Examined Self vs Chronic Trace
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Examined Self
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Welcome to Examined Self — a journal for people who want more than just a place to write. It’s a system for thinking, helping you reflect on life’s important questions and apply time-tested wisdom to your own challenges and priorities. Your notes become the starting point for personalized insights that connect your thinking to philosophy, psychology, and powerful mental models — revealing deeper patterns as the system learns from your writing. Begin with a free trial. Continued access requires a subscription. --- WHAT MAKES EXAMINED SELF STAND OUT Many powerful ideas from philosophy, psychology, and decision science can change how we see our lives — but they often remain abstract. Examined Self aims to make those ideas practical and personal, helping people think more clearly about purpose, priorities, decisions, and how to live well. PERSONALIZED INSIGHTS FROM YOUR WRITING As you write, Examined Self generates insights and questions tailored to your notes — helping you see patterns in your thinking and approach challenges more clearly. APPLY TIME-TESTED WISDOM TO YOUR LIFE Ideas from philosophy, psychology, and decision science appear directly in your insights — connecting your writing to ideas that have guided thinkers, creators, and decision-makers for generations. A TIMELINE FOR YOUR THINKING Your writing builds into a timeline of key ideas and reflections, helping you see your thinking across time and return to what matters most. GUIDED BY A LIBRARY OF POWERFUL IDEAS Explore a growing library of concepts, mental models, and prompts designed to deepen reflection and support wiser decisions. INSPIRATION FROM REAL STORIES Learn from thinkers, creators, and historical figures whose stories illuminate your own path. --- SUBSCRIPTIONS & TERMS Examined Self offers a free trial so you can explore everything before subscribing. After the trial, continued use requires a subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account upon confirmation of purchase. You can manage or cancel anytime in your App Store settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula Privacy Policy: https://www.examinedself.app/privacy
Chronic Trace
This app uses your phone's camera to measure involuntary signals like eye movement, balance, focus, and reaction time. It creates a personal wellness index scored against your baseline to track subtle changes over time without extra hardware.
- Camera-based wellness checks
- Measures eye movement, balance, focus, reaction
- Personalized baseline scoring
- Tracks subtle changes over time
- No extra hardware required
- Anonymized tracking option
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We track our steps, our sleep, and our heart rate. How sharp we feel day to day has had nothing. Chronic Trace changes that. Chronic Trace turns the camera already in your pocket into a personal wellness check for how you are performing day to day. In a single capture it reads involuntary signals that are hard to fake on purpose: eye movement, balance, focus, and reaction. It combines them into one simple index, scored against your own baseline rather than a population average. That is what makes subtle change over time visible. WHAT IT MEASURES Eyes: how steadily your eyes track and shift Balance: body sway, captured by the camera Focus: attention and processing speed Reaction: response speed HOW IT WORKS Add yourself or anyone you track. Capture a baseline when you feel well. Re-check any time, and see your result against that baseline. No extra hardware. No specialist. Just your phone. SUBSCRIPTION Chronic Trace requires a paid subscription to run check-ins and view results. Plans are $14.99 per month or $149.99 per year. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription renews automatically unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. BUILT FOR Athletes, veterans, families, and anyone who wants to keep an eye on how they are doing over time. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Sessions can be tracked fully anonymized. Your data is yours. IMPORTANT Chronic Trace is a wellness self-tracking tool, not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition, and its output reflects change versus your own baseline, not a diagnosis. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider before making any medical decision or with any questions you may have about a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you measured in this app. Privacy Policy: https://www.chronictraceapp.com/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Chronic Trace at every 3 days against Examined Self's every 3 weeks. Chronic Trace also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Examined Self sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Chronic Trace sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Examined Self ships an update every 3 weeks, Chronic Trace every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Examined Self | Chronic Trace |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pedro Vasconcelos | Chronic Trace, Inc. |
In-app purchases
Examined Self
- Examined Self Premium – Monthly7 Days trial$7.991 Month
- Premium Subscription Monthly3 Days trial$11.991 Month
- Premium Subscription Yearly7 Days trial$79.991 Year
Chronic Trace
- Chronic Trace Monthly$14.991 Month
- Chronic Trace Yearly$149.991 Year









