Thinkblot vs Apple Journal
Apple Journal is free, built into iPhone, iPad and Mac, and makes journaling suggestions on the device. You can record your voice into entries with transcription, lock it with Face ID, and write with Apple Pencil on iPad. If you want a journal with no setup, start there.
Pick Thinkblot if you want a handwritten journal of pages that turn, with a ruled page for each day, beside your planner and sketchbook. Thinkblot is built on Apple's foundation, PencilKit, on-device recognition and your iCloud, and works alongside Journal rather than in place of it.
Last checked: 27 October 2026 · Compared with Thinkblot's Journal notebook
Thinkblot and Apple Journal, row by row.
| Thinkblot | Journal | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone (including iPhone Duo), iPad with Apple Pencil, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro (the iPad app). iOS and iPadOS 27.1 or later. | iPhone, iPad and Mac (iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe). |
| Handwriting recognition | Read on your device. Fixing a misread word changes the text, never your ink. | Apple Pencil handwriting on iPad. Handwriting search and conversion aren't listed. |
| What happens to a line you write | It stays ink. When Thinkblot can help, a small blot appears at the end of the line. Tap it, and the line becomes a reminder, a drafted message, a payment or time on your calendar. | — |
| Tasks and reminders | A box in front of a line makes it a task. Tick the box on paper and it's done in Reminders too. Unticked tasks carry forward. | — |
| Maths | Write a sum and an equals sign, and the answer is written for you. Write “total” under a column and it adds itself. | — |
| Privacy, account and where data lives | No account and no Thinkblot server. Notebooks live on your devices and in your own iCloud. Private Cloud Compute is optional and asks first. | Locks with Face ID or a passcode. Suggestions are made on the device. Its App Store label lists analytics only, not linked to you. |
| Sync | Your own iCloud, through Apple's private CloudKit database, on the same Apple Account. | iCloud, across your devices. |
| Export | PDF or Markdown. | — |
| Pricing model | Not out yet. Join the waitlist. | Free, built in. |
| Suggestions | A question from what you wrote this week, or from yesterday's photos, places and walks. | Journaling suggestions made with on-device intelligence. |
| Voice | Voice notes, written down on the device. | Record your voice into entries, with automatic transcription. |
| Looking back | The page you wrote a year ago today. | — |
On a phone, scroll the table sideways.
Where each one is better.
- Free and already on your iPhone, iPad and Mac.
- Journaling suggestions made on the device.
- A Face ID or passcode lock.
- Several journals, with prompts.
- A ruled page for each day, written by hand, in a notebook that turns.
- The page you wrote a year ago today.
- A Planner, Sketchbook and Scrapbook in the same app.
- A tapped line becomes a reminder, a drafted message, a payment or calendar time.
Thinkblot vs Journal, asked.
- Why use Thinkblot if Apple Journal is free?
- Apple Journal is a good place to start. Thinkblot is for people who want to journal by hand in a notebook of turning pages, kept beside their planner and sketchbook.
- Do Thinkblot and Apple Journal work together?
- They sit side by side. Both keep your writing with Apple: Thinkblot is built on PencilKit, reads handwriting on the device, and keeps notebooks in your own iCloud through CloudKit, with no account of its own.
- Can I handwrite in Apple Journal?
- On iPad, Apple Journal takes Apple Pencil handwriting.
- Does Thinkblot's Journal read everything I write?
- No. It reads only what you ask it to.
How do
you think?
Thinkblot is coming soon to iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. One email the day it's out. That's all.
Join the waitlistClaims about Apple Journal come only from its own pages, as they read on 27 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars and may change.
Thinkblot facts come from the Thinkblot support page. Last checked: 27 October 2026.