# Penned vs Tiny Planner

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.

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.

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.

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.

## The numbers

| Metric | Penned | Tiny Planner |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $4.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | [4.6 (87 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/penned-private-notes/id1480653765/reviews) | **[4.7 (197 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tiny-planner-daily-organizer/id1546838683/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 87 | **197** |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | **85.4% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 3 weeks** |
| Monetization | Paid | **Free** |
| Size | 1 MB | 93 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | **12.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Edwing H Santos Mena](https://appshunter.io/developer/1851857999) | [TinyWork Apps](https://appshunter.io/developer/1289515980) |

## What reviewers say

### Penned

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/penned-private-notes/id1480653765)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


### Tiny Planner

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tiny-planner-daily-organizer/id1546838683)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Clean, intuitive, and easy-to-use interface
- 🎨 Beautiful and polished design
- ⚡ Fast and responsive performance
- 📅 Effective integration of calendar, tasks, and notes
- 🎯 Simple yet powerful planning functionality

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔋 High battery drain on some devices
- 🔒 Lack of security features (no passcode/Face ID)
- 💾 Notes require manual saving (must click checkmark)
- ⚠️ Persistent permission requests despite user denial
- 🐛 App freezing and task checking functionality issues

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

- Web browser access for desktop viewing
- Mac app version
- Apple Watch complication support
- Automatic note saving without manual confirmation
- Time-specific task scheduling


## Frequently asked 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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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*