Comparison

Sticky Notes & Color Widget vs Safe Notes

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

Head to head
About

Sticky Notes & Color Widget

Create colorful sticky notes, checklists, and reminders that can be pinned to your Home Screen as widgets. Dictate notes with your voice, add photos, and organize them by color. Sync across Apple devices with iCloud and secure private notes with an app lock.

Highlights
  • Home Screen widgets
  • Color-coded notes
  • Checklists and to-do lists
  • Voice notes (voice to text)
  • iCloud sync
  • App lock
Features
Read full description

Sticky Notes & Color Widget is an app from Hive 5 Studio for writing colorful sticky notes, checklists and reminders, and pinning them to your Home Screen as widgets. Type a note or dictate it with your voice, color-code it, add a photo, and keep everything synced across your Apple devices with iCloud. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Sticky notes and quick memos: jot down an idea, a phone number or a thought in seconds. - Checklists and to-do lists: tick off groceries, packing lists, chores and daily tasks. - Reminders: get a notification at the time you choose so a note doesn't get forgotten. - Home Screen widgets: put a sticky note or checklist right on your iPhone Home Screen and read it without opening the app. - Color-coded notes: organize notes by color, for example work, home, shopping or ideas. - Notes with pictures: attach a photo to a note, such as a receipt, a whiteboard or a recipe. - Voice notes (voice to text): speak your note instead of typing it. - iCloud sync: your notes stay backed up and available on your other Apple devices. - App lock: lock the app to keep private notes away from anyone who picks up your phone. HOW IT WORKS 1. Create a note, checklist or reminder by typing or speaking. 2. Pick a color and add a picture if you like. 3. Add it as a widget to your Home Screen, or set a reminder. WHO IT'S FOR - Anyone who wants sticky notes on the iPhone Home Screen instead of paper notes on the fridge or monitor. - People looking for a simple to-do list or checklist app without a complicated setup. - Students who keep track of assignments, exams and study notes. - Busy parents managing grocery lists, school dates and household chores. - Anyone who likes color-coded notes for planning, brainstorming and daily organization. ------------ Pro Pack Subscription Conditions: - Your subscription lasts 1 month, 6 months, or 1 year, depending on the subscription level chosen at the time of purchase. - You will be charged $2.99 for 1 month (includes free trial for 7 days), $11.99 for 6 months (includes free trial for 7 days), $19.99 for 1 year (includes free trial for 7 days), depending on the subscription level chosen at the time of purchase. - Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. - Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription. - Your account will be charged for a renewed subscription within 24 hours prior to the end of current subscription. You will be charged $2.99 for 1 month, $11.99 for 6 months, or $19.99 for 1 year, depending on your subscription level. - You can manage your subscription and switch off the auto-renewal by accessing your account settings after purchase. - You cannot cancel the current subscription during the active subscription period. - Any unused part or time-span of a free trial period will be forfeited, as soon as you purchase a subscription. - You can view our Privacy Policy here: https://www.hive5.studio/privacy-policy/ - You can view our Terms of Use here: https://www.hive5.studio/terms-and-conditions/

About

Safe Notes

Securely store and organize your thoughts, plans, and sensitive information with a password-protected notepad. Create text notes, checklists, add images and audio, and convert content to PDF for easy sharing. Access your data offline and enjoy automatic backups.

Highlights
  • Password protection
  • Offline access
  • Convert notes to PDF
  • Add photos and audio
  • Organize with tags
  • To-do lists
  • Automatic backup
Features
Read full description

