Pencil Planner vs Ruby
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pencil Planner
This app offers a handwritten digital planner with calendar, notebook, and reminder features. It allows natural writing with a stylus, visual planning using stickers, and easy navigation between linked pages. Organize notes, set timed reminders, and plan across daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly views.
- Handwritten digital planner
- Calendar views (Day, Week, Month, Year)
- Note pages with templates
- Stickers for visual planning
- Reminder Label Stickers
- Link Stickers for navigation
- Bookmarks for quick access
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YOUR PLANNER, YOUR WAY PencilTime brings the freedom of a paper planner to iPad and iPhone, with the convenience of digital tools when you need them. Write naturally with Apple Pencil on iPad, sketch with your finger, or type when text works better. Plan your days, weeks, months, and year, keep notes alongside your plans, and organize everything without giving up the flexibility of pen and paper. PLAN ACROSS YOUR WHOLE LIFE Move naturally between Day, Week, Month, and Year views. Write directly on your planner, add typed details where supported, and keep projects, meetings, ideas, journals, and reference material on dedicated Note pages. Whether you're planning a busy workday, outlining a project, keeping a journal, or simply figuring out what comes next, PencilTime gives you room to plan without forcing you into a rigid system. WRITE, TYPE, AND MARK THINGS UP • Write, sketch, and highlight with Apple Pencil or touch. • Type on Note pages and supported planner areas. • Format Note text with size, color, bold, italic, underline, highlighting, alignment, lists, and indentation. • Add editable lines, arrows, rectangles, rounded rectangles, and ellipses. • Mix handwriting, typed text, shapes, stickers, links, and images on the same page. FIND WHAT YOU NEED AGAIN Search typed content across planner and Note pages from the top-bar magnifying glass. Filter results to Planner or Notes, sort in several ways, choose whether capitalization must match, and jump directly back to the page you need. Search includes supported typed page content, Note titles, Note text, Day entries, and Link labels. Handwriting, drawings, template labels, attachments, and live Apple Calendar events are not included in text search. START WITH A LAYOUT, MAKE IT YOUR OWN Choose from bundled Note layouts for Paper, Study, Work, Productivity, Personal, Home & Money, and Creative uses. Use layouts for meeting notes, assignments, exam prep, projects, budgets, checklists, habit tracking, brainstorming, sketching, and more. Change a Note page's background later while keeping your existing content in place. KEEP EVERYTHING CLOSE • Connect planner and Note pages with Page Links. • Add website, email, phone, message, and file links. • Attach files and preview them with Quick Look. • Add reminders, photos, images, labels, and emoji. • Return quickly with Bookmarks, Recent Pages, and Back navigation. • Export completed pages as PDF or PNG. WORK THE WAY YOU PREFER Use PencilTime with the on-screen keyboard or a hardware keyboard. Choose Fit Page or Fit Width when viewing portrait pages in landscape, set your preferred first day of the week, and use your device language for planner date labels. START FREE, ADD PREMIUM WHEN YOU NEED IT Start with handwriting, supported typed text, search, bundled Note layouts, and one new Note page per day. Premium adds unlimited Note pages, Tags and Smart Folders, Apple Calendar integration, iCloud sync, and access to future planner dates. Apple Pencil is supported on compatible iPads. iPhone supports touch and keyboard input. iCloud sync requires Premium and the same Apple Account on your devices. --- Privacy Policy: https://semore-software.com/penciltime-privacy-policy.html Support: support@semore-software.com By using this app, you agree to Apple’s standard End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Ruby
Effortlessly capture your thoughts and feelings using your voice. This AI-powered journal transforms spoken words into organized written entries, offering insights and prompts for self-reflection. Enjoy a private, ad-free space to improve your mood, focus, and mental well-being.
- Voice-to-text journaling
- Smart AI insights
- Completely private storage
- Daily reflection prompts
- Minimalist design
- Track personal growth
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Journaling without all the typing. Ruby is a voice journal that lets you capture your thoughts simply by talking. Press record, speak naturally, and Ruby turns what you say into a clear written journal entry you can come back to later. Then Ruby goes one step further by asking relevant follow up questions based on what you actually said, helping you reflect more deeply on the things that matter to you. ---- JOURNAL BY VOICE Forget staring at a blank page or typing out everything on your mind. Open Ruby, press record, and talk. Reflect on your day, work through something on your mind, capture an idea, think through a decision, or simply get your thoughts out of your head. Ruby transforms your recording into an organized written journal entry automatically. ---- MORE THAN VOICE TO TEXT Ruby does more than transcribe your recording. After each entry, Ruby can ask thoughtful follow up questions based on what you actually talked about. Instead of giving you generic journal prompts, Ruby responds to your own thoughts and gives you new questions to reflect on. ---- HOW IT WORKS 1. Press record 2. Say what is on your mind 3. Ruby turns your voice into a clear written journal entry 4. Get relevant follow up questions 5. Revisit your entries whenever you want ---- BUILT FOR REAL LIFE Ruby makes it easier to journal when writing feels like too much effort. Journal while sitting on the couch, taking a walk, having a break, winding down at night, or whenever something is on your mind. You do not need to write perfectly. You do not even need to know exactly what you want to say before you start. Just talk. ---- KEY FEATURES VOICE JOURNALING: Record your thoughts naturally instead of typing everything out. AI JOURNAL ENTRIES: Ruby transforms your spoken thoughts into clear, organized written entries. SMART FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS: Get questions based on what you actually said so you can continue reflecting. JOURNAL HISTORY: Revisit previous entries and look back on your thoughts, experiences, and ideas over time. JOURNALING PROGRESS: Track your entries, streaks, words, and time spent journaling. DAILY REFLECTION: Use Ruby whenever you want to reflect on your day, think something through, or simply talk. ---- WHY RUBY • Journal without spending time typing • Capture thoughts while they are still fresh • Speak naturally instead of worrying about how to write • Turn long, unstructured thoughts into readable journal entries • Get follow up questions connected to your own thoughts • Revisit your entries whenever you want • Build a journaling habit that fits more easily into everyday life No blank page. No pressure to write perfectly. Just press record and start talking. ---- A DIFFERENT WAY TO JOURNAL Speaking is often easier than writing. If you want to journal more consistently but traditional diary apps feel like work, Ruby gives you another way to do it. Speak freely. Ruby handles the writing. ---- Terms of Use: https://inkworldtos.carrd.co Privacy Policy: https://inkworldprivacy.carrd.co
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Ruby at 5.0 against Pencil Planner's 4.6. Ruby also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 80%) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.4). Pencil Planner's advantage is ratings volume (34 vs 1) and update cadence (every 8 days vs monthly). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Pencil Planner sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Ruby sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ruby holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pencil Planner has 34 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of Pencil Planner's written reviews are positive against 100% of Ruby's.
Pencil Planner ships an update every 8 days, Ruby monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pencil Planner | Ruby |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (34 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 34 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 42 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Semore Software | Oliver Saylor |
Customer experience
Pencil Planner
Ruby
In-app purchases
Pencil Planner
- Weekly Premium3 Days trial$1.997 Days
- Monthly Premium3 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Yearly Premium7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Lifetime Premium$19.99
- Lifetime Premium$49.99
Ruby
- Monthly Plan$4.991 Month
- Yearly$39.991 Year









