Comparison

Softly vs Planner

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

Head to head
About

Softly

A private journaling app focused on reflection and emotional well-being. It offers multiple writing styles, a visual emotional calendar, and word pattern analysis. All data is stored locally for complete privacy.

Highlights
  • Multiple writing styles
  • Visual emotional calendar
  • Word constellation analysis
  • Time capsule feature
  • On-device data storage
  • Face ID protection
Features
Read full description

Softly is a private journal for your days. No achievements. No streaks. No productivity metrics. Just you, a word when you want one, and a space that comes back every night to receive you the way you arrived. WRITE HOWEVER FEELS RIGHT Free diary, gratitude in three lines, a mood with a tap of a moon, or an affirmation when you need to hear it. Four ways to leave the day without losing it. YOUR MONTH IN WATERCOLOR Each day lights up with the color of how you felt. A hand-painted emotional calendar — not a bar chart. YOUR CONSTELLATION OF WORDS The words that return most to your writing appear as a constellation that shifts with you. You see patterns without anyone interpreting them for you. TIME CAPSULES Seal a piece of writing today (AES-GCM encrypted). Open it in a month, a year — whenever you're ready to listen to yourself again. TOTAL PRIVACY Everything lives on your device. On-device speech recognition. Face ID for your space. No tracking, no accounts, no server watching. WATERCOLORS THAT BREATHE Each time you return, a new variant of a sprig, flower, or lavender greets you. The notebook changes with you. Softly is for the days you want to write — and for the days you only wanted to open the app. Here, both count.

About

Planner

This personal planning app helps you organize your life by day, month, or year. It offers voice input, year-at-a-glance views, countdown timers, mood tracking, and conflict detection. Organize plans into life chapters and review your progress.

Highlights
  • Voice-activated planning
  • Yearly calendar overview
  • Countdown timers for upcoming events
  • Daily mood tracking
  • Automatic conflict detection
  • Organize plans by life chapters
  • Progress review and stats
Features
Read full description

Planner — Life Planning, Reimagined Plan your life the way you actually live it — by day, month, year, and beyond. Planner is a beautifully designed personal planning app that gives you a complete picture of your life at every scale. Whether you're organizing a busy work week, tracking a travel adventure, or mapping out a major life chapter, Planner keeps everything connected and in view. Plan by Voice Just speak your plans naturally. Say "Flight to Tokyo next Friday" or "Meeting with James on July 24th at 2pm" and Planner does the rest — parsing the details and adding it instantly. See the Whole Year The Year view puts your entire calendar on one screen, color-coded by category. Spot patterns, busy seasons, and open stretches at a glance. Stay Ahead with Momentum Your upcoming plans are front and center with countdown timers. Know exactly how many days until your next trip, meeting, or milestone — so you never lose sight of what's next. Track Your Mood Log how you're feeling each day and let Planner surface the right plans for your energy. Mood check-ins adapt your schedule to how you actually feel. Catch Conflicts with Radar Planner automatically detects scheduling conflicts and suggests fixes — so you're never double-booked. Organize by Chapter Group related plans into life story arcs — a travel chapter, a career sprint, a personal growth season. Your plans, put into meaningful context. Replay Your Progress Review what you've accomplished with heatmaps, category breakdowns, and completion stats. See the life you've been building. Categories that make sense: Work · Travel · Personal · Social Plan smarter. Live fully. This is your story — Planner helps you write it.

Screenshots

Softly4 screens
Planner3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Softly at 4 against Planner's 1. Softly also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.2). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. 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 Softly against 5.0 for Planner. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Softly versus Planner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSoftlyPlanner
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 daysEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJean MillanAviationMP4 Media LLC

Customer experience

Softly

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Planner

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Softly

No in-app purchases

None

Planner

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Softly free?
Softly is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Planner free?
Planner is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Softly or Planner?
Softly and Planner are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Softly or Planner have ads?
Neither Softly nor Planner shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Softly or Planner?
Softly ships an update every 3 days, and Planner every 3 days. Most recently, Softly was updated on November 5, 2026 and Planner on October 31, 2026.

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