Comparison

Gloss Ink vs Sebastian Assistant

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

Head to head
About

Gloss Ink

Features
Read full description

A Fast, Minimal Markdown Notes App Write faster and stay focused with this elegant, distraction-free writing app — perfect for quick notes, markdown editing, and smart productivity. Minimalistic Note-Taking Stay organized with a clean, single-window interface. Choose from seven color-coded folders to keep your ideas, drafts, and notes grouped and accessible. Dark & Light Mode Support The interface adapts to your device’s system theme — ideal for day or night writing. Great for journal entries, study notes, or focused sessions. Compact & Efficient This lightweight note-taking app launches instantly and stays out of your way. No sign-up. No sync delays. Just open and write. Markdown Formatting Write in plain text or use formatting tools to apply bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough. Perfect for structured writing, blogging, or clean RTF export. Fast Editing Tools Apply bold, italic, underline, or checkmarks instantly using a custom, intuitive toolbar — optimized for quick writing. Ideal for: • Writers and creators • Students and professionals • Anyone looking for a minimal markdown note app Download now and enjoy a clean, powerful writing experience — with zero clutter

About

Sebastian Assistant

This app consolidates your calendar, reminders, notes, and alarms into a unified timeline, linked to specific contacts. It offers a dashboard for your day, customizable reminders, and integrated timers and alarms, with options for web access and advanced features via a one-time purchase.

Highlights
  • Unified timeline for calendar, reminders, notes, and alarms
  • Contact-specific threads for organized information
  • Customizable daily dashboard
  • Markdown notes with image and attachment support
  • Multiple named timers and full alarm scheduling
  • Home Screen, Lock Screen, and StandBy widgets
  • Drive Mode for glanceable on-the-road view
Features
Read full description

Sebastian — Daily Assistant Sebastian pulls your calendar, reminders, notes, alarms and timers into one place, and keeps them tied to the people they are actually about. THREADS Link a calendar, a reminder list, a note, an alarm or a timer to a person, and Sebastian builds them a thread — one timeline of every appointment, reminder, note and comment involving them. Filter it to one kind of entry, then share it as text or a formatted PDF. It is the fastest way to answer "what has been going on with Mum's care?" without digging through four apps. YOUR DAY • Today: events, due reminders and what needs attention, in a dashboard you arrange yourself. • Reminders: group by list, due date, priority or status. Save Quick Views, act on many at once, and timebox a task straight onto your calendar. • Calendar: day, week and month, with conflict spotting and travel time. • Notes: Markdown, images and attachments, with their own widgets — and with Plus, Notes on the web: read and edit them in any browser, synced through your own iCloud. TIMERS, ALARMS AND FASTING Multiple named timers, full alarm scheduling, and fasting timers that keep running past their target so you can see how long you actually fasted. WIDGETS AND SHORTCUTS Home Screen, Lock Screen and StandBy widgets, launcher cards, Live Activities, Control Center controls, Spotlight search and Siri Shortcuts. DRIVE MODE A large-type, glanceable view of what is next when you are on the road. PRIVACY Your calendar, reminders and contacts stay on your device and in Apple's own apps. Sebastian asks for what it needs and nothing more. There is no account and no sign-up. FREE AND PLUS Free shows every calendar and reminder list you have — nothing is hidden. You can add to and edit any three of each, and tick off or delete a reminder wherever it lives. It includes alarms, timers, severe weather alerts, and the small and medium widgets. Sebastian Plus is a single one-time purchase — no subscription, nothing to renew — and it lifts every limit: editing in all your calendars and lists, unlimited notes, sync across your devices, Notes on the web, full thread history and export, hourly and 10-day forecasts, focus timers, shared tags and the large launcher widgets. It is shareable with your Family Sharing group. New installs get 30 days of everything to try first. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Gloss Ink3 screens
Sebastian Assistant4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Gloss Ink at none against Sebastian Assistant's 1. Gloss Ink also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 days). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Sebastian Assistant sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Gloss Ink asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gloss Ink ships an update daily, Sebastian Assistant every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Gloss Ink versus Sebastian Assistant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGloss InkSebastian Assistant
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.518.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAlec BogdanMichael Surratt

In-app purchases

None

Gloss Ink

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Sebastian Assistant

One-time1
  • Sebastian Plus$9.99

Questions

Is Gloss Ink free?
Gloss Ink is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sebastian Assistant free?
Sebastian Assistant is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Gloss Ink or Sebastian Assistant have ads?
Neither Gloss Ink nor Sebastian Assistant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gloss Ink or Sebastian Assistant?
Gloss Ink ships an update daily, and Sebastian Assistant every 2 days. Most recently, Gloss Ink was updated on October 30, 2026 and Sebastian Assistant on November 7, 2026.

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