Ikiru vs Insight Journal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ikiru
Organize your life with this versatile app for creating lists, taking notes, and setting reminders. It helps you focus on what's important with a beautiful, user-friendly design and powerful features like nested lists and due dates.
- Create nested lists
- Set due dates and reminders
- Add photos to list items
- Sort list items dynamically
- Sync data via iCloud
- Protect data with Touch ID/passcode
- View items on Apple Watch
Read full descriptionHide full description
Ikiru is a simple but powerful app for making lists, keeping notes and setting reminders. It aims to help you live a productive and meaningful life, by enabling you to focus on the things that are most important to you. IKIRU IS VERSATILE Use it to create to do lists, shopping lists, take notes, store contact information, keep track of books to read, or movies to watch... or anything else you'd want to make a list for. IKIRU IS BEAUTIFUL With a clean and easy to use design, choose from over 2000 icons to assign to your lists. IKIRU IS POWERFUL - create lists within lists - assign a due date and reminder to list items - view all items with a due date in one convenient timeline - add a photo to list items - drag and drop to sort list items, or automatically keep a list sorted alphabetically, by modification date, completion date, and more - easily copy or move items from one list to another - mark items incomplete to return them to their original position in the list (this makes lists easy to reuse) - send a list via email, and the receiver can import your list into their copy of Ikiru - view items with due dates on your Apple Watch IKIRU KEEPS YOUR DATA SAFE - automatically back up and sync lists between iOS devices using iCloud - use Touch ID or a custom passcode to protect your information IKIRU HAS PURPOSE The word "ikiru" (ee-kee-roo) means "to live" in Japanese. It's also the title of an Akira Kurosawa film about a man who decides to do something meaningful with his life. Ikiru (the app) is my attempt at doing something meaningful with my life, and hopefully help others live meaningful and productive lives. IKIRU HAS HISTORY In 2010 I released a list-making app called "Paperless". From busy moms to airplane pilots to people who needed a little help remembering things after suffering a brain injury, Paperless has been used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Ikiru is built upon that legacy - incorporating the best ideas from Paperless, greatly improving upon them, and adding big features that people have requested. IKIRU NEEDS LOVE If you find Ikiru useful, please rate and review it in the App Store. Thank you!
Insight Journal
This app helps you achieve personal growth through daily journaling, mindfulness, and goal setting. It offers tools for planning, tracking, and reflection to build healthy habits and gain self-awareness.
- Daily journaling ritual
- Mindfulness exercises
- Goal setting and tracking
- Day and week planning views
- Routine builder
- Insights page for task tracking
Read full descriptionHide full description
Achieve anything you put your mind to with Insight Journal. Start your journey to a happier, healthier you with a daily journaling ritual. Unlock the power of mindfulness, productivity, and self-improvement with Insight Journal, the ultimate journaling app designed to inspire and empower you. Whether you want to get your mindset on track or chase next-level goals, Insight Journal is just the start. Using scientifically proven research, Insight Journal's exercises, planning and tracking will help you build a healthy journaling habit. Discover the perfect blend of journaling, planning, and reflection in one seamless app. With day and week planning views, dedicated reflection pages, and a simplified journaling experience, Insight Journal empowers users to express themselves, set goals, and gain profound insights into their lives. Craft healthy routines with our routine builder and gain valuable insights with the insights page, tracking hours spent on tasks, distractions, and self-care. Designed for those who value productivity and personal growth, Insight Journal offers an intuitive and visually appealing interface, making self-discovery a beautiful and accessible journey. Download Insight Journal now to embark on your path to self-improvement. Your journey, your insights, your Insight.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Insight Journal at Free against Ikiru's $4.99. Insight Journal also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.9) and update cadence (daily vs every 3 weeks). Ikiru's advantage is ratings volume (101 vs 1) and device support (4 vs 1). On ads and in-app purchases 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
Insight Journal is free to download; Ikiru costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Insight Journal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ikiru has 101 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Ikiru ships an update every 3 weeks, Insight Journal daily. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ikiru | Insight Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.9 (101 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 54.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 101 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 11.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 62 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | James Rhoades | Tanner Cottle |
Customer experience
Ikiru
Insight Journal
Bugs and requests
Ikiru
Reported bugs
4 issues- Reminders not working properly
- Syncing issues causing data loss
- Crashes after iOS updates
- Inability to disable Face ID lock
Requested features
5 requests- Add more formatting options (bold, italic, etc.)
- Improve search to allow searching within sublists
- Provide more customization options for themes and icons
- Add location-based reminders
- Implement better backup and restore functionality
Insight Journal
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ikiru
No in-app purchases
Insight Journal
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Ikiru free?
Is Insight Journal free?
Which has better reviews, Ikiru or Insight Journal?
Do Ikiru or Insight Journal have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ikiru or Insight Journal?
Other comparisons















