Daily Captain vs Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation
Checked 26 Sep 2026. Prices and features change; tell us if something is out of date: hello@dailycaptain.app.
Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation is built to put a quote on your screen. Daily Captain puts the words of people you follow on your screen, and a goal sheet behind them.
Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation’s widget is honestly more configurable than ours: small, medium and large Home Screen sizes, a Lock Screen widget, StandBy support, a refresh interval a user can set from roughly every 15 minutes to once a day, multiple widgets each with their own settings, and a "My Quotes" feature for a user’s own written lines. Daily Captain does one thing it cannot: the words of people you follow come first, before a curated list of 365 lines, and you can add your own. Submit up to 3 a day, the founder approves each one by hand, and the quote sits on top of a full goal sheet: a morning list, a midday check, an honest count at night, and one buddy who sees your week. 7 free days, then $9.99 a month, no free tier.
If a configurable widget is the whole job, this app does more with Home Screen, Lock Screen and StandBy sizes than anything else in this set, for a one-time $3.99. If you want the words of people you follow on your screen instead of your own private list, and a goal sheet behind them, this is that.
| Feature | Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation | Daily Captain |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Putting a configurable quote widget on the iPhone Home Screen, Lock Screen and StandBy, across "over 20 categories," with a feature to add your own written lines. | Deciding what today is for, and being honest about it at night. |
| Where the quotes come from | A library "across over 20 categories," plus a "My Quotes" feature for lines a user writes: "Personal affirmations," "Goals and reminders," "Advice from someone important," "Meaningful passages from books," and "Words you never want to forget." | Friends you follow first, then a curated list of 365 quotes. |
| Follow people | None. Sharing exports a quote card image to Photos or to other people through the iOS share sheet, not to other users of the app. | Follow anyone, one way. Free with any account. |
| Your own quotes | Yes, explicitly, more fully than most apps in this set: the "My Quotes" feature accepts personal affirmations, goals, advice, book passages and lines to remember. | Submit up to 3 a day. The founder reads and approves each one by hand before it reaches anyone who follows you. |
| Widget on iOS | The most detailed widget spec in this comparison set: small, medium and large Home Screen widgets, Lock Screen widgets, StandBy support, and the option to create multiple widgets, each with its own settings. This is honestly more configurable than ours. | iOS 17 and later: small, medium, and a lock screen rectangular widget. |
| Widget on Android | None. This app is iOS only; we found no Google Play listing for it. | Android home screen only, 2x2 and 4x2 sizes. |
| Lock screen | Yes, named directly as one of three supported surfaces: "Lock Screen widgets," alongside Home Screen and StandBy. | iPhone: yes, the lock screen rectangular widget. Android: no lock screen widget, home screen only. |
| How often it changes | A refresh interval a user can set, from roughly every 15 minutes up to once a day, with an option to turn off automatic changes entirely. | Once a day, at local midnight. The widget holds a 14 day schedule so it keeps turning over with the app closed. |
| Customisation | Multiple widgets, each with its own settings; the Pro unlock adds "additional designs, fonts, all quote categories" and "more customization options." | Five themes. No fonts or backgrounds to choose. |
| Ads | Yes, on the free tier; the Pro unlock is described as adding "an ad-free experience," confirming ads exist below it. | None. |
| Price | A one-time purchase, not a subscription: "Pro Edition $3.99," plus an optional "Support for development $2.99" tip. The listing states this directly: "Quotes Widget Pro is available as a one-time purchase with no subscription." | 7 days free, then $9.99 a month. One plan, everything included. |
| Free tier or trial | The listing states plainly, "Download Quotes Widget and start for free." and "No account or sign-in is required." Because Pro is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, a trial length does not apply. | No free tier. 7 days free, then one plan; the widget needs an active plan to keep updating. |
| What else you get | The widget itself, the quote library, and the "My Quotes" own-writing feature. Rated 4.7 out of 5 from only 14 App Store ratings, the smallest base of any app in this set. | The daily goal sheet, the week and year views, three reminders a day and one buddy who sees your week. |
| Support | No support email or App Support link on the App Store page; a version 3.0 release note from 2021 says a request form was added inside the app’s own settings screen. Developer site nomadarian.com. | A person answers at hello@dailycaptain.app: email support from the founder. |
A configurable widget, or the people you follow
Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation’s widget is the most configurable in this whole comparison set: small, medium and large Home Screen sizes, a Lock Screen widget, StandBy support, a settable refresh interval, and multiple widgets each with their own settings. It also lets a user add their own lines through a "My Quotes" feature, closer to Daily Captain’s own-words philosophy than most apps in this set. Daily Captain works the other way: a daily quote comes from the people you follow first, round robin, before anything from the shared list, attributed by first name and linked to that person’s page.
The moderation is human, not automatic: submit up to 3 quotes a day, the founder reads and approves each one, and an approved quote joins both the shared list and the rotation of everyone who follows you. Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation’s "My Quotes" is a private list for one person; there is no follow feature, and nothing a user writes there reaches anyone else.
