Comparison

BlackBox vs MindSpace

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

BlackBox

A simple app for collecting and organizing user-generated text snippets, like fortunes or insightful quotes. Users can easily add their own entries with a swipe gesture to build a personal collection of interesting text.

Highlights
  • Collect user-generated text
  • Add entries with swipe gesture
  • Organize text snippets
  • Store fortunes and quotes
Features
Read full description

User generated text. Swipe up to add an entry! I've always liked keeping fortunes in my phone case. BlackBox contains some of these fortunes, along with other obscure, insightful, interesting text. Swipe up to add your own entry to the collection!

About

MindSpace

Create and organize ideas quickly with a visual mind mapping tool. Edit, export, and share your maps across devices. Offers a minimalist design and secure data storage.

Highlights
  • Create concise mind maps
  • Organize ideas with colors and stickers
  • Capture fleeting inspiration
  • Exquisite and minimalist themes
  • Secure document editor for data
  • Free sharing of mind maps
Features
Read full description

Quickly create clean and simple mind maps. Edit them on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Export anytime to PDF, Images, Markdown, and other formats to share in your work and studies. Quickly Create Personalized Mind Maps • Efficiency: We split "Themes" into "Layouts" and "Color Schemes", carefully designing over 50 layouts and 60 color schemes. They support one-tap switching and can be freely combined into multiple styles. • Personalization: You can create your own layouts and color schemes, presetting almost all formatting options such as growth direction, width, spacing, structure, shapes, and the color of each individual branch. • Freedom: You can set different layouts for two separate mind maps, or even different layouts for different branches to form a hybrid structure mind map to present your content. You can also set it to "Manual Layout" to flexibly place every single node. Enrich Your Mind Maps in Multiple Ways • Notes: Add a place for supplementary information with support for quick viewing. • Links: Add a web link or local link. Local links can specify and jump to concrete nodes within the file. • Tasks: Add task buttons that can display progress checkboxes. • Relationships: Add relationship lines between two nodes or internal positions within a node. • Summaries: Add curly braces or polygon shapes for multiple nodes. • Images: Insert local images and set their alignment with text. • Drawings: Drawings made with Apple Pencil can also be inserted inside nodes. • Equations: Support adding LaTeX equations and modifying them at any time. • Stickers: Built-in with more than 1,000 beautiful stickers. AI Assistant Doubles Your Efficiency (Optional) • Expand: Enter an idea to quickly branch out content from different angles. • Convert: Transform a long article into a clearly structured mind map. • Image to Mind Map: Convert images containing text into a mind map with the matching structure. • Rewrite: Re-output much better text for a specified node. Mainstream Import & Export Formats • Import: Supports Markdown, OPML, TXT, FreeMind, iThoughts, etc. • Export: Supports PDF, JPG, PNG, TXT, Markdown, OPML, etc. More Convenient Features • Outline: One-tap toggle to outline mode, or start editing and arranging structures directly from the outline view. • Shortcuts: Provides a rich keyboard shortcut system that is fully customizable. • Focus Mode: Light up only your selected node and its related nodes for seamless presentation work. • Other Features: Canvas guides, widgets, auto-follow, and more. Data Security We build the App using the most safe and reliable architecture—a document-based editor. Your data belongs solely to you. The AI assistant only processes data you provide to it, and you can turn off AI globally. Subscription Information • You can subscribe to the "Pro" version monthly or annually. • Payments will be charged to your iTunes Account. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. • Manage or cancel subscriptions anytime in your App Store Account Settings after purchase. Email: todo-color@outlook.com Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://rednowapp.github.io/privacy-policy/

Screenshots

BlackBox2 screens
MindSpace4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BlackBox at none against MindSpace's 9. BlackBox also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 89%). MindSpace's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (287 vs 9). On price, rating, ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. MindSpace sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. BlackBox asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for BlackBox against 4.6 for MindSpace. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MindSpace has 287 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of BlackBox's written reviews are positive against 89% of MindSpace's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BlackBox ships an update every 9 months, MindSpace every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
BlackBox versus MindSpace: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlackBoxMindSpace
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (9 ratings)4.6 (287 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better88.7% of reviews
Number of ratings9287 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBrian Daneshgar佳文 潘

Customer experience

BlackBox

All ratings9 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral22.2%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

MindSpace

All ratings287 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral2.4%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews141 reviews
Positive88.7%
Neutral6.4%
Negative5.0%

Bugs and requests

BlackBox

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

MindSpace

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Nodes and content randomly disappearing
  • Compatibility issues with older devices
  • Syncing problems between devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to scribble or handwrite notes
  • Improve keyboard shortcuts and text editing
  • Implement more advanced charting and data visualization
  • Allow custom node shapes and connection styles
  • Add support for importing/exporting other mind map formats

In-app purchases

None

BlackBox

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

MindSpace

Subscriptions2
  • Subscription Monthly2 variants$0.991 Month
  • Subscription Yearly2 variants$7.991 Year
One-time4
  • 2000 AI Credits$1.49
  • Lifetime Pro2 variants$12.99
  • Lifetime Pro(Original)$12.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Pro$29.99

Questions

Is BlackBox free?
BlackBox is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MindSpace free?
MindSpace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, BlackBox or MindSpace?
MindSpace is rated higher. BlackBox averages 4.6 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while MindSpace averages 4.6 from 287 ratings.
Do BlackBox or MindSpace have ads?
Neither BlackBox nor MindSpace shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BlackBox or MindSpace?
BlackBox ships an update every 9 months, and MindSpace every 5 days. Most recently, BlackBox was updated on October 3, 2026 and MindSpace on October 19, 2026.

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