Comparison

HiFutureSelf vs Deepen

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

Head to head
About

HiFutureSelf

Send messages to your future self or friends, scheduled for delivery at a specific time. This app helps you remember important tasks, offer encouragement, or share memories.

Highlights
  • Schedule future messages
  • Send messages to yourself
  • Send messages to friends
  • Add photos to messages
  • Home screen widget
  • Set repeating reminders
Features
Read full description

Send messages to your future self! Write a note. Pick a moment: a date, a time, or a place. HiFutureSelf delivers it exactly when you need it. Your grocery list as you walk into the store. A pep talk before the gym. A quiet "breathe" as you step out the door. The simplest reminder app you'll ever use. And the most thoughtful. *Celebrating 16 years on the App Store!* WHAT YOU CAN SEND • A note to yourself tomorrow, next month, or ten years from now. • A voice memo recording for your future self. • A photo, a face, a moment, a memory to land at the right time. • A secret message to a friend. Surprise the people you love with a note that arrives exactly when they need it. WHEN IT ARRIVES IS UP TO YOU • Any future date and time, down to the minute. • The moment you arrive at or leave a place. • Hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or on the specific days you choose. • Pause anytime with a swipe. Resume the same way. BUILT TO STAY OUT OF YOUR WAY • 5 home screen widgets so your upcoming messages are always in view. • Light and dark mode, matched to your iOS theme automatically. • A library of motivational messages for the days the words won't come. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts. No ads. No tracking. No in-app purchases. No data collection. Your messages live on your device, with optional iCloud sync. Works fully offline. Download HiFutureSelf. Free. Start writing to the version of you who'll need it most.

About

Deepen

Transform passive reading into active learning by speaking your thoughts aloud. This app creates a personal knowledge map from your spoken insights, connecting ideas across all the books you read. It helps you remember what you've learned and query your own reading history.

Highlights
  • Log pages read and track progress
  • Answer spoken questions about content
  • Generate concept maps from spoken answers
  • Connect ideas across multiple books
  • Query your personal reading library
  • Save lookup words and memorable passages
  • Import Goodreads shelves
Features
Read full description

You finish a chapter, feel like you understood it, and a month later almost nothing is left. That is the normal outcome of reading, not a personal failing. Reading is passive: the text goes in, feels clear, and leaves no trace you can retrieve. Deepen makes it active, and it takes about a minute. HOW IT WORKS 1. Log the pages you read. Your progress bar moves. 2. Deepen asks you one open question. "What was the author actually arguing there?" or "What did you disagree with?" 3. You answer out loud, in your own words, for about a minute. 4. Your answer comes back as concepts, connections, and the questions you still have. 5. Those concepts join a map of everything you have ever read. Speaking an idea back in your own words is retrieval practice, which is the best-evidenced way to turn reading into memory. Almost nobody does it, because writing notes is work. Talking for a minute is not. THE MAP IS THE POINT Every concept you articulate becomes a node. When the same idea shows up in a second book, Deepen links them without being asked. Over a few months you stop having a pile of separate books and start having one connected body of reading. Read something about legitimacy in a history book, meet it again in a book about organizations, and the map shows you the two are talking to each other. ASK YOUR OWN LIBRARY Ask a question in plain language and get an answer built only from what you have said about the books you have actually read. Not the internet. Your own words, with the notes they came from listed underneath. NOTHING IS EVER SCORED Deepen does not test you chapter by chapter. Nobody wants to be graded on their evening. The questions after each session are open and never scored, because the point is to make you think, not to make you correct. When you finish a book, it asks once more: what will you still be thinking about in a year? Your answer joins the map like any other. It is a lap of honour, not an exam. ALSO IN THE APP - Keep the words you had to look up, with the book you met them in - Keep the passages worth remembering, and share one as a sticker - Scan a barcode to add a book, or import your Goodreads shelves - A home screen widget showing the book you are on WORKS WITH PAPER Deepen never asks what you are reading on. Paper, library copy, hardback, secondhand, an ebook, a PDF. You talk, so it does not matter. Nothing to sync, no highlights to export, no cable. BUILT TO BE PRIVATE Your notes and your map live on your iPhone. The map is computed on the device, so it works with no signal at all. There is no account and no sign-up. FOR PEOPLE WHO READ ON PURPOSE Deepen is for nonfiction readers who want the reading to stick: students, researchers, people working through a field, anyone who has ever finished a good book and been unable to say what it argued. DEEPEN PRO Deepen is free to try. Pro unlocks unlimited recaps, the map across every book, and Ask. - Monthly: $5.99 - Annual: $49.99 with a 7-day free trial Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://chamallox.github.io/deepen-legal/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support : https://chamallox.github.io/deepen-legal/support/

Screenshots

HiFutureSelf4 screens
Deepen4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HiFutureSelf at none against Deepen's 3. HiFutureSelf also leads on ratings volume (554 vs 1). Deepen's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 81%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Deepen sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. HiFutureSelf asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Deepen holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HiFutureSelf has 554 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of HiFutureSelf's written reviews are positive against 100% of Deepen's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HiFutureSelf ships an update every 2 weeks, Deepen every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
HiFutureSelf versus Deepen: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHiFutureSelfDeepen
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (554 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings554 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDBElement, LLCFrancois Sempe

Customer experience

HiFutureSelf

All ratings553 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral2.0%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews195 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral5.6%
Negative13.3%

Deepen

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

Bugs and requests

HiFutureSelf

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Reminders not sending at the correct time
  • Unexpected deletion of existing reminders
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more customization options for reminders (e.g., repeat on specific days, delayed notifications)
  • Implement a search or sorting function for sent reminders
  • Integrate with other productivity apps or calendars
  • Add support for voice commands or voice reminders
  • Provide more sound and notification options

Deepen

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

HiFutureSelf

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Deepen

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Weekly$6.997 Days
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$79.991 Year

Questions

Is HiFutureSelf free?
HiFutureSelf is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Deepen free?
Deepen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, HiFutureSelf or Deepen?
Deepen is rated higher. HiFutureSelf averages 4.8 out of 5 from 554 ratings, while Deepen averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do HiFutureSelf or Deepen have ads?
Neither HiFutureSelf nor Deepen shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HiFutureSelf or Deepen?
HiFutureSelf ships an update every 2 weeks, and Deepen every 5 days. Most recently, HiFutureSelf was updated on October 22, 2026 and Deepen on October 23, 2026.

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