Comparison

Pencil Notes vs Whenly

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

Head to head
About

Pencil Notes

Features
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# Pencil Notes — Your Simple Apple Pencil Notebook Turn your iPad into a simple, distraction-free notebook designed for Apple Pencil. Write naturally, organize your ideas, annotate documents, and export your work — all without subscriptions or complicated setup. ## WRITE NATURALLY Pencil Notes is built around the feeling of writing on real paper. • Write with Apple Pencil • Create unlimited notebooks and pages • Choose blank, lined, dotted, or grid paper • Use a pressure-sensitive pen • Highlight important ideas • Undo and redo with ease • Zoom and pan while writing Whether you're taking notes, planning your day, journaling, brainstorming, or simply sketching, Pencil Notes keeps things simple. ## WRITE ON PDFs Import a PDF and write directly on it with Apple Pencil. Highlight text, add handwritten notes, draw, underline, circle important information, and mark up documents naturally. Perfect for: • Study materials • Lecture notes • Work documents • Forms and worksheets • Research papers • Presentations • Personal documents ## ANNOTATE IMAGES Import an image and use your Apple Pencil to write, draw, mark up, or add notes directly on it. ## EXPORT YOUR WORK When you're finished, export your handwritten pages, PDF annotations, or marked-up images and share them wherever you need. ## PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your notes stay on your iPad. No account required. Your notes stay on your iPad. No cloud storage. No ads. Just open the app and start writing. ## MADE FOR EVERYDAY USE Use Pencil Notes for: • Class and lecture notes • Meetings • To-do lists • Journaling • Planning • Brainstorming • Sketching • PDF annotation • Document markup • Personal notes ## SIMPLE BY CHOICE Pencil Notes isn't trying to replace every app on your iPad. It's a simple place to write. Open it. Pick a page. Grab your Apple Pencil. Start writing.

About

Whenly

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Whenly keeps your personal timelines in view: how long you've gone without something, how long until an important date, when you last did something, and when a subscription renews. WITHOUT See how long you've gone without something. Record an episode while keeping your main period going, or start a new period. Set a goal and keep your progress visible beyond 100%. UNTIL Count down to birthdays, trips, deadlines, and repeating dates. Set reminders, mark events passed, or reschedule expired one-time countdowns from Archive. SINCE Remember your last haircut, workout, filter change, or call home. Keep completion history and set reminders when something needs attention again. SUBSCRIPTIONS Add services manually and track prices, currencies, billing periods, trials, and renewal dates. Record payments you've made and view planned monthly and yearly costs separately by currency. Manage or cancel the actual service with Apple or the provider. MADE FOR EVERYDAY USE • Editable presets for all four counter types • Groups, manual ordering, goals, history, and focused charts • Home Screen widgets and local reminders • Optional iCloud sync, Face ID app lock, and private counters • Full JSON export and conflict-safe import • Archive and Trash with history-preserving restore and confirmed permanent deletion • Native iPhone and iPad experience on iOS and iPadOS 18 or later APPLE CALENDAR Add the next Until occurrence through Apple's event editor. You choose whether to save. The saved event is a separate copy; later changes do not sync with Whenly. PRIVATE AND FREE Whenly works without a Whenly account and keeps your counters available offline. You choose whether to sync with iCloud, export or share data, or add an event to Calendar. Whenly is free, with no ads, tracking, or paid features. For iCloud sync, update Whenly to 1.2 or later on all your devices.

Screenshots

Pencil Notes3 screens
Whenly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Whenly at Free against Pencil Notes's $1.99. Pencil Notes's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Whenly is free to download; Pencil Notes costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pencil Notes ships an update every 4 weeks, Whenly every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Pencil Notes versus Whenly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPencil NotesWhenly
Price$1.99Free — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.4 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKliv SpahiuIgor Bogdanov

In-app purchases

None

Pencil Notes

No in-app purchases

None

Whenly

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pencil Notes free?
Pencil Notes costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Whenly free?
Whenly is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Pencil Notes or Whenly have ads?
Neither Pencil Notes nor Whenly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pencil Notes or Whenly?
Pencil Notes ships an update every 4 weeks, and Whenly every 2 months. Most recently, Pencil Notes was updated on November 10, 2026 and Whenly on November 10, 2026.

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