Comparison

Finalist vs Flowstate

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

Head to head
About

Finalist

This app combines your calendar, tasks, reminders, and weather into a single, visually appealing timeline. It integrates with your journal and activity data to inspire your planning. Enjoy a beautiful and joyful planning experience without complex workflows.

Highlights
  • Unified timeline view
  • Calendar, task, and reminder integration
  • Weather forecast display
  • Journal and activity ring integration
  • Customizable themes
  • Native Apple technology integration
Features
Read full description

Inspired by paper planners, Finalist shows your calendar, tasks, notes, reminders and weather forecast in one beautiful timeline. It even pulls in your Journal Suggestions and Activity Rings to keep you inspired. Gorgeous themes make planning a joy, not a chore. Finalist is built for people who finish things, no complex workflows or productivity theater. NOTES, IN YOUR PLANNER Your planner remembers what you wrote. A dedicated Notes tab gives you notebooks, tags and search. Keep native notes that sync over iCloud, or connect a folder of plain markdown files, including your Obsidian vault, and edit them in place. Tasks inside your markdown files become real Finalist tasks: dated, tagged and checkable anywhere in the app. YOUR DAY, ON YOUR WRIST The Apple Watch app puts your whole day one glance away: events, tasks, reminders and habits in one scrollable view, topped by a Now card that always knows what matters next. Check off pinned lists from the wrist, grocery list included, and add tasks by keyboard, scribble or dictation. Complications and a Smart Stack widget round it out. (Requires watchOS 26.) DESIGN YOUR DAY Choose between two Daily designs: Daybook, the classic stacked layout, or Broadsheet, a newsprint-inspired look that shines on iPad and Mac. Rearrange sections with the layout editor and save your own presets. On the rebuilt Timeline, drag tasks onto the grid to sketch your day in pencil, then commit when it's real. "I've tried dozens of planning apps, this is the one that finally works." - Beta user "The integration of Reminders and Lists reduces the apps I need daily and makes planning actually fun." - Beta user Built with native Apple technologies: no accounts to create, syncs over iCloud, supports Family Sharing, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro and Mac. Full database backup, export and import via JSON and OPML. Finalist is a love letter to paper planners. Give it a try, it feels great :) Purchasing information To get the full functionality in Finalist you will need to either purchase a subscription or a one time In-App Purchase for Lifetime access. The purchase amount will be applied to your iTunes account. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. Lifetime purchase is a one-time fee. For more information, see our Terms of Use at https://finalist.works/eula/ and our Privacy Policy at https://finalist.works/privacy-policy/

About

Flowstate

Features
Read full description

Your handwriting knows Things a keyboard never will Safe in its new home Flowstate is the bridge between deep thinking and your digital world. Capture handwritten notes and voice memos—then we transcribe, format, and deliver them to Obsidian, Notion, and more. Set up custom note-taking workflows once, and reuse them with a single tap. CAPTURE YOUR WAY • Snap a photo of handwritten notes • Record a voice memo • Upload a file or PDF • Email notes from your e-ink tablet to your unique Flowstate address • Share text or audio from any app on your phone FLOWSTATE CLEANS IT UP Transcription is just the start. Tell Flowstate how to make your notes more useful, and we'll handle it. It can format, summarize, translate, write a haiku, or anything your heart desires. IT LANDS WHERE IT BELONGS Your cleaned up notes get filed and named exactly how you want, in the apps you already use. Automatically. OUR INTEGRATIONS • Obsidian – Sync to your vault via a custom plugin. • Notion – Create pages in databases or append to existing notes. • Google Drive – Save as Google Docs in any folder. • OneNote – Add notes to any notebook section. Works with personal and business Microsoft accounts. • Need an integration we don't have yet? Reach out to us through the app and we'll (probably) build it! WORKS WITH E-INK TABLETS! Send notes from reMarkable, Supernote, Boox, Daylight, and more using your unique Flowstate email address HUMAN-FRIENDLY PRICING Start with 50 free credits (1 credit = 1 minute of audio or 1 page of notes). Subscribe for monthly credits that roll over, or buy top-up packs that never expire. Thanks for checking out our app. We hope you find it as useful as we have! -Raj and Rob Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Finalist4 screens
Flowstate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Finalist at every 10 days against Flowstate's every 5 weeks. Finalist also leads on device support (5 vs 3). Flowstate's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Finalist sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Flowstate sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Finalist ships an update every 10 days, Flowstate every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Finalist versus Flowstate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFinalistFlowstate
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (512 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews75.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings512 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size121 MB47 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDiversion Marketing IncDune Ventures

Bugs and requests

Finalist

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Settings/preferences crash the app
  • Pro subscription not recognized after canceling auto-renewal
  • Weather widget fails to display without manual toggling
  • App freezes and becomes unresponsive on iPad
  • Empty tasks cannot be permanently deleted
Show 4 more
  • App crashes when accessing certain reminder lists
  • Slow performance after force closing and reopening
  • Widget functionality discontinued or broken
  • macOS version crashes and lacks performance

Requested features

18 requests
  • Apple Watch native app
  • Recurring/repeating tasks and reminders
  • Subtasks functionality
  • Task tagging and filtering
  • Event location and travel time details
Show 13 more
  • Natural language input for tasks and events
  • Snooze reminder functionality
  • Task comments and checklist support
  • List grouping and archiving options
  • Menubar-only mode for macOS
  • Early/advance reminders for tasks
  • Notes section for daily journaling
  • School/team collaboration version
  • Chinese language support
  • Dark mode option
  • Family sharing features
  • Multiple calendar visibility in month view
  • Invite others to meetings and add conferencing

Flowstate

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Finalist

Subscriptions5
  • Finalist Pro Weekly3 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • Finalist Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Finalist Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Finalist Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Finalist Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Finalist Lifetime$59.99
  • Finalist Pro Lifetime$59.99
4 purchases

Flowstate

Subscriptions2
  • Subscription – Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Max Subscription$24.991 Month
One-time2
  • 200 credits$4.99
  • Credits Pack (750)$14.99

Questions

Is Finalist free?
Finalist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Flowstate free?
Flowstate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Finalist or Flowstate have ads?
Neither Finalist nor Flowstate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Finalist or Flowstate?
Finalist ships an update every 10 days, and Flowstate every 5 weeks. Most recently, Finalist was updated on October 27, 2026 and Flowstate on October 28, 2026.

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