Quick Journal vs First Light
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Quick Journal
This app offers a straightforward journaling experience with extensive customization options. Personalize themes, fonts, icons, and layouts to create your ideal digital notebook. Widgets and draft saving features enhance usability for daily reflection.
- Customizable themes and fonts
- App icon and layout personalization
- Home screen widgets
- Save entries as drafts
- Copy and share entries
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Quick Journal is the simplest way to keep a journal. You can customize your journal's theme, fonts, app icon, layout, and even where the composer button is placed. To help you write or keep track of your entries, the app features widgets you can put on your home screen. You can copy or share your entries. You can always come back to an entry later by saving it as a draft, just swipe down and the entry will be saved. Hope you enjoy! EULA https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
First Light
Begin each day with a curated passage of ancient philosophy, poetry, or spiritual insight. This app offers gentle reflection prompts and a visual reward to foster presence, peace, and clarity. It's designed to help users cultivate a daily habit of reflection and start their mornings with intention.
- Daily wisdom passages
- Reflection prompts
- Visual rewards
- Minimalist design
- Calming experience
- Build daily habit
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First Light is your daily ritual for wisdom, presence, and peace. Start each morning with a timeless passage rooted in ancient philosophy, poetry, and spiritual insight. Gain clarity, reconnect with yourself, and live with intention. Whether you’re seeking more focus, less anxiety, or simply a quiet place to begin your day, First Light is built to center your mind and elevate your mornings. BENEFITS • Feel calmer, more present, and grounded • Build a meaningful daily habit of reflection • Start your day with clarity instead of chaos • Experience deeper happiness through timeless wisdom What You'll Get: • A new wisdom passage each morning • A gentle reflection prompt to deepen your insight • A visual reward revealed only after reading • A calming, minimalist experience made for quiet focus First Light is for anyone seeking peace in a noisy world. A space to begin again, every morning. Terms of service: https://firstlightdaily.app/terms Privacy policy: https://firstlightdaily.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Quick Journal at none against First Light's 2. Quick Journal also leads on review sentiment (88% vs 67%) and ratings volume (24 vs 2). First Light's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 9 days). On price, ads 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. First Light sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Quick Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.
First Light holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Quick Journal has 24 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 88% of Quick Journal's written reviews are positive against 67% of First Light's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Quick Journal ships an update every 9 days, First Light every 3 days. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.
| Parameter | Quick Journal | First Light |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (24 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 24 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Charlie Deets | The Wellness Company, Inc. |
Customer experience
Quick Journal
First Light
In-app purchases
Quick Journal
No in-app purchases
First Light
- First Light Monthly$3.991 Month
- First Light Annual$19.991 Year