One price, more behind it
Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation’s Pro unlock is a one-time $3.99, not a subscription, the only app priced that way in this set. Theirs buys a more configurable widget and a private quote list. For $9.99 a month after 7 free days, Daily Captain buys the morning sheet, the midday check, the honest evening count, yearly goals, three reminders a day, one buddy who sees your week, and the widget itself. There is no free tier and no shop, and the widget needs an active plan to keep turning over.
Fewer places to look, one thing to see
Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation includes multiple widgets and the "My Quotes" feature; the one-time Pro unlock adds more designs, fonts, categories, and removes ads. Daily Captain has five themes and no fonts or backgrounds to pick, because the point of the widget is the person who wrote the quote, not the frame around it.
What people who leave Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation say, and what we did about it
On 26 Sep 2026 we tried to read Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation’s own App Store reviews: both requested pages of its review feed came back empty on a retry, not a fetch failure. The app has only 14 App Store ratings in total, the smallest base of any app in this set, too few to have produced a usable review sample. There is nothing here to paraphrase from its own users, so the three themes below are the ones that came up most across quote widget apps as a category, from the wider research pass.
- Across quote widget apps, not this one specifically: a trial that turns into a charge with no clear warning, and refunds that get refused.
- What we did: The trial length and the price are on the home page before you sign in, an email goes out before the trial ends, and a person answers every message. Shared complaint in shape: we also charge automatically once the 7 free days end.
- Across quote widget apps, not this one specifically: basics like themes, backgrounds and dark mode locked behind a paywall.
- What we did: Nothing in Daily Captain is behind a second wall once the free days end: one price, everything included. Shared plainly: there is no permanently free tier, only a free trial period.
- Across quote widget apps, not this one specifically: bugs that break the one mechanic people rely on, a lock screen widget going blank, a streak resetting, a saved recording disappearing.
- What we did: Daily Captain’s widget changes once a day at local midnight, and it holds a 14 day schedule so it keeps turning over with the app closed. Shared honestly: our widget is new, and we do not have years of bug history behind it the way an old app’s track record might.
Pricing
Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation
Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation is free to download, with no account or sign-in required; ads run on the free tier. Its Pro unlock is a one-time $3.99 purchase, not a subscription, stated directly on the App Store: "Quotes Widget Pro is available as a one-time purchase with no subscription." An optional $2.99 "Support for development" tip is also listed. No first-party pricing page beyond the App Store listing was checked today.
Daily Captain
Every account starts with 7 free days. After that it is $9.99 a month, one flat price with nothing behind a second wall: the buddy, the yearly goals, the reminders and the apps are all in it. Plus tax where it applies, shown before you pay. Cancel any time and your writing stays readable.
There is no free plan. If you want the method for free, the paper version, the Daily Goal Sheet PDF, is at heegstra.io/goal-sheet.
Sources: Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation on the App Store (in-app purchases), Daily Captain pricing, on the home page
When to choose Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation
- You want the most configurable widget in this set: three Home Screen sizes, Lock Screen, and StandBy.
- You want to write your own lines into a private "My Quotes" list, with no one else reading them.
- You would rather pay a one-time $3.99 than a subscription.
- You want to start without an account: the listing says none is required.
When to choose Daily Captain
- You want the words of people you follow on your screen, not a library.
- You want to write your own quotes and have them reach the people who follow you.
- You want the quote to sit on top of a goal sheet: a morning list, a midday check, an honest count at night.
- You want one price with no shop and no free tier to be tempted by.
Trying it
Nothing to import and nothing to set up. Sign in, write what today is for, and tonight write tomorrow’s first goal. If it is not for you after 7 days, nothing has happened to your card and you have lost about a minute a day.
Questions
Is Daily Captain cheaper than Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation?
Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation is free with a one-time $3.99 Pro unlock, cheaper up front than any subscription in this set. Daily Captain is $9.99 a month after 7 free days, an ongoing plan rather than a one-time purchase; theirs buys a more configurable widget, and ours buys the sheet, reminders, a buddy and the widget too.
How does following someone put their quote on my screen?
Follow them from their page. Once one of their quotes is approved, it joins your rotation: it can be your daily quote and it can show in your widget, attributed to them by first name and linked back to their page.
Can I submit my own quotes?
Yes, up to 3 a day. The founder reads and approves each one by hand; once approved, it can reach everyone who follows you and joins the shared list.
Which phones does the widget work on?
iOS 17 and later, in small, medium and lock screen rectangular sizes. On Android, a home screen widget in 2x2 and 4x2 sizes, no lock screen widget. There is no web or desktop widget.
Do I need to pay to use the widget?
Yes. The widget needs an active plan to keep updating; there is no free tier. If a plan lapses, the widget stops turning over, but your sheet and your writing stay yours.
Is there a free version of Daily Captain?
No. There are 7 free days, then one flat price of $9.99 a month. The free paper version of the same method, the Daily Goal Sheet PDF, is at heegstra.io/goal-sheet.
Why does someone else see my week?
Because being seen works, the way people work harder in a library than alone at home. One person who knows what you set out to do is enough. They see exactly what you wrote, and only when you send it.
Ready to try Daily Captain instead of Quotes Widget: Daily Motivation
Start your first sheet7 days free, then $9.99 a month.