Comparison

Pensieve vs SelfNote

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

SelfNote

Capture ideas, reminders, and links by sending them directly to your email inbox. Supports text, audio, photos, and drawings, with extensions for seamless sharing from other apps. New features include Apple Watch integration and home screen widgets for quick access.

Highlights
  • Send notes via email
  • Attach text, audio, photos, drawings
  • Browser extensions for quick sharing
  • Apple Watch app for wrist capture
  • Home screen widgets for quick actions
  • On-device AI for subject lines and categorization
  • Speech-to-text dictation
Features
Read full description

With SelfNote, you can quickly write notes, reminders or bookmark links from your browser and send them to your own email. The concept is to send notes to self and receive them in the email inbox to be read or managed at a later time. With just a few taps and its quick share to self functions, you can create a new note and send it directly to your email inbox. This makes it easy to capture ideas and thoughts as they occur to you, without having to worry about forgetting them later on. SelfNote allows you to not only write text notes but also to add quick audio recordings, dictate to notes, drawings, and photos as notes. Additionally, you can use one of the extensions available for sending a reminder to self in the form of a link to a website, a photo, or a document (including PDFs) while browsing the internet or using any other app. KEY FEATURES - Apple Watch App: Capture notes from your wrist. Dictate text, record audio, or send quick phrases instantly. Your Watch syncs with your iPhone automatically. - Home Screen Widgets: Quick Actions for one-tap compose, dictate, or record. Quick Send to fire off pre-written phrases without opening the app. Recent Notes to see your latest notes at a glance. - Multiple Recipients: Add up to 10 email addresses and choose which ones receive your notes. Pro subscribers can send to up to 3 recipients simultaneously. - On-Device AI (Pro, iOS 26+): Smart Subject generates email subject lines from your note. Auto-Categorization tags your notes. Action Items detects tasks and highlights them. All processing happens on your device. - Speech-to-Text Dictation: Speak your notes with real-time transcription for hands-free capture. - Custom Note Subjects: Set a custom email subject line for any note. - Improved Note History: Gallery and list views, search, filters by color, type, or attachment. - Siri and Shortcuts: Send notes with Siri or build workflows with the Shortcuts app. - Available in 8 Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Portuguese (Brazilian), and Italian. Whether you're looking to organize your work tasks, read an article later, plan a vacation, remember something, or simply jot down your thoughts as they occur to you, SelfNote has everything you need to stay on top of your thoughts. Overall, SelfNote is a versatile tool that helps you to easily create and manage reminders and notes, making it an essential app for anyone who wants to stay organised and on top of their tasks. Terms and Conditions: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Pensieve4 screens
SelfNote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: SelfNote at 5.0 against Pensieve's 4.7. Pensieve's advantage is ratings volume (82 vs 5) and device support (4 vs 2). 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 SelfNote sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SelfNote 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 5, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pensieve ships an update every 6 weeks, SelfNote monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and June 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Pensieve versus SelfNote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPensieveSelfNote
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (82 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews91.2% of reviews
Number of ratings82 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWindow Seat Labs, LLCMakai Labs Srl

Customer experience

Pensieve

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

SelfNote

All ratings4 ratings
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
3 purchases

SelfNote

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly - Unlimited access$1.991 Month
  • Unlimited access7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is Pensieve free?
Pensieve is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SelfNote free?
SelfNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pensieve or SelfNote?
SelfNote is rated higher. Pensieve averages 4.7 out of 5 from 82 ratings, while SelfNote averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Pensieve or SelfNote have ads?
Neither Pensieve nor SelfNote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pensieve or SelfNote?
Pensieve ships an update every 6 weeks, and SelfNote monthly. Most recently, Pensieve was updated on September 19, 2026 and SelfNote on June 13, 2026.

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