Comparison

Inkroll vs BookWrite

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

Head to head
About

Inkroll

Features
Read full description

Inkroll is the companion app for people who love writing by hand but hate losing their notes. Keep a digital index of everything in your physical notebooks (page numbers, titles, notes, tags, and photos) so you can always find what you wrote, even years later. -- WHY INKROLL -- Your paper notebooks are irreplaceable. But finding a specific idea, quote, or sketch from six months ago is another story. Inkroll solves this by giving each notebook entry a searchable digital record, linked to the exact page in the exact notebook where it lives. -- FEATURES -- • Multiple Notebooks — organise entries across as many notebooks as you own, each with its own colour. • Page Entries — log the page number, a title, a note, and tags for any page worth remembering. • Full-Text Search — instantly find entries by title, note content, or tag name across all your notebooks. • Tags — colour-coded tags let you group related entries across different notebooks. • Widget — glance at your most recent entry straight from your Home Screen (small and medium sizes). • Quick Entry — add an entry to your default notebook without leaving the Home Screen widget. -- INKROLL PRO -- One-time purchase. No subscription, ever. • Photo Attachments — photograph the page and attach it to your entry. Tap to view full-screen. • iCloud Sync — your entire index syncs automatically across every iPhone and iPad on your Apple ID. • Export as PDF — generate a clean, printable PDF of any notebook's entries. • Export as CSV — export a spreadsheet-ready file for use in Excel, Numbers, or any data tool. -- DESIGNED FOR ANALOG LOVERS -- Inkroll doesn't try to replace your notebooks. It makes them smarter. Write with your favourite pen, on your favourite paper — then take ten seconds to log the page in Inkroll. That's it. No subscriptions. No cloud lock-in. Your data lives in your iCloud account.

About

BookWrite

This app provides a personalized writing environment for stories, poems, and diaries. Customize your virtual bookshop, writing tools, and organize your plot with various templates and tools. Track your writing progress and share your work in multiple formats.

Highlights
  • Customizable virtual bookshop aesthetic
  • On-device dictation and Night Pages
  • Story Bible for characters and plot
  • Plot board and idea jar
  • Daily word goals and writing sprints
  • Export to PDF, ebook, or audiobook
  • Face ID for diary privacy
Features
Read full description

Write the story only you could write. ScribeMe opens on a little bookshop. Step inside and every story you've ever started is standing on your shelf: novels, fanfic, poems, a secret diary. Each one looks the way you made it. Pull one down and keep going. MAKE IT YOUR AESTHETIC Pink and glowing, or dark wood and candlelight: pick your shop style. Then choose your covers (leather, cloth, hardcover or paperback), your paper, your pen and your font. Decorate your shelves with ravens, skulls, crystals, unicorns, hearts and candles, or photograph your own keepsake and stand it right there. Seven app icons to match your vibe. WRITE ANYTHING • Stories, fanfic, poetry, song ideas, a whole novel • Chapters, scene breaks, bold and italics • Talk instead of type with on-device dictation • Night Pages for writing after midnight • Draw on the page and add pictures • Soundscapes: rain, a crackling fire or waves A DIARY THAT STAYS SECRET Lock any book with Face ID. Locked books stay out of search, and Siri never reads them out. Write in your diary with Siri: "Write in my diary in ScribeMe." PLOT TWISTS, PLANNED • A Story Bible for every character, place and secret • Story Tags: found family, enemies to friends, magic school, cosy, spooky, romance and more, with prompts that fit • Story templates: three acts, hero's journey, fairy tale, mystery • A plot board to see your whole story at once • An Idea Jar for ideas that hit at 2am KEEP YOUR STREAK ALIVE • Daily word goals, streaks and milestones • Writing sprints with a countdown on your Lock Screen • A Writing Calendar of every day's words • Challenges: 1,000 words this week, or 10,000 this month, to win a golden trophy for your shelf • My Writing Year: your year in story cards SHOW IT OFF (OR DON'T) • Share a Line: turn your best sentence into a quote card • Give your book a back cover and a blurb, then flip it over • Turn it into a real PDF, a print-at-home booklet, an ebook or an audiobook • Read it back with real page turns SIRI AND WIDGETS • "Give me a story idea in ScribeMe", "Start a writing sprint in ScribeMe", "Add to my book in ScribeMe" • Home Screen widgets for your shelf, your streak, Quick Write and a Story Idea of the Day • Control Center shortcuts for a new page, a quick idea or a sprint YOURS. ONLY YOURS. No account. No sign-up. No ads. No followers, no likes, no comments. Nobody sees your writing unless you share it. Your books live on your phone, and iCloud sync (beta) keeps them on your own devices. Automatic snapshots mean nothing you write is ever lost. Everything is included and free. For iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

Inkroll4 screens
BookWrite4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BookWrite at none against Inkroll's 1. BookWrite also leads on iOS requirement (18.1 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, 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. Inkroll sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. BookWrite asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Inkroll ships an update every 2 weeks, BookWrite every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Inkroll versus BookWrite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInkrollBookWrite
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.018.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperALEXANDRU CORNEL CHIREARichard Wheatley

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Inkroll

One-time1
  • Inkroll Pro$4.99
None

BookWrite

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Inkroll free?
Inkroll is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BookWrite free?
BookWrite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Inkroll or BookWrite have ads?
Neither Inkroll nor BookWrite shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Inkroll or BookWrite?
Inkroll ships an update every 2 weeks, and BookWrite every 6 days. Most recently, Inkroll was updated on November 10, 2026 and BookWrite on November 13, 2026.

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