Comparison

Companions vs Thoughts

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

Head to head
About

Companions

Add a virtual aquarium to your Home Screen with customizable fish and tank styles. Enjoy a low-maintenance digital pet experience without the need for feeding or cleaning. Watch your companions swim and interact directly from your widget.

Highlights
  • Home Screen widgets
  • Customizable fish and tank styles
  • Multiple fish pack options
  • Interactive bubble feature
  • Supports iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch
  • No feeding or cleaning required
Features
Read full description

A little fish tank, right on your Home Screen. Pick your fish, give them names, and see them every time you unlock your iPhone. No feeding, no cleaning, no guilt. Just a few bright companions who are always there. YOUR OWN TANK Add a fish and watch it drop into the water with a splash. Then give it a name: your best friend, a K-pop star you love, the cast of your favourite sitcom. Tap the glass and a puff of bubbles rises. Or just watch. Every fish swims in its own way, at its own pace, and lets out the odd little bubble. There's room for five, so each one gets a name and a place of its own. YOUR FISH, ON YOUR HOME SCREEN Add the Companions widget and your tank is there every time you glance at your phone. Same fish, same water, no need to open the app. The widget comes in small, medium and large, and the app shows you exactly how each size will look before you place it. MAKE IT YOURS Choose from four tank styles: Minimal, Twilight, Pond and Reed. Pick one and your widget changes to match. MEET THE FISH Every tank starts with a Tang, a Sardine and a Puffer. Want more company? • Reef Pack: Clownfish, Moorish Idol, Regal Tang, Parrotfish and Lionfish. • Pond Pack: Koi, Gold Koi, Catfish, Trout and Terrapin. • Sea Creatures Pack: Sea Turtle, Seahorse, Squid, Jellyfish and Octopus. • Shark Pack: Great White, Manta, Hammerhead, Whale Shark and Thresher. • Whale Pack: Dolphin, Orca, Blue Whale, Sperm Whale and Humpback. • Pond Creatures Pack: Minnow, Axolotl, Frog, Toad and Tadpole. MADE WITH CARE Companions is made by one person in South Korea. If there's a fish you'd love to see, or anything else on your mind, email me from Settings and I'll reply personally. Available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Thoughts

A private chat-style diary for capturing thoughts, memories, and experiences. Organize entries with photos, voice notes, and tasks, track your mood and habits, and secure your data with biometric locks.

Highlights
  • Chat-style diary entries
  • Multimedia attachments (photos, voice, files)
  • Mood and habit tracking
  • Future self messages
  • Customizable chat appearance
  • Biometric app lock
  • iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Your thoughts. Your memories. Your personal space. Thoughts is your private diary in the familiar chat style. Write down thoughts, capture experiences, and collect everything you don't want to forget - quickly, personally, and without distraction. • Capture thoughts like news Organize your entries in personal chats and supplement them with photos, files, drawings, voice recordings and tasks. • Reflect on mood and everyday life Record how you feel, keep a gratitude diary, and keep an eye on your habits. • Rediscover memories Browse your entries, rediscover them in the calendar and get insights into your past weeks. • Letters to your future self Write down thoughts, wishes, or tasks that only reappear at a time of your choice. • Personally designed Customize your chats with colors, icons, and backgrounds, and create thoughts the way you want. • Protected and private Lock the entire app or individual chats with Face ID, Touch ID, or your device code. • With iCloud Sync your listings between your Apple devices from your private iCloud storage. • Directly from the home screen Capture your current mood with the widget or open a new idea with a few steps. Thoughts is the place for everything that moves you. Write it down. Keep it. Think about it.

Screenshots

Companions4 screens
Thoughts4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Thoughts at none against Companions's 10. Thoughts also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 90%). Companions's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs weekly) and ratings volume (7 vs 1). On price, rating, 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. Companions sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per month. Thoughts asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Companions against 5.0 for Thoughts. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Companions has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of Companions's written reviews are positive against 100% of Thoughts's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Companions ships an update every 2 days, Thoughts weekly. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Companions versus Thoughts: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCompanionsThoughts
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (7 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size105 MB113 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTiaan Johan van der RielLuca Ring

Customer experience

Companions

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%

Thoughts

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Companions

Subscriptions1
  • All Fish$3.491 Month
One-time9
  • Whale Pack$1.99
  • Pond Creatures Pack$1.99
  • Reef Pack 2$1.99
Show 6 more
  • Freshwater Pack 2$1.99
  • Reef Pack$1.99
  • Sea Creatures Pack$1.99
  • Shark Pack$1.99
  • Pond Pack$1.99
  • All Fish Lifetime$34.99
None

Thoughts

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Companions free?
Companions is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Thoughts free?
Thoughts is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Companions or Thoughts?
Companions and Thoughts are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 7 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Companions or Thoughts have ads?
Neither Companions nor Thoughts shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Companions or Thoughts?
Companions ships an update every 2 days, and Thoughts weekly. Most recently, Companions was updated on November 1, 2026 and Thoughts on November 1, 2026.

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