Comparison

Documented vs ParentLog Journal

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

Head to head
About

Documented

This app securely logs parenting moments with automatic timestamps and optional location data. Entries are sealed to prevent tampering and can include notes, photos, and voice memos. An optional upgrade allows for secure PDF export for legal purposes.

Highlights
  • Sealed, timestamped entries
  • Log notes, photos, videos, voice memos
  • Automatic timestamp and GPS
  • Tamper-evident record keeping
  • Private by default, no account needed
  • Secure PDF export for legal sharing
Features
Read full description

Documented is a private record of how you show up for your kids. Log what happened (a handoff, a missed exchange, a first sentence, a doctor's visit) and it is sealed the second you save it. Time captured automatically. Place attached if you want it. Nothing you can quietly rewrite later, which is exactly what makes it worth something. WHY SEALED MATTERS A note you typed months after the fact is a memory. A record made at the time is a different thing. Every entry gets a SHA-256 fingerprint linked to the entry before it. Change one character and the chain no longer matches, and the app tells you. Edits can't be hidden. That's what tamper-evident means. Separately, each entry's fingerprint is sent to an independent Time-Stamping Authority, which signs a statement that it existed at that moment. The stamp is requested the moment the entry seals, and if your phone is offline it's obtained as soon as you reconnect. Only the fingerprint leaves your phone, never your words, your photos, your children's names, or where you were. A fingerprint can't be turned back into your content. BUILT FOR HOW THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS Thirty seconds, one-handed, in a car park, before you forget. Write it, tag it, seal it. • Log notes, photos, videos, voice memos, receipts, and message screenshots • Tag which child, and which co-parent, each moment involved • Automatic timestamp and optional GPS, captured rather than typed • Corrections are amendments: the original stays, the correction sits beside it • Search and filter by child, category, or date PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No account. No sign-up. No password. Documented opens straight into your record. Your entries stay on your iPhone, and in your own iCloud storage if you turn sync on. We can't read them. Your co-parent is never contacted, never notified, and never given access. Naming someone in your record is a label on your record, nothing more. WHAT IT COSTS Documented is a subscription, with a 7-day free trial. The subscription is the app, not an add-on to it. Included, with no limits of any kind: writing new entries, sealing them, the independent timestamp, photos, videos, voice memos and receipts, iCloud sync of your own record, search, filtering, amendments, the PDF export, and encrypted sharing with your attorney. No entry limit. No attachment limit. No storage tier. Free, whether you subscribe or not: reading, searching and verifying everything already in your record. Nothing you have sealed is ever locked away from you, and if a trial ends without a purchase the record becomes read-only rather than closed. People who installed Documented before this change keep their original free terms permanently. WHEN YOU NEED TO PRODUCE IT Your whole record becomes one PDF, ready to hand to your attorney: every entry in order, with its seal, an integrity statement, and your attachments. Any single entry can go on its own. You can send that record to your attorney encrypted on your device, to a key only they hold. A NOTE ON WHAT THIS IS Documented is a record-keeping tool. We're not a law firm and we don't give legal advice. Whether any record is accepted is decided by a judge under the rules of evidence where you live. What we can do is make sure that when you wrote something down, it's provable that you wrote it down then, and that nobody, including you, quietly changed it since. If something is on the line, talk to a licensed attorney in your state. Privacy Policy: https://documented.co/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://documented.co/terms

About

ParentLog Journal

Features
Read full description

ParentLog Journal is a private journal for documenting time with your child. Open any date and write what happened. Each day has a summary plus notes in hourly time slots, so your record shows not just what occurred but when. Everything saves as you type. DAILY RECORD Open today with one tap, or pick any date from the calendar. Write a summary of the day and add notes to individual time slots from morning through night. HIGHLIGHT WHAT MATTERS Flag important days and individual moments. Highlighted days appear in orange on the calendar and stand out clearly on the printed record, so the entries that matter are easy to find. EXCHANGE TRACKING Record the scheduled pickup and drop-off times alongside what actually happened. ParentLog Journal calculates how late each exchange ran and totals it for you. Missed or denied visits can be marked in one tap. PHOTOS AND DOCUMENTS Attach photos, screenshots, and documents to the day they belong to, each with a caption and the date it was added. They print alongside that day's entries. EXPENSES Log child related costs with receipt photos, categories, and running totals. CATEGORIES AND SEARCH Tag entries as exchange, medical, school, behavior, and more. Search every entry instantly, and filter your printed report to a single category when you only need part of the picture. PRINT AND EXPORT Produce a clean PDF covering everything or any date range. It opens with a summary page showing days recorded, exchanges on time versus late, total minutes late, missed visits, and expense totals, followed by every entry in date order. Print it directly or save and share the PDF. WORKS EVERYWHERE iPhone, iPad, and Apple silicon Mac. Turn on iCloud and your journal appears on all of your devices automatically. PRIVATE BY DESIGN There is no account and no sign in. Your journal is stored on your device and in your own private iCloud account. Nothing you write is sent to us, and we cannot read it. No analytics, no ads, no third party trackers. You can lock the app behind Face ID or your passcode. TIMESTAMPS ParentLog Journal quietly records when each entry was first written and shows it on the report. ParentLog Journal is a personal record keeping tool. It does not provide legal advice. How your records may be used is a question for your attorney.

Screenshots

Documented4 screens
ParentLog Journal3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ParentLog Journal at none against Documented's 6. ParentLog Journal also leads on ads (none vs shown). Documented's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and chart position (#102 vs unranked). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Documented sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per month. ParentLog Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Documented ships an update every 4 days, ParentLog Journal every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Documented versus ParentLog Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDocumentedParentLog Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (272 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings272 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#102 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRise Advertising LLCStatdate LLC

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Documented

Subscriptions6
  • Documented Plus7 Days trial$17.991 Month
  • Documented Plus14 Days trial$17.991 Month
  • Documented Plus1 Month trial$17.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Documented Plus - Yearly7 Days trial$179.991 Year
  • Documented Plus - Yearly14 Days trial$179.991 Year
  • Documented Plus1 Month trial$179.991 Year
None

ParentLog Journal

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Documented free?
Documented is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ParentLog Journal free?
ParentLog Journal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Documented or ParentLog Journal have ads?
Documented shows ads; ParentLog Journal does not.
Which is updated more often, Documented or ParentLog Journal?
Documented ships an update every 4 days, and ParentLog Journal every 3 weeks. Most recently, Documented was updated on October 31, 2026 and ParentLog Journal on October 31, 2026.

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