Comparison

Written vs Routinely

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

Head to head
About

Written

This app helps authors, poets, bloggers, and screenwriters organize their writing projects. It offers tools like word count tracking, custom reminders, story outlines, analytics, and a notes section to boost productivity and maintain writing habits.

Highlights
  • Word count tracker
  • Custom reminders
  • Story outlines
  • Writing analytics
  • Notes section
  • User-friendly interface
Features
Read full description

Written helps you stay organized, motivated, and consistent on whatever you're making — a novel, a screenplay, a poetry collection, a blog, a photo series, or a handmade craft project. Set a goal in the unit that actually fits your work — Words, Pages, Photographs, or Crafts — and Written tracks your progress the way you actually create. Track Progress, Your Way Log your sessions and set daily, weekly, or monthly goals. Written isn't just for writers — photographers tracking a shoot and makers tracking a project get the same real progress tracking, not a word counter stretched to fit. Real Analytics: Not Just a Number See a trend chart of your output over time, a monthly activity heat map so you can spot your patterns at a glance, your current streak, and your lifetime consistency rate. Written also projects where your current pace will land you by your deadline — so you always know if you're on track, not just how much you've done. Story Structure That Moves With You Break your project into sections and scenes with drag-and-drop organization — name your chapters, reorder them as your story evolves, and build out each scene with structural elements like Conflict, Goal, and Setting, complete with built-in suggestions to help you get started. A Scratchpad for the Ideas That Won't Wait Jot down a stray line of dialogue, a research fact, or an idea you don't want to lose — without it turning into another thing to organize. Mark it done once it's worked into your project, or leave it be. Make It Yours Choose from four built-in themes — Ledger, Classic, Midnight Draft, and Field Notes — with automatic light/dark switching, so the app looks like your workspace, not a generic template. Everywhere You Work Your projects sync automatically across your devices via iCloud, with a real iPad layout (not a stretched-out iPhone screen) and support for Mac. Why Choose Written? One-time purchase, not a subscription. Unlock Premium once and it's yours — no recurring fees for a habit-tracking app. Built for more than one kind of creative. Whether you're counting words, pages, photographs, or crafted pieces, Written tracks progress your way. Your data stays yours. No ads, no third-party tracking or analytics SDKs — your projects sync through your own private iCloud account, not through us. Genuinely useful analytics, not just a progress bar — see your actual patterns, not just a single number. Download Written today and start seeing your creative momentum, not just your word count.

About

Routinely

Features
Read full description

Routinely: Flow helps you turn your life into simple, repeatable checklists. If you have ADHD (or just a busy brain), you know how easy it is to forget small things — water, headphones, stretching, documents, or one tiny step that ruins your whole plan. Routinely fixes that. Create routines like: • Going for a run • Gym session • Morning routine • Travel packing • Work setup • Study sessions Then just tap through a checklist before you start. No thinking. No stress. No forgotten steps. Now with AI routine builder: Just describe your goal in plain English, like: “I want to train for a marathon” “I want a simple morning routine” “I want a productivity routine for work” Routinely will generate: • A full routine • A checklist of tasks • Optional sub-routines • A suggested schedule Features: • Build routines as checklists • Start sessions and track progress • AI-powered routine generator • Works great for ADHD, anxiety, and busy minds • Clean, fast, distraction-free design • History and stats to build consistency Think of it like a pre-flight checklist for life. Not Notes. Not Reminders. A system for actually getting things done.

Screenshots

Written4 screens
Routinely4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Routinely at none against Written's 1. Routinely also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 12 months) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.6). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Written sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Routinely asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Written ships an update every 12 months, Routinely every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Written versus Routinely: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWrittenRoutinely
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJean-Pierre RouhanaOlawale Malomo

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Written

One-time1
  • Written Premium$1.99
None

Routinely

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Written free?
Written is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Routinely free?
Routinely is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Written or Routinely have ads?
Neither Written nor Routinely shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Written or Routinely?
Written ships an update every 12 months, and Routinely every 3 days. Most recently, Written was updated on October 14, 2026 and Routinely on September 29, 2026.

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