Comparison

CircleIt vs Tinkerly

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

Head to head
About

CircleIt

Send messages, cards, and gifts to loved ones in the future. Preserve family memories and build a digital time capsule for generations to come. Connect privately with end-to-end encrypted chat and schedule future deliveries.

Highlights
  • Send future messages and cards
  • Schedule future deliveries
  • End-to-end encrypted chat
  • Build family tree
  • Digital time capsule for memories
  • Guest mode for sending/receiving
Read full description

Just imagine if you could send a message to anyone in the future. Would you congratulate your grandchild on their wedding? Would you send your son or daughter advice on looking for jobs or raising their own children? Would you remind your spouse how much you love them, even after you’re gone? This is the magic of CircleIt, the world’s first generational platform. With CircleIt, you can: - Guest Mode: Experience the delight of sending and receiving digital cards and gifts with your friends and family without the need to create an account. Plus, you can use our future - delivery feature to send your card to any future date. - Create & send digital greeting cards for your family and friends, personalize them with attached media, and schedule them to be delivered to any future date. - Chat privately with loved ones on our end-to-end encrypted network. Schedule messages to arrive on any future date or time. So whether you need to wish your child good luck on a final exam, or remind your spouse you love them 20 years from now, you can do it with CircleIt. - Build and nurture your family tree, with information that will be discovered by future generations. Instead of keeping documents and photos in a box in the basement, you can store these precious memories in a secure digital time capsule for your family to cherish and enjoy. The CircleIt app is 100% free to use. We’ve been referred to as “Hallmark for the 21st century” by press and media outlets, and our 4 million+ happy members around the world are happily sharing memories with their families and friends. CircleIt is the perfect app for families. Parents can use it to store memories for their children. Grandparents can send gifts for important milestones in the lives of their grandkids. Terminally ill individuals can leave messages for those that they love to receive in the future. Police, firefighters and military personnel can have peace of mind knowing their families have mementos of their love. Children can create Mother’s Day cards and even send tulips, flowers, carnations, and other flowers to their mom or grandmother in advance. Download & install CircleIt today, and start preserving your legacy and sending cards & gifts to the future.

About

Tinkerly

This app helps users manage their DIY projects from creation to completion. It features a community feed, project portfolio, plan creation tools, and a virtual workshop for managing supplies. Users can also buy and sell project plans within the app.

Highlights
  • Activity Feed for DIYers
  • Project Portfolio
  • Plan Creation with Tinkerly Wizard
  • Virtual Workshop for tools/supplies
  • Store for project plans
  • Real-time Notifications
Features
Read full description

Tinkerly – Your Ultimate DIY Companion! We don’t all DIY the same way, but Tinkerly offers the flexibility to DIY your way, from start to finish. Features: Tinkerly has a user-friendly interface to guide you through the entire DIY journey, below are a few of our favorite features to unleash your creative potential Activity Feed - Scroll and engage with the fellow DIYers Project Portfolio - All your projects in one place Plan Creation - Create stunning plans with Tinkerly Wizard Virtual Workshop - Manage your tools and supplies Store - Buy and sell project plans and more Notifications - Stay up to date in real time. iOS-Focused Version - Seamlessly works across all your Apple devices. And Many other features to explore.

Screenshots

CircleIt4 screens
Tinkerly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: CircleIt at Free against Tinkerly's $1.99. CircleIt also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). On update cadence, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

CircleIt is free to download; Tinkerly costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CircleIt holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CircleIt has 325 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 96% of CircleIt's written reviews are positive against 80% of Tinkerly's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CircleIt ships an update every 10 days, Tinkerly every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
CircleIt versus Tinkerly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCircleItTinkerly
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.7 (325 ratings) — better4.3 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews96.1% of reviews — better80.0% of reviews
Number of ratings325 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 9 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB127 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperCircleIt IncTinkerly LLC

Customer experience

CircleIt

All ratings327 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral2.8%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews103 reviews
Positive96.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.9%

Tinkerly

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%

Bugs and requests

CircleIt

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Compatibility issues with older devices
  • Unreliable payroll and financial issues

Requested features

4 requests
  • Expand gifting and delivery options
  • Add more customization for cards and messages
  • Improve notification system
  • Integrate with other communication channels

Tinkerly

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

CircleIt

No in-app purchases

None

Tinkerly

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CircleIt free?
CircleIt is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tinkerly free?
Tinkerly costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, CircleIt or Tinkerly?
CircleIt is rated higher. CircleIt averages 4.7 out of 5 from 325 ratings, while Tinkerly averages 4.3 from 6 ratings.
Do CircleIt or Tinkerly have ads?
Tinkerly shows ads; CircleIt does not.
Which is updated more often, CircleIt or Tinkerly?
CircleIt ships an update every 10 days, and Tinkerly every 9 days. Most recently, CircleIt was updated on October 5, 2026 and Tinkerly on October 3, 2026.

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