Penjo: Pencil Journal, Planner Ratings and Reviews

Seriously, just get it and pay for it to help support future development. It’s only in its infancy and yet it is exactly what I have been looking for. All the google calendar entries on each daily page which you can note, text, annotate and add images via paste or drag/drop slideover from files to your heart’s delight. Event details on tap. New calendar entries. Dynamically updating for new events. Weekly and monthly views. I have been seeking a google calendar/planner/journal iPad integration that will allow me to doodle and draw attention visually to important entries in my Google calendar — and Penjo, while still rudimentary — checks all the boxes (especially as regards drag/drop images from files as I have built an extensive clip art library). There is another app that came close, but it’s functionality for the use of outside images was cumbersome and pedantic. Another popular planner app promises “Google Calendar sync,” but delivers only a manual linking to each event. Nooooo time for that! Drag/drop was the game-changer here for me, as was the blank canvas. I know the developers have many updates in store and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with. However as a visual artist, I have to point out that their app icon could use some polishing. It looks like it was created as an after-thought — and potential purchasers may believe the same of the app without trying it. Just my own two cents.

Thank you for your detailed review and for recommending Penjo! We’re glad to hear that the app is meeting your expectations, especially with features like drag-and-drop, close integration of calendar events and the ability to annotate them. We appreciate your feedback on the app icon as well and will keep it in mind as we continue to refine our designs to better reflect the quality of Penjo.

Your insights are incredibly helpful as we continue to develop and improve the app. We have many exciting updates planned, and we can't wait for you to see what’s coming next!

Thank you again for your support and for sharing your thoughts. If you have any more suggestions or need assistance, please feel free to reach out.

I love this app because its the only planner that syncs both ways with my apple calendar; I run two small businesses and have various apps populating my apple calendar at all times; its amazing to open my planner app and have all of it in one place. The one thing I wish that could be added, are various planner layouts - this app would be utterly perfect if it could have a journal layout that supported a habit tracker, a monthly review, a yearly goal checklist, etc, just like the goodnotes type planners, maybe even a book style layout with hyperlinked tabs. If that comes it’ll be utterly unstoppable, but for now it’s still my favorite planner app. It’s made my life easier for months

Thank you so much for your kind review and thoughtful suggestions! It means the world to us to hear how Penjo has been a helpful tool in managing your busy schedule.

We’re happy to share that Penjo already offers some features that might enhance your experience. Each journal includes a drawable month canvas that you can use for habit tracking. Additionally, there’s a month view available alongside the week view to help you plan effectively. Both the month view and month canvas are accessible via home widgets, providing even more convenience. You can also create multiple sheets for a single day, so for instance, you could create a dedicated sheet for January 1st as your yearly goal checklist. Plus, you can bookmark these sheets for quick access.

As for your idea about hyperlinked tabs and more planner layouts, cross-page links are on our roadmap, and we’re excited to explore more ways to make Penjo even more versatile in the future. We’ll also work on improving how you discover these features to make them easier to find and use.

Thank you for your support and for sharing how Penjo has made your life easier. Your feedback inspires us to keep improving!

I love the simplicity of this app and the iCal integration. I’m using it as a planner but I’m also inserting a photo memory for each day and adding doodles and journal entries. I noticed a bug with how the thumbnails were displaying, so I reached out to the developer and he fixed it promptly. I love this app and I can tell it’s only going to get better with time as new updates roll out. Get it!

Thank you very much for your wonderful review! Great to hear that Penjo is exactly what you are looking for. Really happy to know that you are making the most of the app by adding photos, doodles, and journal entries.

I especially appreciate you reaching out directly about the thumbnail display bug. Your feedback allowed me to fix the issue promptly and improve the experience for all users.

Thanks again for your kind words and encouragement.

Feel free to contact anytime for any questions, feedback, and suggestions.

I really like the simplicity of the app. I love the handwritten planner and calander integration. Although I don’t like super busy notetaking apps there are a few additions that I would really find useful….Weekly view, stickers, the ability to import your own stickers and photos, snap to shapes and a widget that opens directly to either the current month, day, or week of a chosen journal/planner and maybe the ability to link a note page to a date for when you need more space than the month square can fit. Excited to see what you come up with!

