Comparison

Burning Parchment vs JotBee

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

Head to head
About

Burning Parchment

Visualize your remaining time as a burning parchment, not just a number. Track daily, weekly, and yearly time, set goals, and reflect on how you spend your hours. Features include a unique breath-controlled 'blow out' ritual and a reflection journal.

Highlights
  • Time visualization as burning parchment
  • Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly time tracking
  • Goal setting with deadlines
  • Breath-controlled 'blow out' ritual
  • One-line reflection journal
  • Time spent distribution graph
  • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets
Features
Read full description

The time you have left today burns away right in front of you. Burning Parchment shows your remaining time as a sheet of parchment on fire instead of a number. It is made for anyone tired of watching their evenings simply disappear. DAY, WEEK, MONTH, YEAR From the moment you wake up to bedtime, the parchment slowly burns. See what is left of this week, this month and this year the same way. Add a goal with a deadline and it counts down right alongside. BLOW OUT THE FLAME From 30 minutes before bedtime you can blow on the parchment to put the fire out. Only the strength of your breath is used. Nothing is recorded. The piece that is left is kept for you. Flip it over and write a line on its back whenever you like. WHAT REMAINS AS ASH Look back with a one-line reflection and place it on a two-axis graph of how the time was spent. Reflections gather in urns you name by topic, and you can read them again in the Reflection Book. Ash Flow shows where your time went with a distribution graph and an ember calendar. ALWAYS IN SIGHT Check the time left from Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, the Dynamic Island and a Live Activity. Light and dark themes, suggested bedtimes, and only the tabs you want to see. BURNING PARCHMENT PRO The burning parchment, reflections and the blow-out ritual are all free, along with one deadline. Pro is a one-time lifetime purchase, not a subscription. It adds parchment and flame themes (Moonlit Hanji, Celadon, Dusk), fragment cards and posters to share, a PDF of your Reflection Book, a year of ash at a glance, and unlimited deadlines. Every Pro feature added later is included. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

JotBee

This app allows for quick and private daily journaling with options for text, photos, and voice notes. It offers robust search and organization features, including multiple notebooks and tagging. Users can customize themes and fonts, and sync data across devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Quick text, photo, and voice entries
  • Full-text search and tag filtering
  • Multiple notebooks with reordering
  • Syncs across iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud
  • Customizable themes and fonts
  • Optional AI reflections and summaries
Features
Read full description

JotBee is a quick, private journal for everyday moments. Open it, write a line or add a photo, and you're done. Your journal stays yours. WRITE IN SECONDS · One line or one photo is a complete entry · Light formatting like headings and lists, and full keyboard shortcuts on Mac · Optionally add the weather, the address and your mood VOICE AND PHOTOS · Record voice clips in an entry, as many as you like, with playback on iPhone, iPad and Mac · Tap a photo to see it full screen: pinch or double-tap to zoom, swipe between photos · Save a photo to your library or share it (touch and hold on iPhone, "Save Image…" on Mac) · Photos are laid out in a tidy grid and processed in the background FIND IT LATER · Full-text search across entries and tags · Tag filters you can combine, plus one-tap common tags · A date timeline shows at a glance which days you wrote EVERY DAY COUNTS · Write for past days, and change the date and time of any entry. Handy when you wrote two on the same day and they need to be in the right order · Move an entry to another notebook from its menu, or drag it onto a notebook in the Mac sidebar YOUR SPACE · Multiple notebooks you can reorder by dragging and merge anytime · 8 color themes, 5 text sizes, and your own choice of font for entry text (this device only) 9 LANGUAGES English, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, 한국어, Español, Deutsch, Français and Português (Brasil). Choose the interface language in Settings — it applies immediately — or follow the system. Dates and weather descriptions follow the interface language. PRIVATE BY DESIGN · Your data stays on your devices and in your own iCloud, unless you turn on weather or set up an AI service. The developer collects nothing · Syncs across iPhone, iPad and Mac via iCloud · Export to PDF or Markdown anytime OPTIONAL AI REFLECTIONS · After you write, get a response to your entry, or a summary of recent entries · Pick a style: Warm Friend, Practical Review, Safe Space, Growth Witness, Future Me or Witty Buddy. Or write your own prompt · Replies come in the language of your entry · Uses an AI service you set up yourself (a local model also works on Mac). Until you set one up, your entries are not sent to any AI service

Screenshots

Burning Parchment4 screens
JotBee4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: JotBee at none against Burning Parchment's 1. Burning Parchment's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Burning Parchment sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. JotBee 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 Burning Parchment against 5.0 for JotBee. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Burning Parchment ships an update every 5 days, JotBee every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Burning Parchment versus JotBee: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBurning ParchmentJotBee
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerhyunho lee志宏 唐

Customer experience

Burning Parchment

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

JotBee

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Burning Parchment

One-time1
  • Pro$9.99
None

JotBee

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Burning Parchment free?
Burning Parchment is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is JotBee free?
JotBee is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Burning Parchment or JotBee?
Burning Parchment and JotBee are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Burning Parchment or JotBee have ads?
Neither Burning Parchment nor JotBee shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Burning Parchment or JotBee?
Burning Parchment ships an update every 5 days, and JotBee every 2 weeks. Most recently, Burning Parchment was updated on October 31, 2026 and JotBee on November 5, 2026.

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