Comparison

Jiff Journal vs smalltype

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

Head to head
About

Jiff Journal

This app helps you understand yourself better by journaling your life experiences and goals. Easily store and recall memories using text, feelings, or calendar search. Your entries are private, stored only on your devices and iCloud.

Highlights
  • Memory storage and recall
  • Search by text, feelings, calendar
  • Private, device-only storage
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Visualize memories by feeling
  • iCloud backup
Read full description

Do you want to know yourself better? Do you want to be clear about your life goals? Do you want to revere every notable experience in your life? Let Jiff Journal help you. Conserve your memories anytime, anywhere. It's an optimized journal where you can easily store tiny to large entries. And it has never been easier to recall your memories. You can search using text, feelings and calendar. Just mark your life journey and cherish it forever. Privacy matters: your entries are stored only on your devices and in your iCloud account, nobody else can access them. This app is free. With in-app purchases, you can buy Premium subscription. Being a Premium member, you can: - Visualize your memories based on the feeling you wrote them with. - Sync your entries across iPhone, iPad and Mac. Make sure you are signed in with the same iCloud account on each device, and that iCloud Drive is turned on. - Backup your data in your iCloud account. Make sure your iCloud Drive is turned on. Since backup is on your iCloud Account, only you can see your memories. Privacy Policy: https://indianmoody.github.io/jiff_journal_info/privacy_policy Terms and Conditions: https://indianmoody.github.io/jiff_journal_info/terms_and_conditions

About

smalltype

Read full description

Short notes, many times a day, saved as plain .md files in real folders. Open the same folder on your Mac in VS Code, Vim, or any editor. Calm, minimal, and ready for iPhone Duo. smalltype is for your notes. The small ones, the quick ones, the big ones, the unpolished ones. It's a fast, quiet place to type. ## Start No tutorial, no setup screen. Tap New Note and start typing. Leave one empty and it quietly disappears, so you never end up with a pile of blank untitled notes. That's the whole app. ## Yours Every note is a real .md file, sitting right there in the Files app. You can open it, copy it, or back it up yourself, anytime. Delete one and it still goes to Recently Deleted, same as any other file: nothing's gone for good. ## Sync or Don't Keep notes in iCloud Drive to have them on every device. Or keep them On My iPhone, fully local, never leaving your device. Either way, you can switch anytime. ## Visible Markdown Markdown markers stay gently visible as you type. What you see is exactly what's in the file. A bar above the keyboard types the markers for you, with undo and redo a tap away. ## Organize Folders, search, and quick note-making, all from one screen. Nothing to set up first. Put "daily" in a folder's name and new notes inside it get today's date as their name. ## No Catch No ads. No subscription. No tracking. No account, ever. Markdown notes. Yours to keep.

Screenshots

Jiff Journal4 screens
smalltype4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: smalltype at none against Jiff Journal's 2. smalltype also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 4 months). Jiff Journal's advantage is device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On price and 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

Both are free to download. Jiff Journal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. smalltype asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Jiff Journal ships an update every 4 months, smalltype every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Jiff Journal versus smalltype: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJiff Journalsmalltype
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB8 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperGaurav BishnoiHerman Haidin

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Jiff Journal

Subscriptions2
  • Jiff All Access$0.991 Month
  • Jiff All Access$5.991 Year
None

smalltype

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Jiff Journal free?
Jiff Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is smalltype free?
smalltype is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Jiff Journal or smalltype have ads?
Neither Jiff Journal nor smalltype shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Jiff Journal or smalltype?
Jiff Journal ships an update every 4 months, and smalltype every 5 days. Most recently, Jiff Journal was updated on October 5, 2026 and smalltype on October 8, 2026.

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