Flora alternative
A Flora alternative with no dead trees
Quiet Orbit is a focus timer and app blocker for iPhone. Study with up to three friends at the same second, and nobody's session dies because someone checked their phone.
Flora and Quiet Orbit, side by side
| Quiet Orbit | Flora | |
|---|---|---|
| Price to start | Free | Free |
| What paying costs (US) | $3.99 a month, $19.99 a year, or $39.99 once | Optional real-tree pledges and small tour purchases |
| Blocks the apps you pick | Yes, free, through Apple's Screen Time | Its listing says it blocks distracting apps |
| If you stop early | You keep every minute you focused | Your tree is killed |
| Focus with friends | Up to four phones start together, free | Plant together; you see who killed a tree |
| Runs on | iPhone | iPhone and iPad |
Focus together without the blame
Planting with friends is what makes Flora fun, and also where it stings: you find out who killed the tree. In Quiet Orbit a friend picks a world and a time and shares a link, and up to four phones start the same session at the same second, with your ships flying side by side. If one of you has to stop, the rest keep going, and everyone keeps the minutes they focused.
What Quiet Orbit does
- Focus sessions from 15 to 90 minutes, with breaks if you want them.
- The apps you pick stay closed until the session ends, breaks included. Everything else stays open.
- Every minute you focus flies your ship closer to the next world, Earth out to Pluto. Each session you finish turns up a finding from the place you reached.
- Stop early and you keep every minute. Nothing dies, withers or resets.
- Up to four friends can start the same session at the same second, with a link. Hosting and joining are free.
- A weekly log, a live timer on the Lock Screen, widgets, reminders, and a streak with a rest day built in.
- No account. Which apps you block never leaves your iPhone.
Where Flora is the better pick
- You want a to-do list and a habit tracker in the same app as your timer.
- You want your focus to plant real trees through Flora's partners.
- You use an iPad, or want an app whose paid extras are small one-off purchases.
Switching takes a minute
- Install Quiet Orbit from the App Store. It's free, for iPhone on iOS 18 or later.
- Allow Screen Time access when it asks, and pick the apps that stay closed.
- Choose a length, press and hold to start, and put the phone down.
Your history in the other app stays there; Quiet Orbit starts you in Earth orbit. More on how the block works and the study timer, or see every app side by side.
Prices and features of other apps are from their US App Store listings, checked on 16 October 2026, and can change; Forest's pricing history is from Wikipedia. Prices differ by country. Every app named here is a trademark of its owner; Quiet Orbit isn't affiliated with any of them.