Comparison

My Study Guide vs Ikiru

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

Head to head
About

My Study Guide

Create and review custom study guides for any subject or exam. Easily add questions and answers to build your personal learning material. Access your guides on your Apple Watch for convenient on-the-go studying.

Highlights
  • Custom study guide creation
  • Question and answer input
  • On-the-go review
  • Apple Watch integration
  • Easy guide browsing
Features
Read full description

My Study Guide helps you study for anything. From quizzes, tests, exams, certifications, etc. You just need to: * Give your study guide a name * Enter your questions and answers My Study Guide will help you review everything you entered into it. With new added ability to browse your study guides easily on your Apple Watch, you should have no problems studying on the go. Please contact us using the support link below for any errors/bugs/feature requests.

About

Ikiru

Organize your life with this versatile app for creating lists, taking notes, and setting reminders. It helps you focus on what's important with a beautiful, user-friendly design and powerful features like nested lists and due dates.

Highlights
  • Create nested lists
  • Set due dates and reminders
  • Add photos to list items
  • Sort list items dynamically
  • Sync data via iCloud
  • Protect data with Touch ID/passcode
  • View items on Apple Watch
Features
Read full description

Ikiru is a simple but powerful app for making lists, keeping notes and setting reminders. It aims to help you live a productive and meaningful life, by enabling you to focus on the things that are most important to you. IKIRU IS VERSATILE Use it to create to do lists, shopping lists, take notes, store contact information, keep track of books to read, or movies to watch... or anything else you'd want to make a list for. IKIRU IS BEAUTIFUL With a clean and easy to use design, choose from over 2000 icons to assign to your lists. IKIRU IS POWERFUL - create lists within lists - assign a due date and reminder to list items - view all items with a due date in one convenient timeline - add a photo to list items - drag and drop to sort list items, or automatically keep a list sorted alphabetically, by modification date, completion date, and more - easily copy or move items from one list to another - mark items incomplete to return them to their original position in the list (this makes lists easy to reuse) - send a list via email, and the receiver can import your list into their copy of Ikiru - view items with due dates on your Apple Watch IKIRU KEEPS YOUR DATA SAFE - automatically back up and sync lists between iOS devices using iCloud - use Touch ID or a custom passcode to protect your information IKIRU HAS PURPOSE The word "ikiru" (ee-kee-roo) means "to live" in Japanese. It's also the title of an Akira Kurosawa film about a man who decides to do something meaningful with his life. Ikiru (the app) is my attempt at doing something meaningful with my life, and hopefully help others live meaningful and productive lives. IKIRU HAS HISTORY In 2010 I released a list-making app called "Paperless". From busy moms to airplane pilots to people who needed a little help remembering things after suffering a brain injury, Paperless has been used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Ikiru is built upon that legacy - incorporating the best ideas from Paperless, greatly improving upon them, and adding big features that people have requested. IKIRU NEEDS LOVE If you find Ikiru useful, please rate and review it in the App Store. Thank you!

Screenshots

My Study Guide4 screens
Ikiru4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: My Study Guide at Free against Ikiru's $4.99. Ikiru's advantage is rating (3.9 vs 2.3) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On ads, in-app purchases 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

My Study Guide is free to download; Ikiru costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ikiru holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ikiru has 101 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Study Guide ships an update every 3 months, Ikiru every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
My Study Guide versus Ikiru: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Study GuideIkiru
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating2.3 (3 ratings)3.9 (101 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—54.2% of reviews
Number of ratings3101 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.611.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPablo AristaJames Rhoades

Customer experience

My Study Guide

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

Ikiru

All ratings101 ratings
Positive68.3%
Neutral13.9%
Negative17.8%
Written reviews131 reviews
Positive54.2%
Neutral18.3%
Negative27.5%

Bugs and requests

My Study Guide

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Ikiru

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Reminders not working properly
  • Syncing issues causing data loss
  • Crashes after iOS updates
  • Inability to disable Face ID lock

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more formatting options (bold, italic, etc.)
  • Improve search to allow searching within sublists
  • Provide more customization options for themes and icons
  • Add location-based reminders
  • Implement better backup and restore functionality

In-app purchases

None

My Study Guide

No in-app purchases

None

Ikiru

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is My Study Guide free?
My Study Guide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ikiru free?
Ikiru costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, My Study Guide or Ikiru?
Ikiru is rated higher. My Study Guide averages 2.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Ikiru averages 3.9 from 101 ratings.
Do My Study Guide or Ikiru have ads?
Neither My Study Guide nor Ikiru shows ads.
Which is updated more often, My Study Guide or Ikiru?
My Study Guide ships an update every 3 months, and Ikiru every 3 weeks. Most recently, My Study Guide was updated on October 4, 2026 and Ikiru on October 8, 2026.

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