Comparison

Packing Checklist vs Avlu

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

Head to head
About

Packing Checklist

This app helps you organize your life with to-do lists, planners, and packing lists. It features AI-generated lists and a minimalist design, prioritizing your privacy with offline, local data storage.

Highlights
  • AI-powered checklist generation
  • Offline functionality
  • Unlimited customizable lists
  • Privacy-focused local storage
  • Minimalist and distraction-free interface
  • Import/Export list functionality
Features
Read full description

Packing List Checklist is the fast, simple way to manage your to-dos, daily plans, and travel lists. Everything lives on your device: no accounts, no sign-ups, and no data tracking. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Create lists: name them for groceries, routines, cleaning tasks, schedules, or any project. • Customize with colors: give each list a theme color for quick visual organization. • Check items off: tap to mark done, swipe to delete, or long-press to rename. • Sort & reorder: sort alphabetically or drag to rearrange your priorities. • Shake to reset: shake your phone to clear all checkmarks on a list at once. • Add items in bulk: paste or type several items at once (one per line). • Generate with AI: type a prompt like "things to pack for the beach" and let on-device Apple Intelligence suggest items (iPhone 16+ only, iOS 26+). • Share a list: export all items as plain text to send to anyone. • Organize everything: keep work, home, and personal checklists separate. PREMIUM FEATURES (In-App Purchase) • No ads: enjoy a clean, distraction-free experience. • Unlimited lists: the free tier includes 5 lists, or you can upgrade for unlimited lists. • AI generator: get unlimited on-device AI brainstorming for your lists. • Custom themes: unlock all theme colors to personalize your app. PRIVACY Your data stays yours. The app collects absolutely no data, and AI generation runs entirely on your device. List sync across devices is coming in a future update. Download today and take control of your tasks, travel, and daily routines with complete peace of mind. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Avlu

Organize your notes as a navigable 3D palace. Furnish rooms with furniture that holds your markdown notes, creating a visual space to recall information. Links between notes become visible threads, and neglected rooms dim over time.

Highlights
  • 3D memory palace visualization
  • Markdown note organization
  • Customizable rooms and furniture
  • Visual note linking
  • Progressive room dimming for neglected notes
  • Cross-device iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Memory is a place you build by hand. Avlu puts a palace over your notes. Every note is a plain markdown file in a folder you own; the palace arranges them as rooms you furnish, so that walking the room brings the ideas back with it. No account, no server, and nothing that leaves your iCloud. ROOMS YOU FURNISH A room is one subject. Start from a template — a library, a workshop, a music room, a memory gallery, a living hall — and put things in it: a writing desk, an armchair, an arch. Each piece of furniture holds one note or several, and it is the object you remember, not the file name. More than a hundred pieces wait in the catalog. Pinch to zoom, drag to pan, turn an object to face the other way. Take a piece out and it waits in storage with its notes intact. Removing something never destroys it. MARKDOWN THAT RENDERS AS YOU TYPE No edit mode and no preview pane. Headings, lists, tasks, quotes and code render in place, and the markup shows itself only on the line you are writing. Add a picture from Photos or Files, or paste one, and it stands where you put it; tap it and set it small, medium or big. Any other file drops in as a card that opens on a tap. Type [[ and pick the note to link. Rename a note and every link to it is repointed. Frontmatter you wrote yourself is left exactly as it was. LINKS BECOME THREADS Write [[a link]] between two notes and Avlu lifts it onto the furniture holding them, then draws it as a line across the floor. A connection becomes something you can see from the doorway, and every idea comes back with its neighbour. ROOMS FADE IF YOU NEGLECT THEM Notes you stop opening fall due, and the room they stand in dims. The dashboard counts what is waiting and lists the notes you have left longest. Opening a note is what reviewing means: no ratings, no schedules, nothing else to remember to do. BUILT FOR EACH SCREEN On iPhone, four tabs: Today, Palace, Notes and Commands. A room fills the screen, and a note opens as a page. On iPad, every screen and feature of the Mac app at touch proportions, in both orientations, with a sidebar that folds to a ribbon. The command list holds every action in the palace: make a note, a room or an object, jump to any room, change the theme. Its search reads every note's title and text. YOUR FILES, YOUR ICLOUD • A palace is a folder: plain .md files, plus one small folder beside them that holds the room layouts • Open it in the Files app, back it up, or point any other markdown app at it, Obsidian included • Keep it in iCloud Drive and your iPhone, iPad and Mac open the same palace • No account, no analytics, no advertising, and no network access of any kind • No permission prompts: Avlu never asks for your photo library, camera, contacts or location WHO IT IS FOR Students with a room for each subject. Engineers with runbooks they can walk. Designers, travellers, athletes — anyone whose notes have outgrown a list. Your first palace is built in four steps, and its first notes are already written for you. AVLU FULL Avlu is free: rooms, furniture, notes, threads, storage and review, without limits. Avlu Full is an optional subscription, monthly or yearly, that adds one thing: you choose the tile an object stands on, and you can move what is already placed. On a free palace every object finds its own spot. If a subscription ends, nothing moves. One subscription covers iPhone, iPad and Mac. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://useavlu.com/privacy/

Screenshots

Packing Checklist4 screens
Avlu4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Avlu at none against Packing Checklist's shown. Avlu also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and device support (3 vs 1). Packing Checklist's advantage is ratings volume (95 vs 1). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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. Packing Checklist sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and Avlu sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Avlu holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Packing Checklist has 95 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Packing Checklist versus Avlu: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPacking ChecklistAvlu
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (95 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings95 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 10 months—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel NohrSelim Ustel

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Packing Checklist

Subscriptions2
  • Weekly Plan$4.997 Days
  • Annual Plan$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$44.99
2 purchases

Avlu

Subscriptions2
  • Avlu Full - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Avlu Full - Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Packing Checklist free?
Packing Checklist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Avlu free?
Avlu is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Packing Checklist or Avlu?
Avlu is rated higher. Packing Checklist averages 4.6 out of 5 from 95 ratings, while Avlu averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Packing Checklist or Avlu have ads?
Packing Checklist shows ads; Avlu does not.

Other comparisons