Comparison

BLACK NOTE Pad vs Dao Journey

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

Head to head
About

BLACK NOTE Pad

This app provides a comfortable writing experience in dark environments. It features a true dark interface, instant blackout capabilities, and a red mode to protect night vision. Ideal for nighttime note-taking without disturbing others or straining your eyes.

Highlights
  • True dark interface for OLED screens
  • Instant blackout screen functionality
  • Red mode for night vision preservation
  • Customizable text brightness
  • Automatic time-stamping for notes
  • Quick keyboard hiding
Features
Read full description

BLACK NOTE is the ultimate text editor meticulously designed for writing in completely dark environments. Whether you are stargazing, in a dark theater, journaling in bed without waking your partner, or simply want to protect your eyes at night, BLACK NOTE ensures that taking notes will never blind you or ruin your night vision. Key Features: • True Dark Interface: An absolute black background that utilizes OLED screens perfectly to minimize light emission. • Instant Blackout: Double-tap the top of the screen to instantly turn the screen pitch black. Tap once to bring it back and resume typing. • Red Mode (Night Vision Protect): Switch the text to red to preserve your dark adaptation and night vision—ideal for astronomy and stealthy use. • Customizable Brightness: Granular control over the text brightness independent of your device's global brightness setting. • Time-Stamped Notes: Pressing 'Enter' at the end of a line automatically inserts the current time, perfect for logbooks and observation records. • Quick Stealth: Tap the top or swipe down to instantly hide your keyboard. • Maximum Darkness Guide: Includes built-in tips and shortcuts for utilizing iOS "Reduce White Point" to make your entire device, including the keyboard, as dark as physically possible. Don't let bright screens interrupt your focus in the dark. Experience the most comfortable night-time writing with BLACK NOTE.

About

Dao Journey

This app helps you track daily efforts as a personal cultivation journal. Record activities, attach media, and receive reflections tied to five growth attributes. Advance through cultivation levels by accumulating Qi from consistent actions.

Highlights
  • Daily effort journaling
  • Voice and image attachments
  • Cultivation-themed reflections
  • Qi accumulation and leveling
  • Achievement paths
  • Progress tracking
Features
Read full description

Dao Journey turns everyday efforts into a personal cultivation journal. Record practice, exercise, reading, learning, creativity, kindness, social moments, and new experiences. Write an entry, dictate in English or Mandarin according to your selected app language, or attach up to nine images. Keep the original voice recording with your entry, and revisit your words, images, and audio in the journal. After each entry, receive a cultivation-themed reflection based on what you did. See how it relates to five attributes—Body, Insight, Composure, Resolve, and Kindness—along with the reasons for each change, Qi earned, and your progress toward the next level. Build Qi through small, consistent actions and advance through cultivation levels. Each Qi Refining layer has its own icon, with a brief celebration when you break through. Explore nine achievement paths with milestones from Initiate to Transcendent. Progress comes from completed actions in exercise, reading, mindfulness, kindness, creativity, study, tidying, social connection, and exploration; plans alone do not count. Practice, Achievements, and Journal each have their own tab. Open saved images for a closer look and play back voice recordings. Choose Simplified Chinese or English in Settings, and tailor the style of your reflections. Dao Journey is a personal tracking and reflection app. Its cultivation language is a playful way to describe everyday growth.

Screenshots

BLACK NOTE Pad4 screens
Dao Journey3 screens

Verdict

The call

BLACK NOTE Pad and Dao Journey are too close to call on the numbers: across 8 compared parameters — price, rating, ratings volume and ads among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for BLACK NOTE Pad against 5.0 for Dao Journey. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
BLACK NOTE Pad versus Dao Journey: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBLACK NOTE PadDao Journey
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 4 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSUGAR SOUND, K.K.Boyang Deng

In-app purchases

None

BLACK NOTE Pad

No in-app purchases

None

Dao Journey

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is BLACK NOTE Pad free?
BLACK NOTE Pad is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Dao Journey free?
Dao Journey is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, BLACK NOTE Pad or Dao Journey?
BLACK NOTE Pad and Dao Journey are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do BLACK NOTE Pad or Dao Journey have ads?
Neither BLACK NOTE Pad nor Dao Journey shows ads.

Other comparisons