Zavala vs Held
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Zavala
This app offers a modern approach to outlining, providing a full suite of features. It supports gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and multiple windows for efficient organization and content creation. Easily import and export in various formats, sync across devices, and customize your outlining experience.
- OPML Import & Export
- Markdown Export
- iCloud Syncing & Sharing
- Nested Tags
- Image Embedding
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Drag and Drop
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Zavala is a modern take on a traditional outliner. It is a full featured app. It takes full advantage of your device by leveraging gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and multiple windows. Other features: * OPML import & export * Markdown import & export * HTML import & export * iCloud syncing * iCloud sharing with other iCloud users * Encrypted outlines and encrypted iCloud sync * Nested Tags for organizing Outlines * Support for embedding images * Print support * Drag and drop * Text formatting * Links * Completed items * Notes * Customizable fonts and sizes * Backlinks * Shortcuts support * Web clipper share extension * Typewriter scrolling * Automatic row numbering including Decimal and Legal numbering
Held
This app helps you achieve your goals by making them public and accountable. Set deadlines, choose a witness, and receive regular check-ins and reminders to stay on track. Your progress is recorded in an honest ledger, ensuring permanent verdicts on your commitments.
- Set goals with deadlines and witnesses
- Daily or weekly check-ins
- Honest progress ledger
- Customizable reminders
- Private by design, no account needed
- JSON data export
- Stakes and renegotiation options
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Goals fail quietly. Held makes them loud. A goal doesn't exist here until it has a deadline and a witness — someone you name, who gets your commitment in writing. Held walks you through it in three steps: the goal, the timeline, the person who will hold you to it. Give it a photograph too, if you want one. Then it sends your commitment through your own Messages or Mail, and the clock starts. THE DAY MARKER Open the app and one number faces you: the day you're on, out of the days you have. No dashboards, no confetti. Just the count. CHECK-INS ON A FIXED CADENCE Daily or weekly — you pick the rhythm when you commit. On check-in days Held asks for three honest things: on track, behind, or done; one line of progress; one next step. Add a photograph too, if you want one. Then it composes the message to your witness. You send it yourself. AN HONEST LEDGER Miss a check-in and it goes on the record. It stays on the record, and your next message to your witness owns up to it. Any photograph you added sits beside that day's line. On deadline day the ledger demands a verdict: kept or missed. Verdicts are permanent. REMINDERS THAT HOLD YOU TO IT A reminder on every check-in day, at the hour you choose. An evening nudge if the check-in is still open. A warning three days from the deadline, another the day before, and a final one when the ledger wants its verdict. Optional daily nudges for weekly goals. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No backend. No analytics. Everything lives on your device, with JSON export whenever you want your data. Held never sends anything on your behalf — every message goes out through your own apps, in your own name. Also: a progress bar on every goal, renegotiation (changing a deal means telling your witness first), stakes ("if I miss, I owe Sandy a spa day"), multiple goals and witnesses, and an interface with nothing to fiddle with. Put something on the line.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Zavala at 68 against Held's 4. Held's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and review sentiment (100% vs 88%). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Held holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zavala has 68 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Zavala's written reviews are positive against 100% of Held's.
Zavala ships an update every 2 weeks, Held every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Zavala | Held |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (68 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 68 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vincode, Inc | Theodor Younany |
Customer experience
Zavala
Held
In-app purchases
Zavala
No in-app purchases
Held
No in-app purchases









