Comparison

Basic Journal vs Tasks

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

Head to head
About

Basic Journal

A fast and simple journal app designed for busy individuals to quickly jot down notes on daily activities. It offers an elegant, chronological display of entries with easy editing and export options.

Highlights
  • Quick note-taking
  • Chronological note display
  • Summary and detail views
  • Edit and delete notes easily
  • Recently edited notes highlighted
  • iCloud syncing
  • Text export option
Features
Read full description

Waste less time fiddling with your phone, and spend more time learning, working, or training! If you are an active or busy person, you need to take notes quickly, easily, on whatever device you have with you. This app is a fast and simple journal/diary for your daily activities. This app is ideal for fitness enthusiasts, gym users, dancers who need to make notes on choreography, or anyone who needs fast and simple note-taking. Why this app? Other note-taking apps are complicated and difficult to navigate, and your notes are quickly buried. They are just not practical for quickly noting down or recalling corrections and notes during a class, lecture or workshop. This app keeps all your notes on display in a large, friendly format, in chronological order. • Elegant and simple layout of notes by date. • Summary view for a quick overview. • Detail view to browse all notes at once. • Edit or delete notes quickly from any screen. • Recently edited notes are highlighted. Data storage: • Your notes are synced across all your iOS devices. It doesn't matter if you delete the app or lose your device; your notes are stored with Apple's iCloud (subject to iCloud availability, and it being enabled on your device). • Text export option: you can get all your notes out of the software any time you want, to keep your own backups, share, or use elsewhere. NOTES Accidents happen, so it is recommended that you make regular backups with the export function. You are responsible for maintaining your own backups in case of data loss. It may take a while to sync your existing notes when you first install the app on an extra device: be patient! Make sure iCloud is enabled on your device to use the syncing feature.

About

Tasks

This app helps you manage tasks beyond a simple to-do list. It allows for customizable statuses, tags, and hierarchical organization with a Kanban view to visualize project progress. Syncs across Apple devices and offers extensive customization for your workflow.

Highlights
  • Customizable task statuses
  • Tagging and hierarchical organization
  • Kanban project view
  • Smart lists and powerful queries
  • Attachments (PDFs, images)
  • iCloud sync
  • Home screen widgets
Features
Read full description

Tasks is a flexible task manager built for Apple devices. Start with a simple to-do list, then add structure only when you need it—with projects, subtasks, tags, priorities, custom statuses, Kanban boards, collaboration, and powerful automations. Your work is rarely just “to do” or “done.” A task might be in progress, waiting, under review, or following a workflow unique to your team. Tasks lets you shape every project around the way you actually work, without overwhelming you upfront. START SIMPLE. GROW YOUR WAY. • Capture tasks quickly and organise them into folders, projects, and subtasks • Add tags, priorities, task types, notes, links, images, PDFs, and other details • Create custom statuses for any workflow • Use fixed or completion-based recurring reminders • Build Smart Lists with powerful filters across all your projects • Find tasks, comments, and project information with advanced search • Start faster with project templates and helpful tag and date suggestions SEE WORK MOVE FORWARD Turn any project into a clear visual workflow with Kanban. Move tasks between custom statuses, or let completing a task advance it naturally through your flow. From a personal checklist to a multi-stage project, you can always see what is happening and what comes next. AUTOMATE ALMOST ANYTHING With more than 50 App Intents, Tasks works deeply with Siri, Shortcuts, Spotlight, and system automations. Create, edit, clone, search, and organise tasks and projects without opening the app. Build workflows around dates, recurring rules, locations, tags, priorities, statuses, comments, and collaborators. COLLABORATE WITHOUT THE OVERHEAD Share projects by email or public link, assign work, add comments, and keep files with the tasks they belong to. Only the person sharing a project needs Tasks Plus—collaborators can join without purchasing their own subscription. MADE FOR THE APPLE ECOSYSTEM Tasks is designed for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro, with reliable CloudKit-powered sync across your devices. • Interactive Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets • A full Apple Watch app for capturing and completing tasks from your wrist • Share and Action extensions for creating tasks from other apps • Focus Filters, rich notifications, and Time Sensitive alerts • Keyboard, trackpad, drag-and-drop, and multi-window support • Native dark mode, Dynamic Type, and accessibility support • Face ID and Touch ID protection for private projects • Import from Apple Reminders and Notes • Export and import complete backups using the .tasks format • URL schemes and x-callback-url support for advanced workflows PRIVATE BY DESIGN Tasks is built with privacy in mind, with secure CloudKit-powered sync across your Apple devices. START FREE Tasks is free to download with a generous free tier. Upgrade to Tasks Plus with monthly, annual, family, and lifetime options when you need more. Questions or feedback? We read every message. tasks@msquarelabs.com Privacy Policy: https://mufasayc.com/thetasksapp/privacy Terms of Use: https://mufasayc.com/thetasksapp/terms

Screenshots

Basic Journal4 screens
Tasks4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Tasks at 4.6 against Basic Journal's 3.3. Tasks also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (1.9K vs 4). Basic Journal's advantage is monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Basic Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Tasks sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Tasks holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tasks has 1.9K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Basic Journal's written reviews are positive against 63% of Tasks's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Basic Journal ships an update every 2 weeks, Tasks weekly. The most recent releases landed on June 5, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Basic Journal versus Tasks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBasic JournalTasks
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (4 ratings)4.6 (1.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews62.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings41.9K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB159 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJames HudsonMsquare Labs Technologies Private Limited

Customer experience

Basic Journal

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

Tasks

All ratings1,904 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral3.5%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews273 reviews
Positive62.6%
Neutral12.8%
Negative24.5%

Bugs and requests

Basic Journal

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Tasks

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Tasks not syncing correctly
  • Inability to delete tasks
  • Crashes when adding comments
  • Unreliable date and time handling
  • Inconsistent behavior when rearranging tasks

Requested features

7 requests
  • Recurring tasks
  • Calendar integration
  • Ability to move tasks between projects
  • Global tag management
  • Expanded note-taking capabilities
Show 2 more
  • Shortcuts and automation support
  • Batch task editing and management

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Basic Journal

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$0.99
10 purchases

Tasks

Subscriptions8
  • Weekly$3.997 Days
  • Tasks Plus (Monthly)$3.991 Month
  • Tasks Plus Family (Monthly)$7.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Tasks Plus$24.991 Year
  • Tasks Plus (Yearly)7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Annual (Offer)14 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Tasks Family Plus$49.991 Year
One-time2
  • Tasks Plus Lifetime - Individual$69.99
  • Tasks Plus Lifetime - Family$99.99

Questions

Is Basic Journal free?
Basic Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tasks free?
Tasks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Basic Journal or Tasks?
Tasks is rated higher. Basic Journal averages 3.3 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Tasks averages 4.6 from 1.9K ratings.
Do Basic Journal or Tasks have ads?
Basic Journal shows ads; Tasks does not.
Which is updated more often, Basic Journal or Tasks?
Basic Journal ships an update every 2 weeks, and Tasks weekly. Most recently, Basic Journal was updated on June 5, 2026 and Tasks on September 22, 2026.

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