Ikiru vs Bullet
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
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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!
Bullet
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Mac Version Website → bullet.overio.space - Bullet is a focused outliner for structured thinking. - Most ideas do not begin as finished documents. They start as fragments: a sentence, a question, a few scattered points. Bullet helps those fragments grow into structure. You can create branches, nest ideas, collapse details, focus on a section, and shape your thinking before turning it into writing, plans, research notes, or product ideas. - On iPhone, Bullet gives you a clean, portable outline workspace for capturing and organizing thoughts wherever they happen. Your outlines sync with Bullet for macOS through iCloud, so you can continue working across devices. - Bullet is useful for: - Capturing ideas and messy notes - Building article, video, course, or presentation outlines - Breaking down product ideas, requirements, and decisions - Organizing reading notes, research threads, and project context - Turning complex problems into expandable branches - Core features on iPhone: - Nested outline editing - Fast branch creation, indentation, folding, and reordering - Focused navigation through branches - Markdown-style text support - iCloud sync with Bullet for macOS - A calm interface for thinking in structure - Bullet for macOS also supports AI-assisted workflows for expanding, organizing, and rewriting outlines. The iPhone app focuses on capture, editing, navigation, and sync. - Bullet is not a generic notes app. It is a thinking space where ideas start as branches, then gradually grow into finished work.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Bullet at Free against Ikiru's $4.99. Ikiru's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (11.1 vs 26.0). On update cadence, 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
Bullet is free to download; Ikiru costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Ikiru ships an update every 3 weeks, Bullet every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ikiru | Bullet |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.9 (101 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 54.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 101 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.1 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 62 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | James Rhoades | 鹏 王 |
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
Bullet
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ikiru
No in-app purchases
Bullet
No in-app purchases









