Tasks 'n Timers
Forest vs Tasks 'n Timers is a comparison of two focus timers for iPhone that disagree about almost everything.
Forest calls itself the original gamified focus app. You plant a tree, and it grows while you stay off your phone; leave early and, in the App Store's words, it withers. Its listing highlights app blocking, friends to plant with, and real trees planted on your behalf.
Tasks 'n Timers is a Pomodoro-style timer built around a task list. Every session belongs to a task, every task has an estimate, and nothing punishes you for stopping. It is built to help you decide what to work on and see how long it took.
This page compares the two on features, price and philosophy, including where Forest is the better choice. Every statement about Forest comes from its own App Store listing and website, checked on 28 October 2026 and listed under Sources at the end. Tasks 'n Timers is not affiliated with Forest or its developer, SEEKRTECH CO., LTD.
The short answer
- Pick Forest if your problem is your phone: you pick it up mid-session and need something to stop you, or a tree to feel bad about.
- Pick Tasks 'n Timers if your problem is your work: you don't know what to do next, how long things take, or where the week went.
Many people could use either. If you just want one app for the next month, ask which problem you actually have.
Feature comparison
| Tasks 'n Timers | Forest | |
|---|---|---|
| Core idea | A to-do list with a built-in focus timer | A focus timer that grows a tree |
| Platforms | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome and Firefox extension |
| To-do list | ✓ Google Tasks lists, synced both ways, or local lists | Not mentioned on its App Store page or website; sessions can be labelled with tags |
| Estimate a task | ✓ In Pomodoros or hours | Not listed |
| Time spent vs estimate | ✓ On each task | Not listed |
| Run a session on a task | ✓ | Label by tag (custom tags are Plus) |
| Countdown timer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stopwatch (count up) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Keep going past the end | ✓ Tap +5, +15, +25 or +50 while a session runs | Use the stopwatch instead |
| Pause a session | ✓ | Paid plans only (Plus, or legacy Pro); up to 5 minutes at a time |
| Stop early | ✓ "Done" logs the time you did | With Deep Focus on, leaving means tapping "Give Up", which kills the tree |
| Penalty for leaving the app | ✗ By design | ✓ The tree can wither if you leave; with Deep Focus on, other apps are blocked |
| App blocking | ✗ | ✓ Deep Focus is free; a custom allowlist is Plus |
| Break timer / guided breaks | ✗ No break timer | ✓ Mindful Space (one soundscape free, all in Plus) |
| Group focus with friends | ✗ | ✓ Plant Together |
| Real trees planted | ✗ | ✓ Via Trees for the Future (paid plans, up to 5 real trees per account) |
| Rewards | A weekly goal and a streak of Win days | Coins, tree species, challenges, a growing forest |
| Background sounds | ✓ Rain, Waves and Deep, plus an optional tick | ✓ Ambient sounds library, some bought with coins |
| Stats | Minutes and sessions for today, week and month; a four-month calendar heatmap; today's sessions you can edit | Your forest by week, month and year; streaks; tag breakdown (Focus Analytics and custom tags are Plus) |
| Sync Apple Health | ✗ | ✓ |
| Account needed | No | Sign in to sync across devices |
| Where your data lives | On your iPhone and, if you connect Google, a private app folder in your own Google Drive | With your Forest account |
| Works offline | ✓ | ✓ (core focus) |
An honest note: Tasks 'n Timers has no break timer, no app blocking and no Android or iPad version today. If you need any of those, Forest has them.
Price
| Tasks 'n Timers | Forest | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free on the App Store | Free, with in-app purchases |
| Paid | None to buy today | Forest Plus, a subscription (price varies by region). The US App Store listing shows in-app purchases from $0.99 to $35.99, including monthly and annual subscriptions |
| Old one-off option | None | Forest Pro, a one-time purchase, is no longer sold; existing Pro users keep it |
Forest's free tier is generous: the timer, tree growth, app blocking and group focus are all free. Plus adds pause, analytics, custom tags, an allowlist for Deep Focus, more soundscapes and a coin boost.
What both get right
- A fixed block of attention. Both give you one clear thing to do for a set time, which is most of the battle.
- Visible history. Forest shows a forest, Tasks 'n Timers shows a heatmap. Either way you can see the days you showed up.
