Ripples vs Pactners
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ripples
This private journaling app allows you to capture daily moments and send sealed letters to your future self. It offers thoughtful prompts for reflection and provides insights into your personal growth and thought patterns over time.
- Letters to your future self
- Daily reflection prompts
- Timeline with filtering
- Insights into patterns and growth
- Privacy-focused with local storage
- Optional iCloud backup
- Export to JSON
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A few words is enough to make a memory. Ripples is built for the small moments you'd never sit down and write a page about. Then it does the thing no other journal does. It brings them back, and lets you write back. Reply to an entry from last month. Argue with the version of you from three years ago. Add the context you didn't have at the time. Your memories stop being a list and start being a conversation that runs the length of your life. HOW IT WORKS Write something small. One line is a complete entry here. No prompts to answer, no friction. Add one from the Action Button, Shortcuts or Siri without even opening the app. Answer your past self. Once your journal has some age on it, Ripples brings back three old entries a day and invites you to respond. Agree, argue, or just add what you know now. Watch the thread grow. A note about a job you almost took. A reply six months later. Another one two years after that. The story never ended, so neither does the entry. That's the ripple. WHY ENTRIES ARE PERMANENT You can't edit an entry once it's saved. That's deliberate. A journal you can quietly revise is a journal that tells you what you want to hear — and the entries worth hearing again are usually the ones you'd have softened. Replies let you add, correct and disagree without rewriting the past. LETTERS TO YOUR FUTURE SELF Seal any entry until a date you choose. It leaves your timeline and stays gone — until a few days before it opens, when it returns with a countdown you can see but can't read yet. Sealed letters are never searchable, so guessing a word can't open one early. A message in a bottle from who you used to be. WHEN YOU WANT TO LET SOMETHING GO Write it down, then burn it. The words are removed from your journal and don't come back. Only the date stays, so the shape of your history stays honest. Permanent shouldn't mean trapped. ALSO INSIDE Timeline — your story in order, with threads, sealed letters and the ones you marked as mattering Search — across everything you've written, never inside a sealed letter Daily reminders — as many as you want, at the times that suit you Face ID / Touch ID lock iCloud backup across iPhone and iPad Export everything to JSON, anytime PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No account. No sign-up. No analytics, no trackers, no ads. Your entries live on your device and sync only through your own iCloud. We never see them — the App Store privacy label says "Data Not Collected" because that's literally true. FREE, AND RIPPLES+ Writing, sealing letters up to a year out, replying, burning, search, reminders, iCloud backup and export are free for everyone, forever. Ripples+ is one payment, no subscription, and adds exactly three things: • Letters that travel further — seal one for any date up to fifty years ahead • Letters that keep returning — mark one to come back every year, or every six months, for as long as you keep answering it • Patterns in your writing — the hours and days you actually write, and the words you keep returning to Start with one line today. See what you have to say about it next year.
Pactners
This app helps you achieve shared weekly goals with a partner. Set pacts, log progress with photo proof, and use real consequences and rewards to stay motivated. Track your journey and build streaks together.
- Create pacts with a partner
- Set shared weekly goals
- Log proof with photos
- Real-time progress updates
- Instant notifications
- History and streak tracking
- Send nudges to partners
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Pactners is the accountability app for couples, friends, and everyone else who want to stick to their goals. Create a pact with one partner and keep each other accountable, helping each other reach shared goals. How It Works: 1. Create a pact with your chosen partner. 2. Set a shared weekly goal (study, work out, eat healthy, go on a walk). 3. Decide how many times you and your partner meet that goal for the week. 4. Set real consequences and rewards if you succeed but your partner has an off week (plan a date night, cook us dinner, buy me a coffee). 5. Log proof by taking a photo and reach your weekly goal together! What You Get: • Real-Time Updates: See your partner's progress the second they log. No delays, no waiting. • Photo Proof: Snap a photo when you complete your goal. Simple, visual proof with no complicated tracking. • Instant Notifications: Get a push notification the moment your partner logs, keeping the momentum going. • History Tracking: Look back at previous weeks to see if you both hit your goals together and track your journey over time. • Nudges: Send your partner a reminder when motivation dips with a simple tap that lets them know "We're in this together". • Streak Tracking: Watch your consecutive weeks of hitting goals together. The more weeks you both succeed, the stronger your streak.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Pactners at 16.4 against Ripples's 18.0. 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
Both are free to download. Ripples sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pactners sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Ripples against 5.0 for Pactners. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
| Parameter | Ripples | Pactners |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Davenport | Dion Kim |
Customer experience
Ripples
Pactners
In-app purchases
Ripples
- Rppl+ (One-Time)$19.99
Pactners
- Pactners Premium$4.991 Month
- Pactners Premium$29.991 Year









