Tesseract vs Thanks, Brain
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tesseract
This app transforms your daily entries into a visually rich photo diary with dynamic themes and spatial presentation. Add photos, use journaling prompts, and secure your memories with biometric locks. Revisit your past with a calendar, search, and a Home Screen widget.
- Eleven visual themes with motion and depth
- Spatial presentation for words and photos
- Photo attachments
- Horizontal, vertical, and grid layouts
- Calendar and search functionality
- Face ID or Touch ID lock for entries
- On This Day Home Screen widget
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Keep your days in a photo diary that brings memories to life. Tesseract gives your words and photos a universe of starlight, rain, and black holes. Write a little today, then return to the moments you want to remember. ◆ A space to revisit your memories Motion and depth bring the atmosphere of each entry back to life. Browse your diary horizontally, vertically, or in a grid. ◆ Words and photos that come alive Eleven visual themes inspired by starlight, rain, wormholes, and black holes add motion and depth to your words and photos. Adjust effect intensity and photo placement in supported themes to create your own atmosphere. ◆ Your day in words and photos Write a quick thought or a longer entry, at your own pace. Add photos to hold on to the moments words alone can’t capture. ◆ Revisit past entries Find any memory quickly with the calendar and search. The On This Day widget brings one past entry back to your Home Screen. ◆ Journaling Suggestions to help you begin On iPhone, bring photos, reflection prompts, and places into an entry from Apple’s Journaling Suggestions. Save text you use often as templates to make your next entry easier to begin. ◆ Personal by choice Start without an account. New entries are stored on your device. Lock individual entries with Face ID or Touch ID. Key features - Eleven visual themes - Spatial presentation for words and photos - Photo attachments - Horizontal, vertical, and grid layouts - Calendar and search - Diary templates and writing reminders - On This Day Home Screen widget - Face ID or Touch ID lock for individual entries - Real-time voice dictation on supported devices - Markdown text import and export - Custom folders - Optional iCloud sync An ordinary day can become a scene you will want to revisit. Keep today’s memory in your own universe with Tesseract. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Thanks, Brain
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Your brain means well. It just keeps handing you the same thought at the worst possible times. Thanks, Brain is the polite way to take that thought off its hands. Write it down — get it out of your head and onto paper. Then destroy the paper. Really destroy it: with your hands, with physics, with sound and feel. SIX WAYS FOR A THOUGHT TO GO • Shred it — pull it through the shredder, strip by strip • Slice it — swipe clean through it, then slice the pieces again • Burn it — hold a finger to it and fire catches right there • Crumple it — scrunch it into a ball and flick it away • Dissolve it — brush it into dust • Release it — flick it into the night sky and watch it become a star, exactly where you sent it Or tap “Surprise me” and let the app choose. THE REGULARS Some thoughts come back. When one does, give the worry itself a nickname — “The Replayer,” “The 3am Accountant” — and greet it like the old acquaintance it is. The app keeps gentle count of every send-off. Only the nickname is kept, never a word of what you wrote. NOTHING IS SAVED No account. No sync. No server. Nothing you write is stored, sent, or even remembered by the keyboard — the app blocks keyboard learning by default, keeps third-party keyboards out, and hides your words from the app switcher. The thought exists on your screen, and then it doesn’t. That’s the whole point. Everything in the app is free. There’s a tip jar, escalating from a gumball to a weekend at the beach, if you’d like to keep one very grateful developer going. Write it down. Let it go. Thanks, brain — anyway.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Thanks, Brain at daily against Tesseract's every 10 days. Thanks, Brain also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Tesseract sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Thanks, Brain sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Tesseract ships an update every 10 days, Thanks, Brain daily. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tesseract | Thanks, Brain |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (110 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 78.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 110 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Goateraction | Schooner & The Bear |
Bugs and requests
Tesseract
Reported bugs
12 issues- Data deletion after app updates
- Journal entries disappearing after switching apps
- Edit button causing app crashes
- Photos disappearing when adding new ones
- Photos disappearing after editing entries
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- iCloud sync not working between iPhone and iPad
- Bluetooth keyboard Enter key not functioning
- App freezing and lagging
- Text alignment issues in display view
- Paragraph spacing issues in display view
- Premium features not working after subscription
- App crashes on edit button press
Requested features
16 requests- Customizable theme colors and backgrounds
- Additional font options (especially for Chinese)
- PDF export functionality
- iCloud sync support
- Auto-save functionality
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- Photo position/placement control
- Galaxy map/note clustering visualization
- Auto-scroll features
- Pin/favorite entries functionality
- Search functionality
- Weather integration
- Image filters
- macOS version
- Customizable line spacing
- Live photo support
- Adjustable text size for long entries
Thanks, Brain
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Tesseract
- Monthly$1.991 Month
- Annual$4.991 Year
- Lifetime$12.99
Thanks, Brain
- Buy me a gumball$0.99
- Buy me a gas station snack$1.99
- Buy me a fancy coffee$4.99
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- Buy me a sandwich$9.99
- Buy me dinner$19.99
- Buy me dinner + an appetizer$49.99
- Buy me a therapy session$99.99
- Buy me an unplugged weekend$249.99









