Quick Journal vs Ember
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/
Ember
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Ember is a diary for the things you wouldn't say out loud yet. The day you almost quit. The walk that fixed you. The sentence your mother said in 2007 that you still think about. It's not a notebook for productivity or a journal for habits. It's a place to write the way you'd write to yourself at three in the morning, when nobody is watching and the sentences don't have to be good. The page is plain on purpose. Fraunces or Lora for the writing, set at a size that doesn't make you squint. A title field that doesn't ask much. A small line for the weather, the mood, the song that was playing. Voice memos when typing feels like too much. Photos when a photo says it faster. A drawing layer for the days a doodle is the whole entry. Each morning, one prompt, if you want one. Ignore it if you don't. Everything you write stays on this iPhone, encrypted with AES-GCM the moment you tap save. There is no Ember server. No account to make. No analytics looking over your shoulder. We couldn't read your entries if we tried — we built it that way on purpose. Ember is free to download with everything unlocked. One small banner supports development — remove it anytime with a single one-time purchase. No subscription, no auto-renewal, no popups asking you to upgrade in eighteen months. Export to Markdown or PDF whenever you like, and take what you wrote with you. The diary is yours; we're just the room it sits in. Write something today. Even one line.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Quick Journal at none against Ember's 1. Quick Journal also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, device support 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. Ember sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Quick Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.
Quick Journal ships an update every 9 days, Ember every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Quick Journal | Ember |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (24 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 86.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 24 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 | 17.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Charlie Deets | 丽佳 施 |
In-app purchases
Quick Journal
No in-app purchases
Ember
- Ember Pro$0.99









