# PixelNotes — Local-first AI second brain

> Local-first AI second brain (iPhone/iPad app by 玉祥 余.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pixelnotes/id6794209806 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [玉祥 余](https://appshunter.io/developer/1811128631)
- Category: Productivity, Reference
- Price: $4.99
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 251 MB
- Languages: American English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified, China), Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)
- Released: 2026-08-25
- Data updated: 2026-10-09

## What is PixelNotes?

PixelNotes (formerly KnowledgeBrain) is a local first personal knowledge base: collect scattered text, voice memos, PDFs, EPUBs and clippings into one searchable, question-answering, memorable "second brain".

CORE FEATURES

• Capture everything: text, voice notes (on-device transcription), audio/video transcription, PDF, EPUB, photo OCR, and one-tap saving via the system share extension
• Ask your knowledge (RAG): ask questions against your own library — every answer comes with citations you can trace back to the source, and can be saved back as a note
• AI flashcards: turn any note into Q&A cards and review them daily with the SM-2 spaced-repetition algorithm. Long documents are generated in batches you can cancel anytime
• Resurface old notes: related notes come back automatically as you ask and review, so what you saved never gathers dust
• On-device first: vector search, speech transcription and OCR all run locally. On devices with Apple Intelligence, answers are generated entirely on-device at zero cloud cost
• BYOK: connect any OpenAI / Anthropic-compatible API with your own key and quota. Custom base URLs supported (DeepSeek, Zhipu, OpenRouter and more)
• Auto-organization: AI-generated summaries and tags plus manual collections keep your library findable as it grows
• iCloud sync: data lives in your private iCloud database, synced across devices, invisible to the developer
• Open data: one-tap Markdown export to iCloud Drive — your knowledge is never locked in

PRIVACY BY DESIGN

No accounts, zero data collection, no tracking, no ads. Your knowledge lives only on your devices and in your iCloud. API keys stay in the system Keychain and are sent only to the provider you configure.

BUILT FOR MAKERS

Made for developers and knowledge workers: if you're comfortable configuring an API key and you care about data ownership, this is the knowledge tool built for you.

Available in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Japanese.

## Is PixelNotes safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess PixelNotes.

## Is PixelNotes legit?

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


## Version history (last 4 releases)

### 1.0.3 — 2026-09-08

What's New in 1.0.3

  • Fixed a crash that could occur while streaming long answers from cloud AI
    models (iOS watchdog kill after the UI froze)
  • Smoother streaming in chat: token updates are batched, layout work is reduced
    while streaming, and Markdown rendering waits until the reply finishes
  • More responsive chat under heavy streaming load (less main-thread blocking
    from layout and database writes)

### 1.0.2 — 2026-08-31

• Q&A reading: after streaming finishes, the view scrolls back to your question so you can read the full answer from the top
  • Read aloud: Markdown formatting is stripped before text-to-speech, so answers are read as plain text
  • Quick Note fix: Save and Clear no longer trigger each other by mistake

### 1.0.1 — 2026-08-29

• Renamed: KnowledgeBrain is now PixelNotes — your data and features are unaffected
• AI flashcards: generate Q&A cards from any note and review them with SM-2 spaced repetition; long documents generate in batches you can cancel anytime
• Audio/video transcription: import audio and video files with on-device transcription; long recordings are segmented automatically
• Resurface old notes: related notes come back automatically as you ask questions and review
• Reading font size: four text-size options in Settings
• New Japanese UI; switch languages right in Settings

### 1.0 — 2026-08-25

No release notes.

## More apps by 玉祥 余

- [Image2pixel](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/image2pixel/id6745822733)
- [32colors - pixel art gallery](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/32colors-pixel-art-gallery/id6747303220)
- [VerseDaily](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/versedaily/id6793038298)

All apps by 玉祥 余: https://appshunter.io/developer/1811128631

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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 2026-10-09.*