Comparison

Calarm vs Jotley

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

Head to head
About

Calarm

This app automatically wakes you before your first calendar event and alerts you to upcoming events throughout the day. It offers customizable alarms for all calendar entries, including all-day events and birthdays, with options to snooze, mute, or cancel specific alerts.

Highlights
  • Automatic alarms for calendar events
  • Bedtime reminders
  • Customizable alarm cancellation and muting
  • Quick alarms for naps
  • Event display on lock screen
  • Adjustable snooze interval
  • Sync settings across devices
Features
Read full description

Never oversleep a meeting, class, or any other event again! Simply open the app, and you're ready to go! This app will automatically wake you up every day before your first calendar event and alert you about events during the day. • Alarms for all calendar events, including all-day and birthdays • Bedtime reminders • Ability to cancel specific alarms • Ability to mute specific alarms • Ability to change alert time for specific alarms • Quick alarms - great for naps • Send Quick alarms as a reminder to a friend • No need to customize events • No need to open the calendar app • Select which calendars make alarms • Adjustable wake up time • Separate time interval for daytime events • Reads calendar app, so no internet connection is needed • Snooze any event • 5-15 minute adjustable snooze interval • Shows event on the lock screen with time until event and location • Control alarms for busy or free events • 31 different alarm sounds • Set up behaviors to better customize to your needs • 12/24 hour clock • Control event behavior from notes • See alarm location, time, end time, and calendar • Alarms can be defaulted to on, off, or muted • Set default time to wake up each day • Sync settings across all your devices App must be opened to find new calendar events

About

Jotley

This AI-powered app transforms voice recordings, videos, and articles into searchable transcripts, concise summaries, and actionable items. Capture ideas on the go and access them across your Apple devices.

Highlights
  • Voice note recording
  • Automatic transcript generation
  • AI-powered summarization
  • Video and article processing
  • AI-driven question answering
  • Cross-device iCloud sync
  • Obsidian export
Features
Read full description

Jotley is completely free to use — a voice notes app for iPhone or iPad, built natively for Apple Intelligence. Transcribe your voice live and create useful summaries right on your device. No audio files are saved. WORKS OFFLINE Once Apple's on-device models are ready, no internet connection is required to transcribe, summarize, ask about a note, edit, search or organize your notes. Use Jotley without Wi-Fi or cellular data. No Jotley account, subscription or remote AI service is required. YOUR NOTES AND TRANSCRIPTS — PROCESSED ON YOUR DEVICE Your microphone input is transcribed live on your iPhone or iPad using Apple's on-device speech models; audio is processed in memory and is never saved as a recording. Every summary, automatically generated note title and Ask AI answer is created locally with Apple Intelligence. Your audio, notes, transcripts and summaries are never sent to Jotley servers, remote AI providers or cloud AI services for processing. With iCloud sync turned off, your notes, transcripts, summaries and Ask AI conversations stay on that device too — Jotley does not send them anywhere unless you choose to share or export them. If you leave iCloud sync enabled, note content, including transcripts, summaries and Ask AI conversations, syncs to your private Apple iCloud account. This optional sync is on by default; it is separate from transcription and summarization, which always happen on-device. TRANSCRIBE LIVE Capture voice notes, meetings, lectures, interviews and ideas directly from your microphone. Watch your transcript update as you speak. Pause, resume, or use Continue Transcription to add words to an existing note. Jotley saves your transcript, not an audio file. SUMMARIZE WITH APPLE INTELLIGENCE Turn transcripts into concise summaries, meeting notes or study notes with Apple's installed on-device model. Untitled notes receive a descriptive title when you summarize them. ASK AI ABOUT YOUR NOTE Ask questions about a transcript and get answers from Apple Intelligence on your device. Keep the conversation with your note, copy or share an answer, and clear chat history whenever you want. Long notes use relevant excerpts; no remote AI service processes your questions or note content. TRANSCRIPTION WIDGETS AND LIVE ACTIVITIES Start a voice note from a Jotley Home Screen widget. See your live transcription timer on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island on supported iPhones, with pause, resume and stop controls. KEEP YOUR NOTES ORGANIZED Tap + to start transcribing immediately. Stop to open your saved transcript note. Organize notes with folders and tags, search your library, and share or export notes, transcripts and summaries. On iPad, view your note list and selected note side by side. ONE-TIME MODEL SETUP Speech uses a separate Apple model for your selected language. If it is missing, choose Set Up On-Device Speech in Jotley's Settings while connected to the internet. This one-time setup installs the model from Apple; transcription then works offline. Summaries require Apple Intelligence enabled with its on-device model ready. Speech setup must finish before live transcription starts. Existing notes remain saved if a model is unavailable. This update removes previous iPhone and iPad audio files while preserving notes, transcripts and summaries. REQUIREMENTS Requires iOS or iPadOS 27 or later and Apple Intelligence-capable hardware: iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, iPhone 16 or newer, iPhone Air, iPad with M1 or later, or iPad mini with A17 Pro. COMPLETELY FREE No subscriptions, in-app purchases or paid features. Use Jotley freely for personal notes or paid work. Source code is available on GitHub: https://github.com/protomota/jotley Jotley’s source-available license permits use, modification and noncommercial redistribution; commercial distribution requires permission from Protomota, LLC. Third-party components retain their own licenses.

Screenshots

Calarm4 screens
Jotley4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Jotley at Free against Calarm's $1.99. Jotley also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.8) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 6 weeks). Calarm's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ratings volume (13 vs 2). On ads, monetization model 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

Jotley is free to download; Calarm costs $1.99 up front. Jotley sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Calarm asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Jotley holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calarm has 13 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calarm ships an update every 6 weeks, Jotley every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Calarm versus Jotley: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalarmJotley
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating2.8 (13 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews45.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings13 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DevelopersquishLogicProtomota, LLC

Customer experience

Calarm

All ratings13 ratings
Positive30.8%
Neutral15.4%
Negative53.8%
Written reviews37 reviews
Positive45.9%
Neutral8.1%
Negative45.9%

Jotley

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Calarm

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Jotley

Subscriptions4
  • Essential Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Unlimited Monthly$19.991 Month
  • Essential Annual$79.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Unlimited Annual$159.991 Year

Questions

Is Calarm free?
Calarm costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Jotley free?
Jotley is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Calarm or Jotley?
Jotley is rated higher. Calarm averages 2.8 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Jotley averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Calarm or Jotley have ads?
Neither Calarm nor Jotley shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Calarm or Jotley?
Calarm ships an update every 6 weeks, and Jotley every 5 days. Most recently, Calarm was updated on October 24, 2026 and Jotley on October 18, 2026.

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