- Offline. Neither needs a connection to run a session.
- A kind tone. Forest says it has “no shame, no preaching”, and Tasks 'n Timers doesn't lecture you for a bad day either.
Where they really differ
1. What keeps you on task
Forest uses a stake. It describes its approach as “visible progress and gentle accountability”: the tree is a small thing you care about, and losing it stings. With Deep Focus on, other apps are blocked, so the nudge becomes a wall. For many people, especially with a phone that keeps pulling them away, that works.
Tasks 'n Timers uses clarity. Before you start, you've chosen a task and a size for it. The timer doesn't police you; the plan does the work. If you leave the app, nothing dies.
Neither is the right answer for everyone. If you want a fence, use Forest. If you'd rather not be fenced, and your trouble is knowing what to work on, a fence won't help.
The New York Times, as quoted on Forest's own website, put the case for Forest this way:
Forest works well, and if your goal is to be more in the moment, ignore your phone and actually talk to your friends when you are with them, this is the app for you.
2. What counts as a good session
In Forest, a good session is a tree that survived. In Tasks 'n Timers, it is time against a task: three Pomodoros on the report, then a look at whether you guessed two.
Forest counts how long you stayed away from your phone. Tasks 'n Timers counts what the time went to. That is the difference between “I focused for four hours” and “I finished the report in four Pomodoros, a Pomodoro more than I thought.”
3. Ending a session early
Say you planned 25 minutes and the work is done at 18. In Tasks 'n Timers, tap Done: the 18 minutes are logged to the task and the session ends. In Forest, with Deep Focus on, ending early means tapping “Give Up”, which kills the tree.
Say you planned 25 and you're in flow at 25. Tasks 'n Timers lets you tap +5, +15, +25 or +50 while it runs. Forest offers a stopwatch (count-up) mode as well as a countdown.
4. Your data
Forest keeps your sessions with a Forest account, which is how it syncs across iPhone, iPad, Android and browsers. Tasks 'n Timers has no account of its own and no servers: sessions stay on your phone and, if you connect Google, in a private folder in your own Google Drive. The price of that is that it is iPhone-only for now.
5. Free, and what free means
Forest is generous on features and pays for itself with a Plus subscription. Tasks 'n Timers is free today.
Where Forest is the better fit
Choose Forest if you:
- Can't stay off your phone. App blocking (Deep Focus) is part of Forest's free tier.
- Want to study or work with friends. Plant Together shares one tree across a group.
- Use Android, an iPad or a browser as well as an iPhone.
- Want a game. Coins, species, challenges and a forest you grow are a motivation system Tasks 'n Timers doesn't have.
- Want your focus to plant real trees. Forest funds planting through Trees for the Future.
- Sync focus time to Apple Health.
- Want built-in guided breaks and breathing.
Several reviews on Forest's App Store page, from students and people with ADHD, say the tree's consequence is what helps them stick to a session. If that sounds like you, try it first.
Where Tasks 'n Timers is the better fit
Choose Tasks 'n Timers if you:
- Live in a to-do list. Your Google Tasks lists are your lists, synced both ways.
- Want to estimate and then compare. Each task shows time spent next to your estimate.
- Keep going when you're in flow. Extend while a session runs, rather than being cut off.
- Want your history off a company's servers. No account needed.
- Don't want a penalty for stopping. Done logs what you did.
Can you use both?
Yes. They solve different problems. Some people use Forest to keep the phone out of reach and a task-based timer to decide what to do. If you do, the one that tracks your tasks is the one you'll open to plan the day.
The short version
Forest keeps you off your phone by making a tree depend on it. Tasks 'n Timers helps you pick a task, size it, and see where the time went. If distraction is the problem, Forest. If direction is the problem, Tasks 'n Timers.
Sources for the Forest facts
Everything we say about Forest is taken from Forest's own pages, last checked on 28 October 2026:
- Forest on the App Store (US): the description, platforms, Apple Health, in-app purchases and reviews.
- Forest's website: the Free vs Plus plan table, and the FAQ on Deep Focus, pause, Plant Together, real trees, offline use and platforms.
Features and prices change. If something here is out of date, check Forest's own pages, and let us know.