Chronicling vs Simple Scan
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chronicling
This app provides a flexible way to monitor habits, health, mood, and daily activities. It offers customizable tracking options, quick logging methods, and insightful data visualization to help users identify patterns and maintain consistency. Secure syncing and data export are also available.
- All-in-one habit and health tracking
- Fully customizable categories
- Fast and effortless logging
- Smart reminders for goals
- Detailed data logging (notes, numbers)
- Visual insights and trends
- Private and secure iCloud sync
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Track anything that matters to you - and nothing that doesn't. Chronicling is a flexible tracking app with no fixed categories or preset goals. Whether you want to track habits, routines, mood, symptoms, medications, workouts, or something only you care about, every category is yours to define. Chronicling helps you spot patterns and stay consistent. - Track anything, your way: Create your own categories with custom icons, colors, and date ranges - Fast, effortless logging: Add events quickly using widgets, Control Center, and Shortcuts - Smart notifications: Set daily goals, rolling goals, or time-based reminders for any category - Track more detail: Log notes or numbers such as workout minutes, steps, distance, or pages read - Clear insights and trends: Visualize your data with charts and statistics across different time periods - Private and secure sync: Sync seamlessly across devices with iCloud - Built for automation: Use Shortcuts to trigger events automatically - from workouts to locations - Export and own your data: Import and export using CSV or single-file backups "If you're looking for a flexible approach to tracking events in your life and want to try an app with an excellent, modern design that supports the latest iOS and iPadOS technologies, be sure to give Chronicling a try." — MacStories If you have questions, suggestions, or any other feedback, please contact me at support@chroniclingapp.com. Subscriptions to Chronicling Premium will automatically renew unless canceled within 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial will be forfeited if you purchase a subscription. For more information, see https://chroniclingapp.com/terms-of-use/ and https://chroniclingapp.com/privacy-policy/.
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
The clearest difference is rating: Simple Scan at 4.9 against Chronicling's 4.7. Simple Scan also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 79%) and ratings volume (660 vs 184). Chronicling's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). 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. Chronicling sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 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.
Simple Scan holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 184 and 660 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Chronicling's written reviews are positive against 87% of Simple Scan's.
Chronicling ships an update every 2 weeks, Simple Scan every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 21, 2026.
| Parameter | Chronicling | Simple Scan |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (184 ratings) | 4.9 (660 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.9% of reviews | 87.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 184 | 660 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.4 | 17.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 94 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rebecca Owen | Agile Tortoise |
Customer experience
Chronicling
Simple Scan
Bugs and requests
Chronicling
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
Chronicling
- Premium Monthly14 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Premium Annual14 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Premium Lifetime$39.99
Simple Scan
- Pro - Annual$9.991 Year
- Pro - Lifetime$39.99









