Comparison

Note To Self vs Pensieve

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

Head to head
About

Note To Self

This app allows you to quickly send emails to your own address for tracking to-do items or saving notes. It prioritizes your privacy by not using third-party servers and queues emails for sending when connectivity is available.

Highlights
  • Send emails to your own address
  • Track to-do items
  • Save notes for archive
  • Prioritizes user privacy
  • Offline email queuing
Features
Read full description

Note to self helps you quickly send email to your own email address. If you ever sent email to yourself to track to-do item or save a note for archive along with your email, this is a tool for you. We don't use any third party servers to send your emails, to ensure that you are in control of your privacy and if you don't have connectivity at the moment mail will be queued for sending and delivered when you get connection next time.

About

Pensieve

Easily capture fleeting thoughts, ideas, and to-dos by emailing them to yourself. This app provides quick capture tools like audio recording, photo attachments, and text pasting, ensuring your ideas are saved without interrupting your flow. It prioritizes user privacy with no data mining or ads.

Highlights
  • Audio recording with speech-to-text
  • Built-in camera for photo attachments
  • Attachment picker for photos and files
  • Quick paste for text, links, and images
  • Email from Apple Watch
  • Share extension for in-app capture
  • Customizable email formatting
  • Offline capture
Features
Read full description

If you’ve ever emailed yourself, Pensieve is for you. Just capture, send, and remember! Pensieve is the perfect Idea Inbox companion, a Magic Warp Zone for your mind. Ideas, to-dos, and inspiration pop into your head throughout the day, often at the wrong time and in the wrong place. You want to capture those thoughts somehow, but you’ll forget to check your other notes app, texting yourself won’t work, and writing an email is clunky. You need to get these ideas out of your mind and off of your phone now, so you can get back to what you’re doing and stay in the moment with a clear head. You need a powerful, easy-to-use tool that can teleport your thoughts from here and now to the time and place where they belong. You need an idea warp zone. You need Pensieve, the notes app you'll actually use. == Features == Powerful capture tools, deep customization, and lightning-fast email delivery: • Record audio memos and get automatic speech-to-text transcripts. • Built-in camera that attaches photos as soon as you take them. • Attachment picker with quick access to your photo library and files. • Quick paste button for emailing yourself text, links, and images. • Email yourself from your Watch using the Pensieve watch app. • Email yourself from within other apps using Pensieve Share. • Custom rules put you in control over how emails from Pensieve are formatted. • With the power of Pensieve you can send to multiple inboxes with one tap. • Works offline. Capture thoughts without the internet and send them later. == Privacy & Security First == Pensieve is committed to your privacy and security. The app doesn't contain any of the icky practices of big tech or other companies! - NO data mining. - NO advertisements. - NO attention-grabbing tactics. Only respect for you and your time, attention, and data. Learn more at https://privacy.pensieve.io. == Get in Touch == Tweet to @PensieveTweets with questions, feedback, etc. == Terms == By using Pensieve you agree to the Pensieve Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Note To Self4 screens
Pensieve4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Note To Self at none against Pensieve's 4. Note To Self also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and review sentiment (100% vs 91%). Pensieve's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 27 months) and ratings volume (82 vs 3). On price, ads, 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. Pensieve sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Note To Self asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Note To Self holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pensieve has 82 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Note To Self's written reviews are positive against 91% of Pensieve's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Note To Self ships an update every 27 months, Pensieve every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Note To Self versus Pensieve: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNote To SelfPensieve
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better4.7 (82 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better91.2% of reviews
Number of ratings382 — better
Update frequencyEvery 27 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size0 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSergey ChernyshevWindow Seat Labs, LLC

Customer experience

Note To Self

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Pensieve

All ratings82 ratings
Positive91.5%
Neutral3.7%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive91.2%
Neutral2.9%
Negative5.9%

In-app purchases

None

Note To Self

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Pensieve

Subscriptions4
  • Boost Monthly3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • All Access Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Boost Yearly3 Days trial$9.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • All Access Yearly7 Days trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Note To Self free?
Note To Self is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pensieve free?
Pensieve is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Note To Self or Pensieve?
Note To Self is rated higher. Note To Self averages 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Pensieve averages 4.7 from 82 ratings.
Do Note To Self or Pensieve have ads?
Neither Note To Self nor Pensieve shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Note To Self or Pensieve?
Note To Self ships an update every 27 months, and Pensieve every 6 weeks. Most recently, Note To Self was updated on October 14, 2026 and Pensieve on October 15, 2026.

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