Comparison

JournalWrite vs Slips

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

Head to head
About

JournalWrite

This app offers a private and distraction-free space for writing journal entries. It helps users build consistent habits by tracking streaks and visualizing progress with clear insights, all while remaining fully offline and ad-free.

Highlights
  • Distraction-free writing experience
  • Offline journaling
  • No ads or accounts required
  • Track journaling streaks
  • Visualize progress with insights
  • Explore entry trends
Features
Read full description

JournalWrite provides a clean, distraction-free journaling experience designed to help you stay consistent, reflect privately, and visualize your progress over time. Track streaks, view meaningful insights, and build a stronger journaling habit - all without ads, accounts, or clutter. SIMPLE BY DESIGN - Clean, distraction-free writing experience - No ads, no clutter, no paywalls - Focused journaling for capturing your thoughts and reflecting clearly POWERFUL STATS - Track your journaling streaks and records - Visualize your progress with clean insights - Explore trends across all journal entries - Stay motivated with clear progress over time PRIVATE & OFFLINE - Your entries stay on your device - Fully offline journaling - No account required - No personal data collected If you enjoy journaling, tracking your growth, and keeping your thoughts private, JournalWrite is built for you.

About

Slips

This app offers a streamlined note-taking experience with a maximum of five customizable notes. Personalize each note with icons and colors, and sync them seamlessly across all your Apple devices. It provides rich text formatting and quick access options.

Highlights
  • Five customizable notes
  • iCloud synchronization
  • Rich text formatting
  • Home/Lock Screen widgets
  • Share sheet integration
  • Mac app support
Features
Read full description

Slips — Five notes, made yours Five slips. That's all. Slips is a notes app built on a simple idea: five fixed notes are enough for the things you actually return to, and few enough that you always know where everything is. No folders to organize, no archive to dig through, no blank-page guilt. Pick a slip and write. MADE YOURS Name each slip, choose an icon from hundreds of symbols, and give it a color. Groceries, Books, Trips, Meds, Faith, Projects, whatever your five are. Reorder them any time. ALWAYS IN SYNC Your slips live in your own private iCloud and stay current on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Edit on one device, and it's on the others. Nothing is collected, nothing is tracked, and there are no accounts to create. BACKED UP, JUST IN CASE Every device quietly saves a daily backup of your slips, keeping the last three. Restoring takes one tap, and a safety copy is made first, so even a restore can be undone. You can also export your slips to a file and keep it anywhere. RICH WHERE IT COUNTS Bold, italic, underline, highlight, headers, bulleted and numbered lists, tap-to-check checklists, dividers, and links that turn into preview cards. FAST WAYS IN Add to a slip from any app with the share sheet. Automate with Siri and Shortcuts. Put a slip on your Home Screen or Lock Screen with widgets, or capture instantly from Control Center. AT HOME ON THE MAC A real Mac app: your slips in the sidebar, formatting in the menu bar, Cmd+1 through Cmd+5 to switch slips, an optional menu bar icon, and sharing straight from Safari. SIMPLE PRICING Try a single Slip for free forever. Slips Plus unlocks all five. One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and is shareable with your family. Slips Plus subscriptions renew automatically until canceled in your App Store account settings, at least 24 hours before the current period ends. Lifetime is a one-time purchase. Privacy policy: https://mattlangford.com/slips-privacy Terms of use: Apple's standard EULA Support: https://mattlangford.com/slips-support

Screenshots

JournalWrite4 screens
Slips4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: JournalWrite at none against Slips's 3. JournalWrite also leads on ratings volume (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). Slips's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). On price, rating, ads 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. Slips sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. JournalWrite 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 JournalWrite against 5.0 for Slips. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

JournalWrite ships an update every 2 months, Slips weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
JournalWrite versus Slips: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJournalWriteSlips
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJacob KapplerMatthew Langford

Customer experience

JournalWrite

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Slips

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

In-app purchases

None

JournalWrite

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Slips

Subscriptions2
  • Slips Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Slips Yearly$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Slips Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is JournalWrite free?
JournalWrite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Slips free?
Slips is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, JournalWrite or Slips?
JournalWrite and Slips are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do JournalWrite or Slips have ads?
Neither JournalWrite nor Slips shows ads.
Which is updated more often, JournalWrite or Slips?
JournalWrite ships an update every 2 months, and Slips weekly. Most recently, JournalWrite was updated on October 9, 2026 and Slips on October 6, 2026.

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