: that journaling would leave us more present, introspective, and sentimental. JOURNAL TO UNLOCK Pause before scrolling by writing a quick journal entry to unlock your distracting apps. SET BEDTIME BOUNDARIES Schedule your apps to lock at bedtime, helping you wind down without the temptation to scroll late into the night. ENTER FOCUS SESSIONS Completely block distracting apps while you work. Start one yourself, or ask Yarn to. TALK TO YARN Your journal and your conversations with Yarn live in one place. Yarn remembers what you've written and what you're working through, so every conversation picks up where the last one left off. PINNED NOTES Keep what you need to hear at the top of your journal - a dopamine menu, your long-term goals, a note to read before you scroll. Yarn remembers them too. VOICE OR TEXT Journal however feels natural—type out your thoughts or use voice recordings when writing feels like too much. Note that usage of Yarn is subject to the following agreements: Terms of Use: https://www.alcovecomputer.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.alcovecomputer.com/privacy Apple's Standard End-User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Productive4 screens
Yarn4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Yarn at 100% against Productive's 47%. Yarn also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Productive's advantage is ratings volume (91K vs 8) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Productive sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per 3 months and Yarn sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Yarn holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Productive has 91K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of Productive's written reviews are positive against 100% of Yarn's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Productive ships an update fortnightly, Yarn weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Productive versus Yarn: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterProductiveYarn
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (91K ratings)5.0 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews47.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings91K — better8
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size330 MB32 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperMosaic S.r.l.Alcove Computer Company

Customer experience

Productive

All ratings91,101 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral3.9%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews574 reviews
Positive47.4%
Neutral11.5%
Negative41.1%

Yarn

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Productive

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Habit completion not always registering correctly
  • Streaks and history randomly resetting
  • Timers and reminders not working as expected
  • Syncing issues between iPhone and iPad

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to add custom habits and measurements
  • More flexible scheduling options (e.g. every other day, specific days of month)
  • Integration with other productivity apps and calendars
  • Offline mode and local data storage
  • Detailed analytics and progress tracking

Yarn

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Productive

Subscriptions8
  • Productive Premium 3 Months7 Days trial$5.993 Months
  • Weekly Bundle Premium with FT7 Days trial$5.997 Days
  • Productive Premium 1 Month$10.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Productive Premium 1 Year7 Days trial2 variants$19.991 Year
  • Productive Premium 1 Year7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Productive Premium 1 Year$59.991 Year
  • Productive Premium 1 Year7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Productive Premium 1 Year7 Days trial3 variants$79.991 Year
One-time1
  • Upgrade Productive$3.99
4 purchases

Yarn

Subscriptions4
  • Yarn Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Yarn Pro Monthly 20267 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Yarn Pro Annual 20267 Days trial$59.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yarn Pro Annual$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Productive free?
Productive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Yarn free?
Yarn is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Productive or Yarn?
Yarn is rated higher. Productive averages 4.6 out of 5 from 91K ratings, while Yarn averages 5.0 from 8 ratings.
Do Productive or Yarn have ads?
Productive shows ads; Yarn does not.
Which is updated more often, Productive or Yarn?
Productive ships an update fortnightly, and Yarn weekly. Most recently, Productive was updated on October 31, 2026 and Yarn on October 24, 2026.

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