Safe Notes is a password-protected notepad that's safe, smart, easy to use and free! Safe Notes gives you a complete and simple notepad to create text notes and checklists. It saves your inspirations, plans, ideas, contacts, passwords, sensitive information, lists or anything you want to organize or remember and keep them private and yet available. You can use Safe Notes as a digital notebook or diary and add pictures, taking them with camera or your gallery. You can keep notes of lectures, business meetings and interviews or if you need quickly transfer URLs, code snippets and email addresses. It is easy to create reminders and to organize data in lists. With the checklist you can plan your day with to do list, make tasks list and tick the completed ones. Safe Notes is intuitive and versatile. You can organise notes using tags to manage your schedules and notes. You can add title to your notes, instead of just the first line of the note and convert text into a checkbox list or vice versa. Safe Notes now allows you to convert your notes and lists to PDF. You can then normally view, store, transfer or share your PDF files. Safe Notes provides safe access using a simple pin number. It stores all your data on the device instead of uploading your personal information on external database. Easy to use with a clean interface, it’s the app that you’re missing on your phone and it is free. Download Safe Notes now. Key features: * Password protection. Protect your notes and checklist with password and lock the whole notepad app with your PIN. * Offline access. Access your notes even without internet connection. * Autosave. The notepad will save your notes automatically while you edit them. * Use your Fingerprint to quickly unlock the app. * Convert your notes and images into PDF * Quickly share your PDF * Automatic Backup (NEW FEATURE) * Backup and Restore (NEW FEATURE) * Tags. Organise your notes and to do list with labels to find them easily. * Search function. Easy search notes and filter tags. * Preferred Notes. Set note importance. * ToDo lists. * Fast memo. Import text data directly from another source. Copy and paste from your phone to your note. * Simple and intuitive user experience. Create. Edit. Delete. * Photo support. Add photos and images to your secure notes. * Audio notes support. Add audio notes to your secure notes. * Text To Speech support * Colours. Use colours to categorise notes by importance, tags or subject or just make your notepad more fun. * Reminders. Set a reminder for your note or for your to do lists and you'll receive a protected local notification: For your privacy, the actual text of the reminder is visible only inside the app! * Tick the completed tasks. * Share. Send and share individual note to yourself or another contact if you need. * Unlimited text size. * Possibility to set a reminder for Notes and ToDo lists and receive a notification to help you remember things! * Multi languages. * Off-line security. You are the only one that knows your password and everything that you write and save it is stored only on your phone instead of app and database. You don't have to trust any other third-party as nobody else have access to it. Nothing is stored online where someone could potentially read it. 100% privacy protection. * Support: HELP will help you to work with notes, checklist and tags. Also you can always contact us if you have some questions. * Free (Safe Notes is a free app and ads supported).

Screenshots

Sticky Notes & Color Widget4 screens
Safe Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Safe Notes at 100% against Sticky Notes & Color Widget's 42%. Safe Notes also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.0). Sticky Notes & Color Widget's advantage is ratings volume (6.6K vs 22) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Sticky Notes & Color Widget sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Safe Notes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Safe Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sticky Notes & Color Widget has 6.6K ratings behind it against 22, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 42% of Sticky Notes & Color Widget's written reviews are positive against 100% of Safe Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sticky Notes & Color Widget ships an update every 2 weeks, Safe Notes monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Sticky Notes & Color Widget versus Safe Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSticky Notes & Color WidgetSafe Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (6.6K ratings)4.9 (22 ratings) — better
Positive reviews42.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.6K — better22
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size202 MB165 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHive 5 Studio DOOMarco Troncone

Customer experience

Sticky Notes & Color Widget

All ratings6,631 ratings
Positive88.7%
Neutral4.7%
Negative6.6%
Written reviews773 reviews
Positive42.4%
Neutral8.4%
Negative49.2%

Safe Notes

All ratings22 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Sticky Notes & Color Widget

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes disappearing or not displaying properly
  • Inability to edit or delete notes
  • Crashes and black screens
  • Widget not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add search functionality
  • Improve note organization (e.g. grouping, tagging)
  • Allow custom backgrounds and fonts
  • Sync notes across devices
  • Improve widget customization and reliability

Safe Notes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Sticky Notes & Color Widget

Subscriptions10
  • 1-Month Subscription1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • Sticky Notes Pro7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • 1-Month Subscription7 Days trial$3.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • 1-Month Subscription$3.991 Month
  • 1-Month Subscription$4.991 Month
  • 1-Month Subscription7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Notes Plus7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • 1-Year Subscription$19.991 Year
  • 1-Year Subscription7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • 1-Year Subscription$24.991 Year
1 purchases

Safe Notes

One-time1
  • Remove ads$2.99

Questions

Is Sticky Notes & Color Widget free?
Sticky Notes & Color Widget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Safe Notes free?
Safe Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sticky Notes & Color Widget or Safe Notes?
Safe Notes is rated higher. Sticky Notes & Color Widget averages 4.6 out of 5 from 6.6K ratings, while Safe Notes averages 4.9 from 22 ratings.
Do Sticky Notes & Color Widget or Safe Notes have ads?
Both Sticky Notes & Color Widget and Safe Notes show ads.
Which is updated more often, Sticky Notes & Color Widget or Safe Notes?
Sticky Notes & Color Widget ships an update every 2 weeks, and Safe Notes monthly. Most recently, Sticky Notes & Color Widget was updated on November 11, 2026 and Safe Notes on November 3, 2026.

Other comparisons