Pencilo vs Alcove

Pencilo is a developer-focused task workspace built for iPad. Capture ideas instantly with Apple Pencil, keep handwritten notes next to tasks, and stay in flow from planning to execution. What you can do with Pencilo: • Capture tasks your way Create tasks by typing, drawing, or pasting text. Pencil capture helps you jot down work quickly when ideas arrive. • Organize projects with clarity Use project workspaces with list and board views to manage open, completed, and skipped tasks at a glance. • Keep notes close to execution Open a dedicated notepad for each project, write naturally with Apple Pencil, and keep task context where you need it. • Track focus and progress Start, pause, and resume active work sessions with built-in time tracking so you always know where your time goes. • Use AI as a practical teammate Generate daily plans, summarize notepad content, and convert action items into tasks you can apply with review-first control. • Move fast with quick actions Use shortcuts for capture, timer control, and smart multi-task creation from pasted content. Pencilo is designed for builders, students, and professionals who think better with handwriting but still need a structured workflow. No clutter. Just capture, prioritize, and ship.

Alcove is a calm to-do list, daily planner and notes app, free to use. Capture tasks in plain words, plan your week on a calendar, keep notes that do the maths, record meetings into notes with a summary, and move work along on kanban boards. Tick tasks off from a widget, and with Alcove Unlock find the same lists on your Mac and iPad. FREE TO USE, FOR GOOD Tasks and reminders without limits, Today, Upcoming and the calendar, quick add, widgets, notes and the Notifications page are free, with three lists and three meeting recordings. No account, no ads and no subscription. TYPE IT THE WAY YOU'D SAY IT Write "Call mum Friday 6pm" or "Stand-up every weekday 9:30 15m /Work" and Alcove picks out the day, time, length, repeat, priority, list and tags as you type. On the Mac, press Option-Space from any app to add a task. MEETINGS, WRITTEN UP Press Record when a meeting starts. On the Mac, Alcove hears your microphone and the call, so it works with any call app, with no bot joining. On iPhone and iPad it records the room. When you stop, you get a note with the recording, the transcript with who said what, and a summary with the decisions and action items, ready to become tasks, where Apple Intelligence supports the language. Speech is transcribed on your device, in more than a dozen languages including Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil, written in their own script. Meeting notes need macOS 26 or iOS 26. PLAN YOUR DAY AND WEEK • Today, Upcoming and a calendar with an hour grid and an all-day row • Drag a task to a new time or day • Repeating tasks for any rhythm: every few days, weeks, months or years, chosen weekdays, or counted from when you finished REMINDERS AS LOUD AS THE TASK Pick quiet, a notification, or an alarm. On iPhone with iOS 26, an alarm rings through silent mode and Focus, with Stop and Snooze. Mark a task done right from its reminder, and look back on every reminder, and anything you missed, on the Notifications page. NOTES THAT DO THE MATHS Headings, checklists, code, quotes and tables, written with Markdown shortcuts. End a line with = and it's worked out, and tables add up their own totals. Turn any checklist line into a task. KANBAN BOARDS Lay tasks out in To do, Doing and Done, or columns of your own. Tasks stay in their lists and in Today, and a card dropped in Done is finished everywhere. WIDGETS, SIRI AND SHORTCUTS • Widgets for the Home Screen, Lock Screen and Mac desktop, with tasks you can tick without opening the app • Controls for Control Center and the Lock Screen • Siri adds tasks, reads out your day and takes notes, and Shortcuts actions build your own automations MADE FOR THE MAC A menu bar list with a live count, a main window with a sidebar of every list, board and note, floating windows that stay on top, and keyboard shortcuts throughout. AI assistants can work with your tasks too, only once you turn them on, only with the permissions you approve, and every call is logged. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account to create, no ads and no tracking. Your tasks and notes stay on your devices and in your own iCloud. AND THE DETAILS • 100 steps of undo, and six months of history for every task • Search across tasks, notes, tags and attachments • Lists with colours and icons, folders and tags • Nine accents and eight papers, in light and dark ALCOVE UNLOCK: ONE PURCHASE, NO SUBSCRIPTION One purchase unlocks everything on your Mac, iPhone and iPad: unlimited lists and folders, boards, iCloud sync, unlimited meeting notes, alarm reminders, Siri and Shortcuts, Speak tasks, AI assistants, files on tasks, floating windows and every theme. Try it all free for 14 days first if you like. When a trial ends, Alcove goes back to the free version and nothing you made is lost. Family Sharing included. Privacy Policy: https://alcovetasks.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/