Update: Weekly view - Check, Widgets - Check!
Thank you so much for your kind review and for taking the time to share your thoughts about Penjo! I am happy to hear that you enjoy the app.
You have great suggestions. I am always looking for ways to enhance Penjo experience and make it more user-friendly and versatile and your feature requests fit best to this mission.
Rest assured, I am actively working on new features and improvements, and your feedback will be a big part of this planning.
Stay tuned for future updates and new features including yours!
Feel free to reach out for any feedback and suggestions.
Regards,
Zafer Arıcan

This app is the best note-taking/journaling app I’ve ever used (though I haven’t tried every option on the market). It’s the first one that truly works for me. The multiple journals feature allows me to create a “book” for each class, which is great for note-taking. The calendar feature also lets me transfer tasks from the calendar seamlessly.

One drawback, personally, is that the app doesn’t support Intel-based Macs. While it’s not a critical issue—I can still use it on my phone and tablet—I'm used to having all three of my devices synchronized, so it’s a bit inconvenient. Additionally, it would be nice to have cute stickers with emotions and motivating phrases / funny images for the personal journal (just a small wish of mine 🫠).

I hope the developer will consider adding this in the future ~

Thank you for creating this beautiful app! 🌸

Thank you so much for your thoughtful review! I’m really happy to hear that Penjo is working well for you, especially the multiple journals and calendar integration.

I understand the inconvenience of not having Intel-based Mac support right now—it’s something I’m working on. In the meantime, stay tuned for Apple Reminder integration, which will make managing tasks even easier.

I also love your idea about cute stickers! I’ll definitely consider adding that in the future. Feel free to reach out anytime with suggestions, feedback, or questions!

I just found the app and so far I’m loving it. I am using it in conjunction with my actual bullet journal. I have purchased four other apps and none are as good as this one. The only thing I would like that this app is missing (and maybe I just haven’t found how to do this yet) I would like to be able to make a drawn line perfectly straight. Like the option in Procreate.

Thank you so much for your kind review and for choosing Penjo as your bullet journaling companion! We’re glad to hear that you’re enjoying the app and that it stands out from the others you’ve tried.

While a Procreate-style straight line drawing feature isn’t available, you can use the ruler in the pencil tool picker as a workaround. We appreciate your suggestion and will definitely consider it for future updates.

Don’t hesitate to reach out anytime with any questions, feedback, or suggestions.

Took me all of three minutes of the trial to buy lifetime access. It’s all the paper apps I need in one and it’s waaaay cheaper than Goodnotes 6 WITH calendar integration. And the developer doesn’t sound like they will start charging more later like Goodnotes. I’m not a real tech person so I’ll leave suggestions to others. But I also love the simple UI. Happy to support and I hope it gets bigger and better.

Thank you for your kind words and for your support! Great to hear that you enjoy Penjo and find what you expect from a pen&paper app. Simplicity has always been a major criterion for us and happy to see that you appreciate it too. Some great new features are coming. So stay tuned!
Feel free to reach out anytime for any questions, feedback and suggestions.

I was always looking for something like this and here it is. Simple and straight forward, just how we like it. Focused on one thing: Taking handwritten notes linked to a day – a diary for Apple Pencil. It's quite mature for such a young app. I'm using version 2.9.11 and I'm curious to see how it will be refined. For less than 10 bucks which unlocks all features forever, it's no-brainer for an iPad fan like me.

Thank you so much for your kind words and detailed review of Penjo. Glad to hear that you find the app simple, straightforward, and focused on delivering a satisfying day-based handwritten note-taking experience. Your feedback about its maturity, despite being a relatively young app, is really encouraging.
I am excited about brand new features coming with version 3.0, so stay tuned for more improvements, and happy journaling with Penjo!
Best,
Zafer Arıcan

This is an amazing app, especially for people who want to do both digital handwritten journaling! The only thing I wish it had was dark mode (or a black background). Other than that though, I have had no complaints so far. Thanks for making this app!

Thank you for your review, rating and the suggestion! Dark backgrounds are planned for future updates. Feel free to reach out for any suggestions and feedback. PS: I guess you wrote the review from your Mac, that's why it only appears in Mac App Store. May I kindly ask you to write the review from your iPad or iPhone as well? Thanks!

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you! So glad to finally have a tool like this. I really love the concept of importing things onto a blank page, like calendar events, maps, etc. As I think about ways to improve the app, I'd love to see additional import capabilities! Task lists? Links? Embedded things? Sky is the limit!

Thanks for your review and rating! Great to hear that it meets your expectations. We are continuously working on improving the app with new features. Stay tuned! Feel free to reach out anytime for your suggestions and feedback.