Comparison

Written vs Secret Notes

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

Secret Notes

Features
Read full description

Secret Notes is the private notepad for everything that’s nobody else’s business: thoughts, lists, plans, recordings. No account, no tracking, no ads — your notes stay on your device, encrypted and behind PIN or Face ID. PRIVACY FIRST • App lock with PIN or Face ID, auto-locking after a timeout you choose • Note contents are stored encrypted on your device (AES-256) • Lock individual notes — content only shows after re-authenticating • No account required, no data collection, no ads SEVEN NOTE TYPES • Text with formatting (bold, italic, colors) and [[links]] between notes • Checklists with sub-items and smart auto-checking • Spreadsheets, Markdown, audio and video notes, tally counters ORGANIZE & FIND • Categories, nested folders, colors, pinning, ratings • Search and filters, custom sort by drag & drop • Reminders — including recurring — with an overview screen • “At a Glance” home screen, archive, and trash with auto-cleanup • Templates for recurring notes BACK UP & SYNC • Encrypted backups, portable between devices • Cloud backup and multi-device sync via your own server (Nextcloud/WebDAV) — your data lives only where you decide • Direct device-to-device transfer on your local network EVERYDAY EXTRAS • Widgets: quick add and recently edited notes • Share sheet: save text, links, images and files from other apps • Read notes aloud • Fully localized in English and German FREE & PRO Text, checklist and tally notes, app lock, note lock, categories, reminders and widgets are free. Secret Notes Pro (one-time purchase, no subscription) unlocks spreadsheets, Markdown, audio/video, folders, attachments, note history, PDF export, backups and device sync.

Screenshots

Written4 screens
Secret Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Secret Notes at every 3 days against Written's every 12 months. Written's advantage is iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.2). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Written sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Secret Notes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Written ships an update every 12 months, Secret Notes every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Written versus Secret Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWrittenSecret Notes
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 purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.6 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJean-Pierre RouhanaAndreas Grauf

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Written

One-time1
  • Written Premium$1.99
1 purchases

Secret Notes

One-time1
  • Secret Notes Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Written free?
Written is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Secret Notes free?
Secret Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Written or Secret Notes have ads?
Neither Written nor Secret Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Written or Secret Notes?
Written ships an update every 12 months, and Secret Notes every 3 days. Most recently, Written was updated on October 14, 2026 and Secret Notes on September 28, 2026.

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