Comparison

Written vs Witness

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

Witness

This app provides a distraction-free environment for writers to track their practice sessions. It offers timer and countdown modes, detailed session history, and insightful statistics to help monitor writing progress over time. Advanced features are available via a one-time purchase.

Highlights
  • Timer and countdown modes
  • Session history with word counts
  • Daily, weekly, and lifetime stats
  • Manual session entry
  • Literary quote encouragement
  • iCloud sync
  • Distraction-free interface
Features
Read full description

Witness is a writing practice focus timer and tracker built for serious writers. No gamification — just a calm, focused space to show up, write, and observe your practice over time. Start a timer or countdown timer session, write, end when you're done. Witness records the details quietly. FEATURES · Timer and countdown modes for timed or open-ended sessions · Session history with duration and optional word counts · Daily, weekly, and lifetime writing stats at a glance · Manual entry for sessions you forgot to track · SOS button with curated literary quotes when you need encouragement · Daily reminders with gentle, writer-friendly copy · iCloud sync across all your devices · Zero clutter, zero distractions BUILT FOR WRITERS Most tracker apps want to gamify your life. Witness doesn't. There are no badges, no streaks to protect, no guilt trips. Just a quiet record of your work. FREE FOREVER The core Witness app is free to use. Advanced features are available through a one-time lifetime purchase if you want them. No subscriptions.

Screenshots

Written4 screens
Witness4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Witness at every 9 days against Written's every 12 months. Written's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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 Witness sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Written against 5.0 for Witness. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Written ships an update every 12 months, Witness every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Written versus Witness: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWrittenWitness
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJean-Pierre RouhanaMETHOD STUDIO LLC

Customer experience

Written

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Witness

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Written

One-time1
  • Written Premium$1.99
1 purchases

Witness

One-time1
  • Lifetime Purchase$14.99

Questions

Is Written free?
Written is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Witness free?
Witness is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Written or Witness?
Written and Witness are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do Written or Witness have ads?
Neither Written nor Witness shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Written or Witness?
Written ships an update every 12 months, and Witness every 9 days. Most recently, Written was updated on November 4, 2026 and Witness on October 31, 2026.

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