Comparison

Quick Journal vs Softly

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Customizable themes and fonts
  • App icon and layout personalization
  • Home screen widgets
  • Save entries as drafts
  • Copy and share entries
Features
Read full description

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/

About

Softly

A private journaling app focused on reflection and emotional well-being. It offers multiple writing styles, a visual emotional calendar, and word pattern analysis. All data is stored locally for complete privacy.

Highlights
  • Multiple writing styles
  • Visual emotional calendar
  • Word constellation analysis
  • Time capsule feature
  • On-device data storage
  • Face ID protection
Features
Read full description

Softly is a private journal for your days. No achievements. No streaks. No productivity metrics. Just you, a word when you want one, and a space that comes back every night to receive you the way you arrived. WRITE HOWEVER FEELS RIGHT Free diary, gratitude in three lines, a mood with a tap of a moon, or an affirmation when you need to hear it. Four ways to leave the day without losing it. YOUR MONTH IN WATERCOLOR Each day lights up with the color of how you felt. A hand-painted emotional calendar — not a bar chart. YOUR CONSTELLATION OF WORDS The words that return most to your writing appear as a constellation that shifts with you. You see patterns without anyone interpreting them for you. TIME CAPSULES Seal a piece of writing today (AES-GCM encrypted). Open it in a month, a year — whenever you're ready to listen to yourself again. TOTAL PRIVACY Everything lives on your device. On-device speech recognition. Face ID for your space. No tracking, no accounts, no server watching. WATERCOLORS THAT BREATHE Each time you return, a new variant of a sprig, flower, or lavender greets you. The notebook changes with you. Softly is for the days you want to write — and for the days you only wanted to open the app. Here, both count.

Screenshots

Quick Journal4 screens
Softly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Softly at 5.0 against Quick Journal's 4.7. Softly also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 9 days) and review sentiment (100% vs 86%). Quick Journal's advantage is ratings volume (24 vs 3) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Softly 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 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Quick Journal's written reviews are positive against 100% of Softly's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Quick Journal ships an update every 9 days, Softly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Quick Journal versus Softly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQuick JournalSoftly
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (24 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews86.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings24 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.417.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB60 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCharlie DeetsJean Millan

Customer experience

Quick Journal

All ratings24 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive86.4%
Neutral4.5%
Negative9.1%

Softly

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Quick Journal

No in-app purchases

None

Softly

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Quick Journal free?
Quick Journal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Softly free?
Softly is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Quick Journal or Softly?
Softly is rated higher. Quick Journal averages 4.7 out of 5 from 24 ratings, while Softly averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Quick Journal or Softly have ads?
Neither Quick Journal nor Softly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Quick Journal or Softly?
Quick Journal ships an update every 9 days, and Softly every 3 days. Most recently, Quick Journal was updated on October 7, 2026 and Softly on September 28, 2026.

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