Fountain · easy screenwriting vs Time Journal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Fountain · easy screenwriting
This app provides a native writing and editing experience for screenplays on Apple devices. It utilizes a simple, natural writing language that handles formatting automatically, allowing users to focus on their story. Export scripts in various formats with ease.
- Native screenplay editor
- Fountain screenwriting language
- Automatic formatting
- Outlining tools
- Script exporting
- Plaintext documents
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Fountain is a fully native screenplay editor purpose-built for iOS, iPadOS and macOS, loaded with deceptively powerful editing, viewing, outlining and exporting tools. It uses the Fountain screenwriting language, a flavor of Markdown which lets you write naturally, without worrying about formatting. FAST · Fully native, from parser to editor. Translation? No slowdowns or hiccups. Just you and your script. FOCUSED · The tools you need to hit your flow without clutter. LEAN · Sips battery life thanks to a custom parser built on the latest macOS, iOS & iPadOS technologies. PORTABLE · Uses standard plaintext documents which you can read from (or write to!) with any text editor. Your data is yours. I'm an indie developer and fellow screenwriter, so your feedback is super important! Reach out to me at fountainappdev@gmail.com anytime with feedback, questions or ideas.
Time Journal
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Where did today actually go? Most of us can't say. Time Journal keeps an honest record of how you spend your hours, so instead of guessing, you know. Start a timer when you begin something and stop it when you're done. Or skip the timer and fill the day in later. Then look at the breakdown and decide for yourself what it means. That's the whole app. No advice, no scores, nobody looking over your shoulder. Two ways to log • Live timer: one tap on an activity starts tracking. Switch to a different activity without stopping first. A running timer appears as a Live Activity on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, so you never lose track of what's counting. • Quick log: add an entry after the fact with a start time, an end time, and an activity. Suggestions from your recent entries make it quick. Missed a few days? Fill them in whenever you like. The app won't mention it. See your time • Day view: every logged hour as a color-coded timeline. One glance shows what the day was actually made of, and where the gaps are. • Breakdown chart: your time by activity, filtered to today, this week, last month, or any range you pick. • Trends: how each activity moves week over week, so you can watch a change take hold instead of guessing at it. Set a budget, if you want one Pick an activity and a weekly hour target. Five hours of exercise. Three hours of reading. A ceiling on social media. Progress updates as you log, and each week starts fresh. Goals are entirely optional. Ignore them and the app works exactly the same. Make it yours Nine activities are ready to go: Work, Projects, Cooking, House Chores, Entertainment, Learning, Social Media, Exercise, and Sleep. Turn off the ones that don't fit, add your own, give each one a color, and reorder them so what you use most sits at the top. Light and dark themes included. Notifications you control Two of them, and you can switch either off: • A nudge when a timer has been running longer than you'd expect, in case you forgot to stop it. • A periodic check-in asking what you're doing right now, only during the hours you choose. That's all. No streak reminders, no "we miss you," no marketing. Your data stays on your phone • Works completely offline. No connection needed for anything. • No account, no sign-up, no email address. • Nothing is uploaded, synced, or sold. Your entries stay on your device. • No ads. Built to be usable Full VoiceOver support, Dynamic Type handled throughout, and contrast that holds up. Activities are never identified by color alone. What it won't do It won't tell you you're spending too long on anything. It won't break a streak or dock you points for a day you didn't log. It won't turn your life into a leaderboard. It keeps the record. What you do with it is yours to decide.
Screenshots
Verdict
Fountain · easy screenwriting and Time Journal are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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.
| Parameter | Fountain · easy screenwriting | Time Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (30 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 73.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 30 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.1 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alex Walker | Daniel Linares Saab |
Bugs and requests
Fountain · easy screenwriting
Reported bugs
17 issues- Constantly changes file name back to Untitled
- Stopped saving
- Deleted work when changing document title
- No version history
- Text continues behind the keyboard and is inaccessible
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- Crashes frequently
- App closes unexpectedly while writing
- Loses progress after crashing
- Crashes when adding a period with double-tap space
- Formatting while writing not as pictured
- Boots user off the app
- Lyrics not handled well
- Last line on each page lost on PDF export
- Non-removable 'Made In Fountain' + QR Code watermark on exported PDFs
- No paginated view until PDF export
- Dialogue breaks lines unexpectedly in the middle of words
- Character names break lines unexpectedly
Requested features
13 requests- Autocomplete for commands (e.g., INT.)
- Light mode option
- See page breaks within the app
- Title page creation
- Option to change text size
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- Support for research notes
- Drag and drop for rearranging sections/beats
- Force a Slugline (e.g., with 'Intercut')
- Improve character name recognition
- Dual dialogue support (^)
- Custom default folder option
- Clarification on AI-generated icon
- Icon change
Time Journal
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Fountain · easy screenwriting
No in-app purchases
Time Journal
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Fountain · easy screenwriting free?
Is Time Journal free?
Do Fountain · easy screenwriting or Time Journal have ads?
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