Comparison

Plainsight vs ByWhen

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

Head to head
About

Plainsight

Features
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PlainSight: The Disguised Note Vault Keep your most sensitive notes completely invisible to everyone else. No obvious PIN pads. No suspicious lock screens. Just total privacy, hidden in plain sight. PlainSight looks and functions like a beautiful, minimal note-taking app on the surface—perfect for daily tasks, grocery lists, and quick thoughts. But underneath its calm interface holds a powerful secret. By typing your own custom secret command phrase directly into a standard note field, PlainSight instantly unlocks your hidden workspaces. To an outside observer or anyone browsing your phone, your private vaults don't even exist. HOW IT WORKS: THE SECRET KNOCK CREATE YOUR TRIGGER Choose absolutely any secret phrase or word like .banana, ..manage, or a custom string of text. TYPE TO REVEAL Type your secret phrase anywhere in the text field to instantly slide open your private workspaces. TOTAL PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY PlainSight doesn't broadcast that you have something to hide. There are no "Incorrect Password" errors or biometric pop-ups to raise suspicion if you hand your phone to a friend, colleague, or family member. POWERFUL PRIVACY, MINIMALIST DESIGN WRITE WITH CLARITY Open instantly into a clean, distraction-free editor. No toolbars, no clutter—just a smooth, fast writing space that stays out of your way. ORGANIZE EFFORTLESSLY Group your sensitive data using lightweight tags and categories. Keep your personal journals, account numbers, business ideas, or travel itineraries meticulously structured. SECURE EMAIL RECOVERY Forget your secret word? Don't panic. You can securely reset your access via an encrypted recovery code sent to your email. Your notes remain completely local, encrypted, and yours—but you'll never be locked out. SECURE REAL-TIME COLLABORATION Need to share a shopping list with a partner or collaborate on a private project with a teammate? Turn any workspace into a shared space. PlainSight syncs instantly across devices in real time, giving you seamless multi-user collaboration without the bloat of heavy corporate productivity tools. FEATURES BUILT TO STAY INVISIBLE Fast writing tools and clean formatting Custom tags and categories Real-time multi-user collaboration Archive, delete, and restore controls Secure workspace management Smooth, instant cloud sync NO SUBSCRIPTIONS. NO SURPRISES. PlainSight is fully free for simple, personal note-taking. If you want advanced power—including multi-user shared workspaces, unlimited hidden spaces, and full real-time cloud sync across devices—unlock everything with a single, small, one-time upgrade. No monthly fees, ever. Protect your thoughts with absolute discretion. Download PlainSight and secure your notes today.

About

ByWhen

Features
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A deadline is not just a date. It is a promise your future self needs help keeping. ByWhen helps you turn important tasks into practical reminder plans. Instead of relying on one alert, ByWhen looks at what needs to be done, when it is due, how long it may take, what kind of attention it needs, and when your day has realistic space for it. Add a task, set the due date, estimate the effort, choose the task type, and ByWhen helps you stay aware of the work before it turns into last-minute pressure. ByWhen is built for: - Work projects with real due dates - Assignments, exams, and study sessions - Calls, forms, paperwork, and admin tasks - Errands that need time away from home or work - Personal tasks that are easy to postpone - Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and selected-day routines DEADLINE PLANS ByWhen helps you think beyond a simple due date. It considers time remaining, estimated effort, task priority, task type, and available windows in your day. A short call can fit differently than a focused work session. An errand that requires leaving home can be treated differently from a quick task you can do during a break. REMINDERS WITH CONTEXT ByWhen keeps the deadline visible as time passes. It highlights whether a task is on track, needs attention, is at risk, or has become critical. If you do not act on a reminder right away, the task remains part of your plan so you can return to it later. OPEN-TIME PLANNING With your permission, ByWhen can use calendar busy blocks to avoid suggesting times that are already occupied. You can choose what to include, ignore imported blocks, and keep control of your schedule. ROUTINE SETTINGS Set your wake time, sleep time, work hours, and workdays so reminder timing fits your real life. ByWhen can avoid unhelpful times and protect parts of the day when reminders would not make sense. TASK TYPES Different tasks need different kinds of time. ByWhen supports task types such as focused work, admin, calls, study, errands, and away-from-home tasks. This helps ByWhen suggest more realistic moments instead of treating every reminder the same way. REPEATING TASKS Create repeating tasks for daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or selected days of the week. When you complete a repeating task, ByWhen moves the next cycle forward so you are not reminded again for the period you already finished. QUICK ACTIONS Act from a reminder when possible. Start work, be reminded later, log time, or mark the task done so your plan can stay up to date. PRIVATE BY DESIGN ByWhen is built with privacy in mind. Your tasks, schedule blocks, routine settings, and reminder plans stay on your device. No account is required to start. If you choose to export a backup, it goes to your own selected destination. BYWHEN PREMIUM Your first 7 days are ByWhen Premium. During this time, all smart planning features are available. ByWhen Premium keeps every reminder active and unlocks the full planning experience, including unlimited active reminders, deadline plans, open-time planning, task-specific reminder styles, repeating tasks, quick actions, and routine personalization. After the first 7 days, your reminders stay safe, but Premium is required to keep all smart reminders active. Download ByWhen and give your deadlines a plan you can trust. Privacy Policy: https://nionlite.com/bywhen-privacy.html Terms of Use: https://nionlite.com/bywhen-terms.html

Screenshots

Plainsight4 screens
ByWhen4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ByWhen at every 5 days against Plainsight's every 2 weeks. Plainsight's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Plainsight sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and ByWhen sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Plainsight ships an update every 2 weeks, ByWhen every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
Plainsight versus ByWhen: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlainsightByWhen
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKLEEM STUDIO, LLCNiONlite LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Plainsight

One-time1
  • Plainsight - Private Notes$4.99
3 purchases

ByWhen

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Premium$4.991 Month
  • Annual Premium$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$79.99

Questions

Is Plainsight free?
Plainsight is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ByWhen free?
ByWhen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Plainsight or ByWhen have ads?
Neither Plainsight nor ByWhen shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Plainsight or ByWhen?
Plainsight ships an update every 2 weeks, and ByWhen every 5 days. Most recently, Plainsight was updated on October 31, 2026 and ByWhen on October 31, 2026.

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