Timely Journal vs BYOB Todo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Timely Journal
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Stay organized and focused throughout your day with this elegant daily planner. Designed for clarity and efficiency, the app combines an hourly time table with a flexible to-do list, helping you manage your tasks and schedule in one seamless interface. With deep customization options, including modern themes, font controls, and calendar integration, you can tailor your planning experience to your exact needs. Set hourly reminders to stay on track and never miss an important event. Whether you're planning your day, tracking tasks, or just need a focused workspace, this app is your perfect companion for productivity. Core Planning Tools: - Hourly Time Table: Schedule your day hour-by-hour from 12 AM to 11 PM. - Current Hour Indicator: The current hour is highlighted in the Time Table for today's date, helping you stay oriented. - Continuous To-Do List: A dedicated, single-view text editor for all your day's tasks, notes, and ideas. - Drag-and-Drop: Easily move entries from one hour to another in the Time Table by dragging and dropping them. - Your notes are automatically saved and reloaded when you reopen the app. - Continuous Hourly Alerts: Enable notifications to get an alert for any scheduled item in your Time Table as the hour approaches. - Time Format Toggle: Instantly switch the time display between standard (e.g., "3 PM") and military time (e.g., "15:00"). - Added iOS calendar (add Google and Microsoft calendars to iOS calendar for integration to the app).
BYOB Todo
This productivity app allows you to manage tasks and goals, offering offline functionality and optional syncing via your own AWS S3 bucket or iCloud. It features a calendar view, recurring tasks, goal setting with vision boards, and customizable widgets.
- Syncs to your AWS S3 bucket or iCloud
- Offline functionality
- Calendar view with recurring tasks
- Goal setting with vision boards
- Customizable widgets
- Stats and reporting
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AI can make todo & goal tracker apps, but it won't pay for the $99 Apple Developer Account fee. So just use mine. Today I come forth with a heavy heart. This one is the last of its kind. We're headed to a world where AI handles everything, but we're not there yet. We still carry iPhones. We still tap screens. MCPs can talk to your data, but you still need something to look at on the train. We still don't have a dedicated AI device. We're basically going to Earth 2.0. Humans are migrating on rockets. And this app is the launchpad that ships people off. It'll eventually serve its duty. When all have departed, a fleeting smile will pass its face, and it'll say "I did it. I served as the last bridge between the age of phones and the world of full AI." BYOB is a really clever term that I invented, it stands for Bring Your Own Bucket. BYOB Todo is an app that syncs to your own AWS S3 bucket. No accounts, no servers, no middlemen. Your data lives in your bucket. Use it fully offline with zero setup, or connect your S3 bucket to sync across devices. Credentials never leave your device. They're stored in iOS Keychain, not some startup's database. Also ships with an MCP server (npm byob-todos-mcp) so Claude and other AI tools can read and manage your tasks directly from S3. Features: • Calendar view with swipeable week strip • Recurring tasks (daily, weekly, monthly) • Start times and reminders (at the time, or up to an hour before) • Week / Month / Year goals with priority numbers • Vision board (attach images to any goal) • Daily rotating mantras with star and archive • Tags with emoji • Stats tab with ring calendar, completion chart, and heatmap • Abandoned mode for tasks you're letting go of • Interactive home screen widgets in three sizes (todos, goals, mantra) • Customizable widget layout, font size, columns, and tag filters • Drag tasks between dates to reschedule • Sync via iCloud, your own AWS S3 bucket, or stay fully offline • Storage page with S3-backed backups, zip export and import • Guided AWS setup with IAM policy template • Auto-delete old completed tasks • Haptic feedback Your todos should live closer to you. I wrote most of this myself. See, I know what I like, and what I want to say. Which is why my widgets will be charming. I even drew the app logo. (Really!) This app and I will toil at the launchpad till I see all of you off safely. Earth 2.0 ahoy! Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Timely Journal at none against BYOB Todo's 2. Timely Journal also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). 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
Both are free to download. BYOB Todo sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.79 per month. Timely Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.
Timely Journal ships an update every 4 days, BYOB Todo fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Timely Journal | BYOB Todo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Patrick Antonini | Junic So |
In-app purchases
Timely Journal
No in-app purchases
BYOB Todo
- BYOB Todo Premium Monthly$0.791 Month
- BYOB Todo Premium Yearly$7.991 Year









