Plinky vs Simple Scan
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Plinky
Easily save and organize links from any app or browser to access later across all your Apple devices. Features include tagging, folders, reminders, and customizable widgets for quick access. Offers a free tier with an optional Pro subscription for unlimited features.
- Save links from any app or browser
- Organize with folders and tags
- Set reminders for links
- Customizable widgets
- Syncs across iPhone, iPad, and Mac
- API for developers
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Plinky is the easiest way to save links from any device, so you can enjoy them later. READ IT LATER Save articles, recipes, newsletters, videos, social posts, and more to read later — from apps like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Etsy, and The New York Times, or from any browser including Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. Plinky keeps everything in one place across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so you can stop losing links in notes apps and endless browser tabs. VIEW YOUR SAVED LINKS View all of your saved links on any Apple device, whenever you're ready to come back to them. Search helps you find any link you've saved, and you can even pin links to the top of your home feed for easy access. ORGANIZE YOUR LINKS Use Folders and Tags to organize your links based on common themes. Plinky adapts to how you think, not the other way around. Not sure where to start? Choose from suggested tags including: News, Videos, Recipes, Entertainment, Fitness, Games, Productivity, and more. REMINDERS Never lose track of an important link again. Set a reminder for: • A link you want to show a friend later today. • A recipe to cook tomorrow at 6 p.m. • February 29, 2028, at 12:01 a.m. — because you’re already planning for the next leap day. Your links will resurface when you need them, right in Plinky — no to-do list apps required. CUSTOMIZE PLINKY You can make Plinky yours by customizing how your links, tags, and folders look and feel. Everyone has their preferences and Plinky respects that, you can change how everything looks from colors to design to layout. This makes Plinky *your* tool, whether you want an inbox for your links, a place for links to read later, or your personal archive of the web. WIDGETS Add Plinky's widgets to your Home Screen, Lock Screen, or Control center. All beautiful and fully customizable to view your Recent Links, Pinned Links, or the links from a Folder or Tag — anywhere you want. SHORTCUTS Anything you can do in Plinky you can do in Shortcuts, allowing you to build powerful workflows that use your links saved in Plinky with other apps, or use other apps to save links in Plinky. These work on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, or from Spotlight and Siri. It’s never been easier to save or find a link no matter where you are or what you’re doing. SAVE LINKS FROM ANYWHERE If Plinky’s share extension on iPhone and iPad, browser extensions, and custom integrations aren’t enough, Plinky also supports an API for developers to save links how they want to save links. And to top it all off, Plinky Mini is available on the Mac App Store. GET MORE WITH PLINKY PRO You can try Plinky and save links for free, but to get the best of Plinky you can subscribe to Plinky Pro. With Plinky Pro you get access to unlimited saved links, tags, folders, reminders, and pinned links. Plinky Pro offers two auto-renewing subscription options: Annual subscription: $39.99 / year Monthly subscription: $3.99 / month The subscription will automatically renew unless turned off in your iTunes Account Settings at least 24 hours before the current period ends. You can go to your iTunes Account settings to manage your subscription and turn off auto-renew. Your iTunes Account will be charged when the purchase is confirmed. You can also choose a lifetime option with one payment of $159.99 that will never renew. Read Plinky’s privacy policy here: https://plinky.app/docs/privacy-policy Read Pinky's terms of service here: https://plinky.app/docs/terms-of-service
Simple Scan
Easily convert paper documents into searchable PDFs or images in seconds. This app offers a streamlined scanning experience without cluttering your existing notes, with options to share directly via email, messages, or other applications. Enjoy private, on-device processing with no ads.
- Scan documents to PDF or JPEG
- Searchable PDFs with OCR
- Share scans via email, messages, or system share sheet
- Custom file destinations
- File naming suggestions (Apple Intelligence required)
- On-device processing
- No ads
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Simple Scan is the quick, easy way to scan paper documents to optimized, searchable PDF documents (or images) and send them almost anywhere. ## FEATURES ## * Same great scanning functionality as Notes, but no need to clutter your notes data with one-off scans * Create high-resolution multi-page PDFs from your paper documents * PDFs are searchable thanks to automatic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) * Built for simplicity. Just scan and send – no document library * Send scans via email or messages. Save to a file, or "Share" use to send to other apps via the system share sheet * Set up message destinations with pre-filled recipients for easy "Email to Myself" and other common uses * Custom file destinations save scans directly to a pre-selected folder without extra taps * File naming suggestions, such as names, dates, pulled from the scanned document (requires Apple Intelligence) * Save scans directly to Photos * Option to output as images (JPEG) instead of PDF * Quality option to control file size * Never any ads. Ever. * Private and on-device. All scan processing is done locally on your device. ## SIMPLE SCAN PRO ## Simple Scan is free to download and try! To continue using Simple Scan, unlock Simple Scan Pro--available as a low-cost, annual subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock purchase. ## SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS ## * Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase * Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is disabled at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period * Automatic renewals will be charged at the same price you were initially charged for the subscription * Subscriptions can be managed or canceled by going to Account Settings on the App Store after purchase Have questions? Email support@agiletortoise.com. Terms: https://agiletortoise.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://agiletortoise.com/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
Plinky and Simple Scan both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 88% of Simple Scan's written reviews are positive against 70% of Plinky's. Simple Scan also leads on ratings volume (672 vs 167) and iOS requirement (17.4 vs 26.5). On price, rating, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Plinky sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Simple Scan sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Plinky against 4.9 for Simple Scan. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 167 and 672 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Plinky's written reviews are positive against 88% of Simple Scan's.
Plinky ships an update every 3 weeks, Simple Scan monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Plinky | Simple Scan |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (167 ratings) | 4.9 (672 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews | 87.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 167 | 672 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.5 | 17.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 183 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Red Panda Club Inc. | Agile Tortoise |
Customer experience
Plinky
Simple Scan
User reviews
Plinky
From 167 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Useful for saving links
- 👍 Great for organizing links
- 👍 Simple and practical
- 👍 Easy to use share extension
- 👍 Visually appealing design
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes on launch
- 🐛 In-app purchase broken
- 🐛 Not user-friendly for organizing
- 🐛 Outdated UI
- 🐛 No Chrome/Windows support
Simple Scan
From 672 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great interface
- 🚀 Fast and efficient
- 🔒 No ads or privacy concerns
- 💡 Customizable workflows
- 👍 Simple and straightforward
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes
- 🔧 Cropping could be improved
- 🔧 Inability to name scans before saving
Bugs and requests
Plinky
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes on launch
- In-app purchase not working
- Loud saving noise even when phone is on silent
- Cannot save emails
- Force Quit required to exit app
Requested features
4 requests- Google authentication option
- Option to select folders when saving links
- Ability to save emails
- Sync across multiple devices via iCloud
Simple Scan
Reported bugs
2 issues- Crashes on multi-page scans for some users
- Issues with importing files from other apps
Requested features
3 requests- Ability to tag scans
- Favorite file/app destination options
- More image adjustment tools
In-app purchases
Plinky
- Plinky Pro$3.991 Month
- Plinky Pro$39.991 Year
- Plinky Pro (New User Offer)$39.991 Year
- Plinky Lifetime Unlock$159.99
Simple Scan
- Pro - Annual$9.991 Year
- Pro - Lifetime$39.99








