Comparison

Timeline Journal vs Ghost Markdown

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

Head to head
About

Timeline Journal

Capture your thoughts and memories effortlessly with a clean, intuitive interface. This app offers a simple way to journal, track your day, and revisit past entries, with optional features like photo and voice recording available via subscription.

Highlights
  • No clutter or sign-up required
  • Offline functionality
  • Social media-like design
  • Write diary entries quickly
  • View past memories
  • iCloud sync
  • Dark Mode and Widgets
Features
Read full description

Journal without the friction. Timeline Journal turns your thoughts, photos, and voice notes into a beautiful personal timeline you will want to revisit. Open the app and start writing. There is no account, no sign-up, and no unnecessary setup. Whether you are saving a quick thought, a travel memory, a meaningful photo, or a longer reflection, Timeline keeps the moment exactly where it belongs. CAPTURE MOMENTS YOUR WAY • Write quick notes or detailed journal entries • Add photos from your library or take one in the moment • Record voice notes or attach audio from Files • Change an entry’s date to place memories in the right moment • Add entries quickly by pulling down on your timeline ONE LIFE, MANY TIMELINES Create separate timelines for travel, family, work, gratitude, personal reflections, or anything else that matters to you. Keep every part of your life organized without losing the simplicity of one continuous story. REDISCOVER WHAT MATTERS Past Memories brings back entries from this day in previous years. Search your journal by words, date, or timeline whenever you want to find a particular moment. PRIVATE AND AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE • No account or sign-in required • Works without an internet connection • Protect the app with Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode • Keep entries updated across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud sync • Export all your entries or a single timeline as a PDF MAKE IT YOURS Choose your favorite accent color and app icon, use Dark Mode, add helpful widgets, and enable an optional daily reminder when you want a gentle nudge to write. TIMELINE PLUS Unlock photos, voice recordings, multiple timelines, app lock, customization, and other Plus features across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Choose a yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled before the end of the current period. Available options and localized prices are shown before purchase. Timeline is made for people who want to remember more without turning journaling into another complicated task. Terms of Use: https://umayanga.wixsite.com/timeline/terms Privacy Policy: https://umayanga.wixsite.com/timeline/privacy Note: All the users who downloaded the iOS app prior to the release of version 6.0 will get all the extra features on iOS and iPadOS without any additional payment.

About

Ghost Markdown

Features
Read full description

Ghost.md is a notes app in plain Markdown with an AI assistant built in. Every note is a Markdown file on your iPhone, and the assistant can read it, write in it and plan with it while you watch. AN AI ASSISTANT, IN THE APP Ask from the dock at the head of any page. Bring your own API key, kept on this iPhone, and choose the model and how much effort it puts in. The assistant searches and reads your notes, then makes and changes them: the note opens and the words are typed in as it writes them, and the chat shows its thinking as it goes. Write requests in a note of their own and the assistant works through them. YOUR AI ASSISTANT'S OWN APP, CONNECTED With an account, connect your AI assistant's own app to Ghost.md's connector. From there the assistant can list, search, read, write and add to your notes, and you see it at work in Ghost.md, on the note it is writing. YOUR CALENDAR Sign in to your calendar, or add any calendar's subscription address. Today's events sit on the home page above your to-dos, and a query lists them or lays them on a calendar beside your to-dos. Switch it on and every to-do with a due date goes onto the calendar you signed in to, moved when its date changes and taken off when it is done. PLUGINS FOR THE TOOLS YOU USE The AI assistant, Calendar, Contacts, Webhooks and code repositories are built in, each switched on or off on one page that says plainly what it reaches. Link a note to a code repository and its list items become issues you can tick off from either side. Contacts puts a person's picture on the to-dos that name them, a tap away from a call, a text or an email. Webhooks tell a URL of yours when a note changes, and give you URLs that add to a note, for the automations you already run. THE MARKDOWN CORE Headings, lists, to-dos, tables, code, footnotes and links between notes, drawn as you type with the marks left dimmed, so a note reads the same anywhere. Seven marks of Ghost.md's own: highlight, aside, unsure, redact, shout, added, and spoiler, which sits in smoke until you tap it. Diagrams and gantt timelines are drawn from text in the note and open full screen. Add pictures from your photos or the camera. BOARDS, TICKETS AND QUERIES A list can be a board, with cards you move between columns. A note can be a ticket, with its status, assignee, priority and due date kept at its top. A query gathers notes, to-dos, tickets or events from across your library and draws them live, as a board, a table, a list, a calendar or a timeline. NOTEBOOKS, JOURNALS AND CANVASES Notes gather into a notebook with an index, to read page by page or straight through. A journal keeps an entry for each time you write, named by the minute. A canvas puts cards on a page with lines between them, saved in an open file format. WORKSPACES AND TEAMS File notes under workspaces to keep work and home apart. With an account, make an organization and invite people by their handle. It gets a workspace of its own on each member's devices. SYNC AND PRIVACY No account is needed. Without one, your notes stay on your iPhone and nothing of yours is on any server. Sign in and your notes are the same on your iPhone, on a Mac and in a browser, sealed on the device before they leave. The server cannot read them, and your password never leaves the device. The AI assistant sees only what you ask it and the notes it reads to answer, sent to your AI provider with your own key. Delete the account in Settings and everything it kept goes with it. No ads, no analytics, no tracking.

Screenshots

Timeline Journal4 screens
Ghost Markdown4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ghost Markdown at none against Timeline Journal's 3. Ghost Markdown also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 5 weeks) and review sentiment (100% vs 90%). Timeline Journal's advantage is ratings volume (34 vs 1). On price, rating, ads and device support 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. Timeline Journal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Ghost Markdown asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ghost Markdown holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Timeline Journal has 34 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 90% of Timeline Journal's written reviews are positive against 100% of Ghost Markdown's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Timeline Journal ships an update every 5 weeks, Ghost Markdown every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Timeline Journal versus Ghost Markdown: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTimeline JournalGhost Markdown
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (34 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings34 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPod, Mac
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB57 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUmayanga AlahakoonMatt Wisniewski

Customer experience

Timeline Journal

All ratings32 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.1%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral7.5%
Negative2.5%

Ghost Markdown

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Timeline Journal

Subscriptions2
  • Timeline Plus Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Timeline Plus Yearly$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Timeline Plus (Lifetime)$12.99
None

Ghost Markdown

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Timeline Journal free?
Timeline Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ghost Markdown free?
Ghost Markdown is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Timeline Journal or Ghost Markdown?
Ghost Markdown is rated higher. Timeline Journal averages 4.8 out of 5 from 34 ratings, while Ghost Markdown averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Timeline Journal or Ghost Markdown have ads?
Neither Timeline Journal nor Ghost Markdown shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Timeline Journal or Ghost Markdown?
Timeline Journal ships an update every 5 weeks, and Ghost Markdown every 3 days. Most recently, Timeline Journal was updated on October 22, 2026 and Ghost Markdown on October 24, 2026.

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