# Notebook vs Saving Your Bacon®

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Saving Your Bacon® at none against Notebook's 1. Saving Your Bacon® also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). Notebook's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 41 months). On price and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Notebook sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Saving Your Bacon® asks for nothing beyond the download.

Notebook ships an update weekly, Saving Your Bacon® every 41 months. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Notebook | Saving Your Bacon® |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.7 (14K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notebook-diary-and-journal-app/id654645301/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **14K** | — |
| Positive reviews | 72.5% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Every 41 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 25 MB | 22 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | **15.1** |
| Devices | iPhone | **iPhone, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Koji Ito](https://appshunter.io/developer/334329056) | [Matthew Ackerman](https://appshunter.io/developer/1543640356) |

## What reviewers say

### Notebook

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notebook-diary-and-journal-app/id654645301)

This app lets you record daily notes and diary entries, viewing them together on a single page. It offers search, passcode protection, and iCloud sync for easy organization and access. Core features are free, with an option to remove ads via a one-time purchase.

**Highlights:** Daily notes on one page, Searchable past entries, Passcode and biometric lock, iCloud sync across devices, Adjustable text size and Dark Mode, Recover deleted notes

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remove Ads | $6.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🔒 Password protection
- 💡 Convenient for journaling and note-taking
- 🚀 Smooth and responsive
- 👍 Organized by date

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes or glitches
- 🚫 Unable to insert photos or attachments
- 🚫 Limited formatting options
- 🚫 No cloud sync or backup
- 🚫 Not compatible with iPad

**Reported bugs**

- Deleting entries causes the app to crash
- Long entries can cause the app to become unresponsive
- Password feature doesn't always work as expected

**Requested features**

- Add ability to insert photos and attachments
- Implement cloud sync and backup
- Allow more formatting options (font, size, color, bold, italic, etc.)
- Develop an iPad version with optimized layout
- Add a search function to easily find past entries


### Saving Your Bacon®

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/saving-your-bacon/id6443839202)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Notebook free?

Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Saving Your Bacon® free?

Saving Your Bacon® is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Notebook or Saving Your Bacon® have ads?

Notebook shows ads; Saving Your Bacon® does not.

### Which is updated more often, Notebook or Saving Your Bacon®?

Notebook ships an update weekly, and Saving Your Bacon® every 41 months. Most recently, Notebook was updated on November 12, 2026 and Saving Your Bacon® on November 3, 2026.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*