Comparison

Unwritten Journal vs footnotes

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

Head to head
About

Unwritten Journal

Features
Read full description

Unwritten is a quiet place to write every day. No feeds, no streaks to protect, no noise. Just a blank page, a gentle daily goal, and a calendar that slowly fills with everything you've written. A PAGE THAT FEELS LIKE PAPER Write in a warm, distraction-free editor set in a classic serif, with generous spacing that makes long entries a pleasure to read back. Give an entry a title or simply start writing. Hide the sidebar and start typing, and everything else steps aside until you stop. A DAILY GOAL, NOT A CHORE Choose how many pages you want to write each day, from one to five. As you write, each day on the calendar deepens in color, so you can see at a glance which days you showed up and which ones ran long. SEE YOUR WRITING OVER TIME Flip the sidebar from calendar to list to browse every entry by month. Tap the info button on any entry to see its pages, words, paragraphs and reading time, how it measures up against your daily goal, and how it compares with your usual entry. MORE THAN ONE JOURNAL Keep separate journals for different parts of your life, each with its own icon and daily goal. Every entry keeps its earlier versions, so you can always bring back a draft. BRING YOUR PAST WITH YOU Import entries from your previous journaling app, or from an earlier Unwritten export. Each entry is matched to its date and merged into your journal. Export a single entry or a whole journal whenever you like, as Markdown files organised by year and month, or as a full backup. MADE FOR THE MAC TOO Unwritten runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and is ready for iPhone Duo: unfold mid-sentence and keep writing. On the Mac, open today's entry from anywhere with a global keyboard shortcut or from the menu bar, move between days with the keyboard, and hold Command to see every shortcut. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your journal is stored on your device, and synced only through your own private iCloud account. Lock it with Face ID, Touch ID or Optic ID. Unwritten collects no data, has no analytics and no tracking, and requires no account. FREE TO WRITE Everything above is free. Unwritten Pro adds iCloud sync between your iPhone, iPad and Mac, as a one-time purchase or a yearly subscription that renews automatically until cancelled in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://smond.studio/unwritten/privacy Write a little. Every day.

About

footnotes

Capture the full texture of everyday moments with words, photos, video, and voice. Organize these memories into notebooks and create a timeline of your life. Share your moments as little stories.

Highlights
  • Capture moments with text, photos, video, and voice
  • Organize notes into different notebooks
  • Build a timeline of life's moments
  • Create shareable stories from moments
  • Edit and add to old notes
Read full description

footnotes is a quiet notebook for the photographs, voices, passing thoughts, ideas, and ordinary moments that make up a life. you can: - capture the full texture of a moment: in words, photos, video, and voice, all together. - return to old notes, add new moments, and watch a timeline of your life slowly take shape. - make notebooks for different parts of your life, and - turn moments into little stories to share. slices of light sizzling on a wall. laughter of friends sloppy and gold. the loosey goosey fragments. all of which you look back on with tenderness, kept whole. footnotes makes space for the footnotes of a life. the little things that become the story of who you are.

Screenshots

Unwritten Journal4 screens
footnotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: footnotes at none against Unwritten Journal's 2. Unwritten Journal's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Unwritten Journal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. footnotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Unwritten Journal ships an update every 3 days, footnotes every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Unwritten Journal versus footnotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUnwritten Journalfootnotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.8 (187 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—95.7% of reviews
Number of ratings—187 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.118.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSmond ABDoppler HQ, Inc

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Unwritten Journal

Subscriptions1
  • Pro Yearly$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$29.99
None

footnotes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Unwritten Journal free?
Unwritten Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is footnotes free?
footnotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Unwritten Journal or footnotes have ads?
Neither Unwritten Journal nor footnotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Unwritten Journal or footnotes?
Unwritten Journal ships an update every 3 days, and footnotes every 2 days. Most recently, Unwritten Journal was updated on October 24, 2026 and footnotes on October 29, 2026.

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