Comparison

Penned vs Tiny Planner

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

Head to head
About

Penned

A minimalist handwriting app designed for privacy, keeping all your notes securely on your device. It features natural writing with Apple Pencil, on-device AI text recognition, and smart tagging for easy searching. Export your notes as PDFs in a clean, distraction-free interface.

Highlights
  • Natural Apple Pencil writing
  • On-device AI text recognition
  • 100% private, no cloud
  • Export beautiful PDFs
  • Smart tagging and search
  • Distraction-free interface
Features
Read full description

Your thoughts deserve privacy. Penned Notes is a minimalist handwriting app that keeps everything on your device. - Natural Apple Pencil writing - AI text recognition (on-device) - 100% private - zero cloud required - Export beautiful PDFs - Smart tagging & search - Clean, distraction-free interface Unlike other note apps, Penned Notes uses Apple's Neural Engine to recognize your handwriting locally and nothing leaves your device. No accounts, no tracking, no subscriptions to complex features you don't need. Perfect for: - Daily journaling - Class notes & studying - Meeting notes - Sketches & brainstorming - Sensitive work documents Privacy-first architecture means your notes stay truly yours. Download Penned Notes.  Where your thoughts are penned, not surveilled.

About

Tiny Planner

This app combines tasks, to-do lists, reminders, calendars, notes, and shopping lists into a single, powerful organizer. Capture ideas with text, image, and voice notes, and manage your schedule with a clear calendar view. All data syncs across iOS devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Integrated task and to-do list management
  • Calendar with month and schedule views
  • Rich note-taking with text, image, and voice
  • Customizable task colors and subtasks
  • iCloud data syncing across devices
  • Encrypted notebooks for privacy
Features
Read full description

Tiny Planner is a concise but powerful life management application that integrates tasks, to-do lists, reminders, calendars, notes, and shopping lists. All data is in one place without the need for additional applications. Furthermore, EverPlan supports syncing data between multiple iOS devices via iCloud. Currently, all application functions are open and free without ads! The powerful note-taking feature supports text, image, and voice notes, making it easy to record, organize, and capture your ideas. Main features: Tasks - Organize and manage all tasks with task lists and time. - Different types of tasks can be displayed in different colors. - Support adding subtasks, setting reminder alarms, and loop properties within tasks. - Easily copy tasks as events or notes with long press. Calendar - Quickly add tasks, events, and notes of the day by long-pressing on the calendar. - Month view provides an intuitive way to view tasks and notes of the day. - The calendar page can choose whether to display tasks and notes. - Quickly switch between month view and schedule list view. Notes - Various text editing tools. - Support inputting text, voice, and image, comprehensively recording every moment that is worth recording - support attachments in formats such as PDF, Word, PPT, TXT,HTML . - Support encrypting individual notebooks to protect privacy. - Quickly convert events or tasks to notes with long press. Our mission is to provide you with the best life management tool to make your daily life more convenient and efficient. If you encounter any difficulties or need help, we are more than willing to provide you with support and assistance. Please send an email to tinyplanner@fengge.io.

Screenshots

Penned4 screens
Tiny Planner4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Tiny Planner at Free against Penned's $4.99. Tiny Planner also leads on review sentiment (85% vs 50%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On rating, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Tiny Planner is free to download; Penned costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Penned against 4.7 for Tiny Planner. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 87 and 197 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of Penned's written reviews are positive against 85% of Tiny Planner's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Penned ships an update every 2 months, Tiny Planner every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and August 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Penned versus Tiny Planner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPennedTiny Planner
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (87 ratings)4.7 (197 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews85.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings87197 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB93 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEdwing H Santos MenaTinyWork Apps

Customer experience

Penned

All ratings87 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral3.4%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral21.4%
Negative28.6%

Tiny Planner

All ratings197 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral1.5%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews103 reviews
Positive85.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative11.7%

Bugs and requests

Penned

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Tiny Planner

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App crashes on iOS 12
  • Task checking functionality freezes after several days
  • Persistent calendar permission requests
  • Battery drain issues
  • Notification sound too quiet/short

Requested features

16 requests
  • Web browser access for desktop viewing
  • Mac app version
  • Apple Watch complication support
  • Automatic note saving without manual confirmation
  • Time-specific task scheduling
Show 11 more
  • Event sharing and invite capabilities
  • Recurring task time adjustment
  • Hourly day view and full-year calendar view
  • Task reordering via long-press
  • In-app feedback and bug report feature
  • Traditional Chinese language support
  • Arabic language support
  • App passcode/security lock
  • Longer and louder notification sounds
  • Import from iOS Notes app
  • Task drag-and-drop reordering

In-app purchases

None

Penned

No in-app purchases

None

Tiny Planner

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Penned free?
Penned costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tiny Planner free?
Tiny Planner is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Penned or Tiny Planner?
Tiny Planner is rated higher. Penned averages 4.6 out of 5 from 87 ratings, while Tiny Planner averages 4.7 from 197 ratings.
Do Penned or Tiny Planner have ads?
Neither Penned nor Tiny Planner shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Penned or Tiny Planner?
Penned ships an update every 2 months, and Tiny Planner every 3 weeks. Most recently, Penned was updated on September 22, 2026 and Tiny Planner on August 14, 2026.

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