Comparison

Co vs Tend Journal

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

Head to head
About

Co

Transform your memories into written stories using photos, text, or voice. This AI-powered companion helps you focus on narrative creation, not prompt engineering. Share your finished pieces easily via text, email, or a web link.

Highlights
  • AI-powered writing assistance
  • Input via photos, text, or voice
  • Focus on storytelling
  • Shareable web links for stories
  • Collaboration tool
Features
Read full description

Start with photos, text, or a voice recording, and collaborate with Co-Author to turn moments into beautifully written drafts. Co-Author is an AI-powered writing companion and not a chatbot to help you focus on storytelling, not prompts. Share your finished work with friends and family via text, email, and more. Every shared story lives on the web, so anyone can experience your moment without downloading the app.

About

Tend Journal

This app offers a private journaling experience with on-device AI to help you reflect on your thoughts and identify patterns. It allows for free writing, mood tracking, tagging, and photo attachments, with optional advanced AI insights and cross-device sync.

Highlights
  • On-device AI reflection
  • Mood tracking and tagging
  • Photo and location attachments
  • Pattern identification insights
  • Goal setting and progress tracking
  • Private and secure local storage
Features
Read full description

Tend is a journal that stays on your device and actually helps you think. Write freely, knowing your words are private. Tend uses Apple's on-device AI to reflect back what you're saying, surface patterns you might miss, and ask the questions you didn't think to ask yourself. No account. No servers of mine. No one reading over your shoulder. WRITE YOUR WAY Start with a sentence or fill a page. Tend meets you where you are, with a daily prompt if you want one and a blank page if you don't. Track your mood, tag your entries, attach photos, and save your location. AI THAT HELPS YOU REFLECT After you write, Tend's on-device AI offers reflection questions based on what you actually said. Not generic prompts, but responses that feel like they listened. Want to go deeper? You can optionally send a single entry to Claude for a richer conversation. SEE YOUR PATTERNS Insights shows you the shape of your month: mood trends, your most-used words, and when you tend to write. The calendar gives you a visual map of your emotional life over time. SET INTENTIONS, NOT OBLIGATIONS Tend's intentions aren't todo items. They're directions you want to grow toward. Link entries to intentions and watch your progress unfold naturally. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Your entries are stored locally and encrypted by iOS. There's no account to create, no analytics, and no ads. Cross-device sync is off unless you turn it on, and it runs through your own iCloud account, which I have no access to. The only time anything reaches an outside server is when you explicitly tap "Go Deeper," and even then your name is stripped and nothing is retained. PREMIUM (OPTIONAL) Free includes on-device AI reflections, unlimited entries, and every core journaling feature, all fully local. Premium is $6.99/month, auto-renewing, and adds unlimited Go Deeper conversations with Claude, iCloud sync across devices, import and export, historical insights, and memory. Your journal should be the one place where you don't perform. Tend is that place. Privacy Policy: [your URL] Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Co4 screens
Tend Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Co at none against Tend Journal's 1. Co also leads on ratings volume (12 vs 1). Tend Journal's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, rating, update cadence and device support 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. Tend Journal sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $6.99 per month. Co asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Co against 5.0 for Tend Journal. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Co has 12 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Co ships an update every 4 days, Tend Journal every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Co versus Tend Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCoTend Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (12 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.617.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel Benjamin IpsenDaniel Davenport

Customer experience

Co

All ratings12 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Tend Journal

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Co

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Tend Journal

Subscriptions1
  • Tend Premium$6.991 Month

Questions

Is Co free?
Co is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tend Journal free?
Tend Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Co or Tend Journal?
Co and Tend Journal are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 12 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Co or Tend Journal have ads?
Co shows ads; Tend Journal does not.
Which is updated more often, Co or Tend Journal?
Co ships an update every 4 days, and Tend Journal every 2 days. Most recently, Co was updated on October 15, 2026 and Tend Journal on October 5, 2026.

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