Comparison

Pause vs Focus

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

Head to head
About

Pause

This app offers a unique, interactive approach to mindfulness and stress relief. By guiding your fingertip across the screen, it aims to activate the body's relaxation response, helping you regain focus and find calm anytime, anywhere. It's based on ancient principles and validated with EEG technology.

Highlights
  • Interactive fingertip guidance
  • Stress release
  • Regain focus
  • Calming audiovisual feedback
  • Mindfulness minutes tracking
  • Scientifically validated with EEG
Features
Read full description

Based on the ancient principles of Tai Chi and mindfulness practice, PAUSE brings the act of focused attention to your mobile device. Using a patent-pending technique and a unique approach to modern technology, you can easily start the journey to relaxation – anywhere and anytime. By slowly and continuously moving your fingertip across the screen, PAUSE triggers the body’s ‘rest and digest’ response, quickly helping you regain focus and release stress within minutes. The calming audiovisual feedback in the app is designed to help you keep your attention and focus in the present moment. Throughout development of the application, PAUSE has been continuously tested and validated using EEG-technology. What is PAUSE? ∙ A new digital approach to ancient meditation practices ∙ An interactive tool to quickly regain focus and release stress ∙ Scientifically tested and validated with EEG-technology ∙ Available anywhere and anytime ∙ Using PAUSE now adds mindfulness minutes to Health App on iPhone iOS10+ devices. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Focus

Practice mindfulness and meditation using eye movements with augmented reality. Track your progress and sync mindful minutes to your health data. Enjoy relaxing music and engaging games designed for mental well-being.

Highlights
  • Eye-controlled focus and meditation
  • Augmented Reality eye tracking
  • Mindful minute tracking
  • HealthKit synchronization
  • Relaxing music
  • Flip Game
Features
Read full description

Focus is controlled entirely using your eyes.Practice focus and meditation through eye movements. Focus use Augmented Reality to tracking eyes, aims at physical and mental care through integrating meditation and focus into an app. How it Works: - The dot show where you're looking on the screen. - Docile thoughts through focusing one dot and listening relax music in one minute. - Record mindful minutes to 'Health'. - Support Widget. - Enjoy emptying yourself. - Enjoy Flip Game. Matters needing attention: - Focus has been connected to HealthKit,which can synchronize meditation time to 「Health」. If your have any issues or some advices, email us at lbechomt@163.com. We're always looking to improve!

Screenshots

Pause4 screens
Focus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Focus at 100% against Pause's 57%. Focus also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). Pause's advantage is ratings volume (112 vs 1). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Pause sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Focus asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Focus holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pause has 112 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Pause's written reviews are positive against 100% of Focus's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pause ships an update fortnightly, Focus every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pause versus Focus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPauseFocus
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (112 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings112 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size407 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPauseAble ApS荣煜 罗

Customer experience

Pause

All ratings111 ratings
Positive71.2%
Neutral9.0%
Negative19.8%
Written reviews530 reviews
Positive57.4%
Neutral10.8%
Negative31.9%

Focus

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Pause

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Streak reset issue for meditation tracking
  • Inconsistent behavior when moving finger too fast
  • Audio cutting out during sessions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add voice/audio instructions
  • Provide more color and sound options
  • Integrate with health/fitness tracking
  • Improve full-screen support for newer devices

Focus

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Pause

Subscriptions2
  • Pause Premium (monthly)3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Pause Premium (yearly)7 Days trial$19.491 Year
One-time2
  • Soundtrack: Peaceful Mountain$0.99
  • Pause premium (life time)$54.99
None

Focus

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pause free?
Pause is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Focus free?
Focus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pause or Focus?
Focus is rated higher. Pause averages 4.0 out of 5 from 112 ratings, while Focus averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Pause or Focus have ads?
Neither Pause nor Focus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pause or Focus?
Pause ships an update fortnightly, and Focus every 10 days. Most recently, Pause was updated on November 6, 2026 and Focus on November 7, 2026.

Other comparisons