Sidebar | Fast Notes vs Ambient Time
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sidebar | Fast Notes
Quickly capture thoughts and ideas without the need for organization. Entries are timestamped logs that can be tagged as to-dos or personal wins/losses. Syncs across devices with custom themes and a stealth mode.
- Instant note capture
- Timestamped entries
- To-do list integration
- Personal scoreboard
- Cross-device sync
- Custom themes
- Stealth mode
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Open. Type. Done. Sidebar opens fast, keyboard ready for your ideas. No folders, no document names, no organizing. Just get the idea down before it's gone. Entries are timestamped logs, not documents. But some logs do more. Tag an entry as a todo and it joins your lightweight task list. Tag it as a personal win or loss and it goes to your scoreboard, ranked by topic. What's inside: Cross-device sync across iOS and macOS, custom themes, and stealth mode for sensitive notes.
Ambient Time
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Put time where it belongs: on your Home Screen, Lock Screen, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac, or the biggest display in the room. Ambient Time is a native collection of clocks and useful glances. Explore 47 ways to read the moment on iPhone and iPad—from precise word grids and binary displays to astronomy, weather, mathematics, and generative art. ONE HOME FOR EVERY SCREEN The destination-first control center organizes Widgets, Apple Watch, TV & Displays, Clocks, and Instruments. Browse what fits each surface, preview it live, and choose starting defaults without pretending to control system-owned placement. CLOCKS WITH A POINT OF VIEW • Word Clock spells out time in nine languages plus IPA. • Cosmic brings the sun, moon, horizon, and zodiac into one quiet astrolabe. • Tide follows local predictions and highlights the next high or low. • ASCII World Clock wraps global hours around a text-art globe. • Moon Track follows the live lunar phase. • About Time turns optimistic phrases into the hands of a clock. • Inkwell Ledger lets the day unfold as a handwritten journal. • Mandaza draws a generative clock that never repeats exactly. WIDGETS MADE FOR THEIR SPACE Ambient Time groups Home Screen clocks and information widgets by size, so every layout stays clear and useful. Because the Lock Screen already shows Apple's clock, Ambient Time adds context instead: moon phase, golden hour, rain, tides, and poetry in Inline, Circular, and Rectangular forms. A CALMER GLANCE ON APPLE WATCH Choose from six legible clocks in the Watch app. Add nine Smart Stack widgets and complications for tides, rain, forecasts, golden hour, moon phase, world moments, words, compliments, and poetry. MADE FOR THE ROOM—AND THE MAC Apple TV offers a remote-first gallery of Ambient clocks and fixed dashboards. Mac brings the same destination control center to the desktop, including fullscreen Ambient Mode, dashboards, and Desktop or Notification Center widgets. Five global color themes are available where a clock supports them. Weather, sun, moon, and tide features use coarse location only with permission. There are no accounts, ads, subscriptions, or purchases, and location is never used for tracking. Built natively in SwiftUI with Reduce Motion support. Made by Luke Steuber.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Ambient Time at every 6 days against Sidebar | Fast Notes's every 3 months. Ambient Time also leads on device support (5 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Sidebar | Fast Notes ships an update every 3 months, Ambient Time every 6 days. Both last shipped on September 20, 2026.
| Parameter | Sidebar | Fast Notes | Ambient Time |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chris Woods | LanguageCraft |
In-app purchases
Sidebar | Fast Notes
No in-app purchases
Ambient Time
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Sidebar | Fast Notes free?
Is Ambient Time free?
Do Sidebar | Fast Notes or Ambient Time have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sidebar | Fast Notes or Ambient Time?
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