Comparison

Pensieve vs Note To Self

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

Head to head
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/

About

Note To Self

Quickly email yourself reminders and notes without needing to log into email servers. Simply type your message and swipe to send. Unlock advanced features with a Pro subscription.

Highlights
  • Email notes to yourself
  • Quick and simple interface
  • Email verification
  • Unlimited emails (Pro)
  • Light and dark mode (Pro)
  • Send to multiple emails (Pro)
  • Email history (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Note to Self is a simple app for you to email yourself that note you need to remember! Verify your email and you're good to go! Just open the app, type out your note, and swipe left or right to send the email. The purpose for Note to Self is to be very quick and simple to use. Forget needing to login to any email servers. Just validate your email and send! Subscribe to Pro and get even more features! • Unlimited Emails • Light and Dark Mode • Send to up to 5 emails simultaneously • View a history of all the emails you have sent from your device Subscriptions for Pro are auto-renewing and will be charged to your iTunes Account within 24h before the end of the current period at the same price you were originally charged. If you would like to manage your subscription, please visit your iTunes Account Settings. Privacy Policy: https://notetoselfapp.com/#privacy Terms of Service: https://notetoselfapp.com/terms.html

Screenshots

Pensieve4 screens
Note To Self3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Note To Self at 5.0 against Pensieve's 4.7. Note To Self also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 91%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). Pensieve's advantage is ratings volume (82 vs 21). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 and Note To Self sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Note To Self holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 82 and 21 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Pensieve's written reviews are positive against 100% of Note To Self's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pensieve ships an update every 6 weeks, Note To Self every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pensieve versus Note To Self: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPensieveNote To Self
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (82 ratings)5.0 (21 ratings) — better
Positive reviews91.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings82 — better21
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWindow Seat Labs, LLCBlake Gordon

Customer experience

Pensieve

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

Note To Self

All ratings21 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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
1 purchases

Note To Self

Subscriptions1
  • Pro Subscription3 Days trial$1.991 Month

Questions

Is Pensieve free?
Pensieve is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Note To Self free?
Note To Self is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pensieve or Note To Self?
Note To Self is rated higher. Pensieve averages 4.7 out of 5 from 82 ratings, while Note To Self averages 5.0 from 21 ratings.
Do Pensieve or Note To Self have ads?
Neither Pensieve nor Note To Self shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pensieve or Note To Self?
Pensieve ships an update every 6 weeks, and Note To Self every 2 months. Most recently, Pensieve was updated on September 19, 2026 and Note To Self on September 9, 2026.

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