Comparison

Vantage Calendar vs Deepen

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

Head to head
About

Vantage Calendar

This app offers a visually engaging way to manage your schedule and to-do lists. It uses colorful cues, stickers, and "stacks" to help you understand your day at a glance. Integrated to-dos can be easily scheduled by dragging and dropping them onto dates.

Highlights
  • Visual cues (colors, stickers, book covers)
  • Summarize days with 'Stacks'
  • Integrated to-do lists in notebooks
  • Drag and drop to-dos to dates
  • Natural language input
  • Syncs with multiple calendars
Features
Read full description

Who says calendars can't be fun? Vantage takes the mundane out of scheduling. In part because it works well and is easy to use, but also because of useful visual cues like colors, stickers, book covers and stacks. Visual cues makes understanding a long list of stuff easier, and can help you understand your daily life better. Sort of like doodles in a physical book can help you remember notes. Picked by Apple as the "App of the Day" on the App Store in 2019. Stacks Stacks are a really cool way of summarising days. It reduces clutter and visualises how much is on your plate. The higher the stack, the more things you got planned. Tap any stack to peek it’s contents. Integrated To-Dos To-dos live in little notebooks right next to the main timeline. To set a due date, just drag a to-do and drop it on a date. You also get to customise your books with a pre-set book cover, or even a photo from your camera roll. Color Tags and Stickers Visual cues makes long lists of stuff so much easier to read. Pick from a variety of funky stickers or color tags to let events either pop or feel connected. Features in summary - Natural Language Input - Custom Repeat Rules - Custom Alerts - Syncs with iOS Calendar, Google Calendar, Exchange, Facebook - Use colors, stickers and fonts as search tags, super useful! - Useful widget calendar in notification centre - Keep To-do lists in Notebooks - Drag and drop To-dos to due dates - Location through Apple or Google Maps - Inbox for event invites - Week numbers - Absolutely no ads Featured by the App Store in 'Stay on Schedule', as the 'Free App of the Week' and in 'New Apps We Love'. Pay a visit to our web or twitter if you're curious for more. http://twitter.com/vantage_by_44 http://vantageby44.com "A More Visual Way To View Your Calendar" - Lifehacker "Vantage [...] gives you the best view of everything you've got going on" - Gizmodo "It breaks the mold and offers an entirely new way to organize your life. Plus, it’s very easy on the eyes." - AppAdvice Our terms of use can be found at https://vantageby44.com/terms-of-use.

About

Deepen

Transform passive reading into active learning by speaking your thoughts aloud. This app creates a personal knowledge map from your spoken insights, connecting ideas across all the books you read. It helps you remember what you've learned and query your own reading history.

Highlights
  • Log pages read and track progress
  • Answer spoken questions about content
  • Generate concept maps from spoken answers
  • Connect ideas across multiple books
  • Query your personal reading library
  • Save lookup words and memorable passages
  • Import Goodreads shelves
Features
Read full description

You finish a chapter, feel like you understood it, and a month later almost nothing is left. That is the normal outcome of reading, not a personal failing. Reading is passive: the text goes in, feels clear, and leaves no trace you can retrieve. Deepen makes it active, and it takes about a minute. HOW IT WORKS 1. Log the pages you read. Your progress bar moves. 2. Deepen asks you one open question. "What was the author actually arguing there?" or "What did you disagree with?" 3. You answer out loud, in your own words, for about a minute. 4. Your answer comes back as concepts, connections, and the questions you still have. 5. Those concepts join a map of everything you have ever read. Speaking an idea back in your own words is retrieval practice, which is the best-evidenced way to turn reading into memory. Almost nobody does it, because writing notes is work. Talking for a minute is not. THE MAP IS THE POINT Every concept you articulate becomes a node. When the same idea shows up in a second book, Deepen links them without being asked. Over a few months you stop having a pile of separate books and start having one connected body of reading. Read something about legitimacy in a history book, meet it again in a book about organizations, and the map shows you the two are talking to each other. ASK YOUR OWN LIBRARY Ask a question in plain language and get an answer built only from what you have said about the books you have actually read. Not the internet. Your own words, with the notes they came from listed underneath. NOTHING IS EVER SCORED Deepen does not test you chapter by chapter. Nobody wants to be graded on their evening. The questions after each session are open and never scored, because the point is to make you think, not to make you correct. When you finish a book, it asks once more: what will you still be thinking about in a year? Your answer joins the map like any other. It is a lap of honour, not an exam. ALSO IN THE APP - Keep the words you had to look up, with the book you met them in - Keep the passages worth remembering, and share one as a sticker - Scan a barcode to add a book, or import your Goodreads shelves - A home screen widget showing the book you are on WORKS WITH PAPER Deepen never asks what you are reading on. Paper, library copy, hardback, secondhand, an ebook, a PDF. You talk, so it does not matter. Nothing to sync, no highlights to export, no cable. BUILT TO BE PRIVATE Your notes and your map live on your iPhone. The map is computed on the device, so it works with no signal at all. There is no account and no sign-up. FOR PEOPLE WHO READ ON PURPOSE Deepen is for nonfiction readers who want the reading to stick: students, researchers, people working through a field, anyone who has ever finished a good book and been unable to say what it argued. DEEPEN PRO Deepen is free to try. Pro unlocks unlimited recaps, the map across every book, and Ask. - Monthly: $5.99 - Annual: $49.99 with a 7-day free trial Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://chamallox.github.io/deepen-legal/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support : https://chamallox.github.io/deepen-legal/support/

Screenshots

Vantage Calendar4 screens
Deepen4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Deepen at 5.0 against Vantage Calendar's 4.3. Deepen also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 82%) and update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly). Vantage Calendar's advantage is ratings volume (1.8K vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Vantage Calendar sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Deepen sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Deepen holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Vantage Calendar has 1.8K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Vantage Calendar's written reviews are positive against 100% of Deepen's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Vantage Calendar ships an update fortnightly, Deepen every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Vantage Calendar versus Deepen: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVantage CalendarDeepen
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (1.8K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.8K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size58 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFortyfour ABFrancois Sempe

Customer experience

Vantage Calendar

All ratings1,822 ratings
Positive82.3%
Neutral6.0%
Negative11.6%
Written reviews1,547 reviews
Positive81.5%
Neutral7.8%
Negative10.7%

Deepen

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Vantage Calendar

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashing on launch
  • Inability to restore purchases
  • Sync issues causing data loss
  • Recurring tasks not working as expected

Requested features

6 requests
  • Widgets
  • Apple Watch app
  • More color and theme options
  • Ability to see full month view
  • Ability to add contacts to events
Show 1 more
  • Improved search functionality

Deepen

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Vantage Calendar

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Yearly3 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlimited$9.99
3 purchases

Deepen

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Weekly$6.997 Days
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$79.991 Year

Questions

Is Vantage Calendar free?
Vantage Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Deepen free?
Deepen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Vantage Calendar or Deepen?
Deepen is rated higher. Vantage Calendar averages 4.3 out of 5 from 1.8K ratings, while Deepen averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Vantage Calendar or Deepen have ads?
Neither Vantage Calendar nor Deepen shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Vantage Calendar or Deepen?
Vantage Calendar ships an update fortnightly, and Deepen every 5 days. Most recently, Vantage Calendar was updated on October 26, 2026 and Deepen on October 23, 2026.

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