Comparison

BoardWatch vs Finalist

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

Head to head
About

BoardWatch

Quickly add small, temporary, or permanent notes directly from your wrist. Ideal for reminders like parking spots or flight numbers, this app simplifies note-taking without needing your phone.

Highlights
  • Add fast and small notes
  • Permanent and temporary notes
  • Temporary notes auto-delete
  • Use Apple Watch dictation
  • Send notes to complications
  • Delete notes with long tap
Features
Read full description

A blackboard for your watch. This app allows to add fast and small notes to the watch: the seat on a train wagon, place where the car is parked or the number of your flight. The purpose of the application is simplify to the minimum the task of enter the reminder. You don't need to take the phone, is all over the Apple Watch. The note is entered using Apple Watch dictation feature. You can add permanent notes or temporary notes. A temporary note is deleted automatically after 12 hours. You can view detailed content of a note when you select the note in the table, and you can send the note to the utilitarian (small or large) and modular large complications using the swipe right gesture. To delete a note, long tap over the detailed view of the note. There are other notes app in the store, but any of them are so direct and fast.

About

Finalist

This app combines your calendar, tasks, reminders, and weather into a single, visually appealing timeline. It integrates with your journal and activity data to inspire your planning. Enjoy a beautiful and joyful planning experience without complex workflows.

Highlights
  • Unified timeline view
  • Calendar, task, and reminder integration
  • Weather forecast display
  • Journal and activity ring integration
  • Customizable themes
  • Native Apple technology integration
Features
Read full description

Inspired by paper planners, Finalist shows your calendar, tasks, notes, reminders and weather forecast in one beautiful timeline. It even pulls in your Journal Suggestions and Activity Rings to keep you inspired. Gorgeous themes make planning a joy, not a chore. Finalist is built for people who finish things, no complex workflows or productivity theater. NOTES, IN YOUR PLANNER Your planner remembers what you wrote. A dedicated Notes tab gives you notebooks, tags and search. Keep native notes that sync over iCloud, or connect a folder of plain markdown files, including your Obsidian vault, and edit them in place. Tasks inside your markdown files become real Finalist tasks: dated, tagged and checkable anywhere in the app. YOUR DAY, ON YOUR WRIST The Apple Watch app puts your whole day one glance away: events, tasks, reminders and habits in one scrollable view, topped by a Now card that always knows what matters next. Check off pinned lists from the wrist, grocery list included, and add tasks by keyboard, scribble or dictation. Complications and a Smart Stack widget round it out. (Requires watchOS 26.) DESIGN YOUR DAY Choose between two Daily designs: Daybook, the classic stacked layout, or Broadsheet, a newsprint-inspired look that shines on iPad and Mac. Rearrange sections with the layout editor and save your own presets. On the rebuilt Timeline, drag tasks onto the grid to sketch your day in pencil, then commit when it's real. "I've tried dozens of planning apps, this is the one that finally works." - Beta user "The integration of Reminders and Lists reduces the apps I need daily and makes planning actually fun." - Beta user Built with native Apple technologies: no accounts to create, syncs over iCloud, supports Family Sharing, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro and Mac. Full database backup, export and import via JSON and OPML. Finalist is a love letter to paper planners. Give it a try, it feels great :) Purchasing information To get the full functionality in Finalist you will need to either purchase a subscription or a one time In-App Purchase for Lifetime access. The purchase amount will be applied to your iTunes account. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. Lifetime purchase is a one-time fee. For more information, see our Terms of Use at https://finalist.works/eula/ and our Privacy Policy at https://finalist.works/privacy-policy/

Screenshots

BoardWatch1 screens
Finalist4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Finalist at Free against BoardWatch's $0.99. Finalist also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 10 months) and chart position (#198 vs unranked). BoardWatch's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and review sentiment (100% vs 76%). On ads 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

Finalist is free to download; BoardWatch costs $0.99 up front. Finalist sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. BoardWatch asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BoardWatch ships an update every 10 months, Finalist every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
BoardWatch versus Finalist: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBoardWatchFinalist
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating—4.7 (519 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better75.9% of reviews
Number of ratings—519 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank—#198 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB121 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTheCoolBytesDiversion Marketing Inc

Customer experience

BoardWatch

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Finalist

All ratings512 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral2.7%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews116 reviews
Positive75.9%
Neutral6.9%
Negative17.2%

Bugs and requests

BoardWatch

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Finalist

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Settings/preferences crash the app
  • Pro subscription not recognized after canceling auto-renewal
  • Weather widget fails to display without manual toggling
  • App freezes and becomes unresponsive on iPad
  • Empty tasks cannot be permanently deleted
Show 4 more
  • App crashes when accessing certain reminder lists
  • Slow performance after force closing and reopening
  • Widget functionality discontinued or broken
  • macOS version crashes and lacks performance

Requested features

18 requests
  • Apple Watch native app
  • Recurring/repeating tasks and reminders
  • Subtasks functionality
  • Task tagging and filtering
  • Event location and travel time details
Show 13 more
  • Natural language input for tasks and events
  • Snooze reminder functionality
  • Task comments and checklist support
  • List grouping and archiving options
  • Menubar-only mode for macOS
  • Early/advance reminders for tasks
  • Notes section for daily journaling
  • School/team collaboration version
  • Chinese language support
  • Dark mode option
  • Family sharing features
  • Multiple calendar visibility in month view
  • Invite others to meetings and add conferencing

In-app purchases

None

BoardWatch

No in-app purchases

7 purchases

Finalist

Subscriptions5
  • Finalist Pro Weekly3 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • Finalist Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Finalist Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Finalist Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Finalist Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Finalist Lifetime$59.99
  • Finalist Pro Lifetime$59.99

Questions

Is BoardWatch free?
BoardWatch costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Finalist free?
Finalist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do BoardWatch or Finalist have ads?
Neither BoardWatch nor Finalist shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BoardWatch or Finalist?
BoardWatch ships an update every 10 months, and Finalist every 10 days. Most recently, BoardWatch was updated on October 7, 2026 and Finalist on October 30, 2026.

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