# MetaNote - Reading Notes — Keep only what remains

> Keep only what remains (iPhone/iPad app by Syunya Saruwatari.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/metanote-reading-notes/id6822262896 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Syunya Saruwatari](https://appshunter.io/developer/1895878983)
- Category: Books, Productivity
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.0 · 30 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified, China), European Spanish, Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)
- Released: 2026-10-20
- Data updated: 2026-10-29

## What is MetaNote?

MetaNote is a reading notebook for reducing, not collecting.
Write down a sentence that struck you, come back to it after some time, and move on only what still feels right. Words that remain after three reviews are the ones that truly matter to you.
The method follows the "meta-notebook" from Shikō no Seirigaku by Shigehiko Toyama, applied to reading.

■ How it works
1. While reading, copy a sentence that stayed with you and add a word of your own (yellow)
2. When you finish the book, write three lines: what the book asks, the author's answer, and what you didn't accept
3. A month later, MetaNote tells you it's time to review. Go through each note and decide: keep, discard or hold (kept notes move to orange)
4. A month later, do it again (blue). The third review is the final selection (kept)

■ Time is not for memory
Right after finishing, you are still the reader you were. Only what still looks good to a changed self deserves to stay. A review cannot start before its date.

■ Recall mode
Reviewing starts with the excerpts hidden. Remembering what was there before you open it turns "checking" into "recalling".

■ Nothing is lost
Discarded words stay as records, and the total you have discarded is shown. Reducing is the result this app measures.

■ Kept shelf and statistics
- A shelf of the words that remained after three reviews
- Share kept per book, monthly movement, distribution of tags (question, objection, connection) and days spent in each layer
- A list of "what I didn't accept" across all books, so you can see what you tend to object to

■ Bookshelf
- Import a CSV from a library-management app and line up every book you own
- Photograph a page and drag over a passage to turn it into an excerpt (text recognition runs on your device)
- Per book: the questions you set before reading, the three lines after finishing, and the review schedule
- Sort by share kept, next review date and more

■ Keep it
- Export to Markdown (per book / everything / kept words only). The Markdown of kept words is the final product of this app
- Full backup and restore as JSON, plus daily automatic backups
- Full-text search

No reading counts, streaks, goals, social sharing or AI summaries. This app looks only at the number and quality of the words that remain.
Your records stay on your device. Available in Japanese, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) and Korean, following your device language.

Privacy policy: https://momokusafarm-pixel.github.io/metanote-privacy/

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remove Ads | $5.99 | one-time |


## Is MetaNote safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess MetaNote.

## Is MetaNote legit?

MetaNote - Reading Notes appears legitimate, with a few gaps. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for MetaNote is 65 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 4 releases)

### 1.2.0 — 2026-10-28

- Redesigned the widget (your kept words, large in a serif face)
- The first-launch welcome is now a single screen
- Minor improvements

### 1.1.1 — 2026-10-25

- Edit a book's details (title, author, publisher) any time from the menu on the book page
- A clearer way to add your first book ("Add book" on the bookshelf; CSV import stays in Settings)
- Removed "No book" in the Inbox: notes are always kept with a book
- The interval before a layer can rise is now 30 days for every layer (previously a year and three years; adjustable in Settings)
• Scanning a book page now reads vertical text too, and you can select just the passage you want on the photo
- Minor improvements

### 1.1.0 — 2026-10-22

- Added a Home Screen widget (one surviving line, plus what's due for review and awaiting judgment)
- CSV import now uses a simple three-column template (title, author, publisher) that you can download
- Books can now be deleted (their notes stay in the inbox)
- Added a publisher field to "Add book"
- Minor improvements

### 1.0.0 — 2026-10-20

No release notes.

## Apps similar to MetaNote

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| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [読書管理アプリ『ホンメモ』 - 本棚/読書記録/本管理](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id1612266128) | — | Free | Books |
| [蔵書マネージャー２（バーコード登録／フォルダ整理・新刊検索）](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id6751480738) | 5.0 (2) | Free | Books |

## More apps by Syunya Saruwatari

- [Habitile - Habit Tracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/habitile-habit-tracker/id6764686513)
- [Eventick - Countdown & Events](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/eventick-countdown-and-events/id6766795134)
- [FindMemo - Notepad & Search](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/findmemo-notepad-and-search/id6774867969)
- [PaperPlanner - Planner & To-Do](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperplanner-planner-and-to-do/id6781217959)
- [Pomonote - Pomodoro Timer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pomonote-pomodoro-timer/id6793130617)
- [TabCalc - Calculator with Tape](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tabcalc-calculator-with-tape/id6794603440)

All apps by Syunya Saruwatari: https://appshunter.io/developer/1895878983

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-29.*