Comparison

Recall vs Cloud Notes

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

Head to head
About

Recall

This app helps you store and quickly find thousands of information snippets, including recipes, lists, and web links. It supports plain text, PDFs, and images, with comprehensive iCloud backups and drag-and-drop functionality on iPad.

Highlights
  • Store thousands of information snippets
  • Plain text format with PDF and image support
  • Comprehensive iCloud backups
  • Drag and drop support on iPad
  • Hierarchical tagging for organization
  • Advanced search with AND, OR, NOT operators
  • Siri Shortcut support
Features
Read full description

Recall-It Notes enables you to store thousands of snippets of information and quickly find what you need. For example, you can store recipes, gift lists, notes made while watching how-to videos or reading articles, keep annotated lists of web links, track major purchases, maintain checklists for activities like upgrading to a new phone, save frequently used keyboard shortcuts for your favorite apps, and much more. Recall-It is based on plain text, the most portable medium for your information. You can export your notes exactly as you entered or imported them so there is no lock-in as there can be with proprietary formats. Despite being plain text, your notes can include and display linked PDFs and images, e.g. photos or screenshots. Recall-It includes comprehensive back-up: by default, your entire database is backed up daily to your iCloud account, and you can manually archive everything, or any subset of your notes, any time. You can completely rebuild your database from any of the full back-ups. On iPad, drag and drop support lets you do things like create new notes by dragging text files from iCloud drive, drag images or selections from web pages, Apple Notes, email, iBooks, etc. and drop them to create new notes or append to existing ones. You can drag terms from the note you are looking at to the search field to find other possibly related notes. You can drag within the app to augment or copy notes, or drag a group of notes to iCloud drive to export them as text files. MAJOR FEATURES - Syncs via iCloud to all of your devices - Notes can be tagged to enable browsing or enhance search - You can apply multiple hierarchical tags to any note - Existing tags can be renamed or deleted for all associated notes - You can search based on AND, OR, NOT, and BEGINS-WITH - Searching for “word” automatically finds “words”, “worded”, “wording”, “wordy”, etc. (English only, and optional) - Search results are ordered showing best matches first - Search results can be filtered to include/not include notes with attachments - Search terms are highlighted within notes which auto-scroll to first occurrence - Repeat previous searches with a few taps - Launch the app and search via Siri command (Siri Shortcut support in iOS 12.) - One tap access to “favorite” or recently viewed notes - Easy formatting: bold headings, subheadings are automatically styled, or for greater flexibility, use Markdown heading syntax. - Handy in-note search function for continuing search within long notes - Auto-completion for easy entry of search terms/tags - Action Sheet support in Safari and other apps lets you save selections as new notes or append to any “favorite” note - Support for Slide Over, Split View, and 3D Touch on appropriate devices. - Automation via x-callback-url support; control Recall-It with the Workflow app - Easily insert images, checkboxes, bullets, current date and time into your notes. - Powerful batch editing for deleting, exporting, backing up, adding or removing tags from groups of notes - Comprehensive back-up and restore, including auto-backup (see above) - Extensive drag and drop support (see above) You may optionally choose to support development by purchasing a yearly, auto-renewing subscription ($4.99/year USD). Payment will be charged to your iTunes account, and renewals will be charged at the same price within 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription if you have not turned off auto-renewal. You may turn off auto-renewal by going to your settings in the iTunes store, or directly from the app Settings pane where you purchased the subscription. For privacy policy and service terms see: http://www.microspell.com/recall-it/PrivacyPolicy.html

About

Cloud Notes

Create, edit, and organize notes and lists directly from your Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad. Syncs securely via iCloud with an optional one-time Pro upgrade for enhanced features like sharing and customization.

Highlights
  • Create and edit notes on Apple Watch
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Organize with tags and folders
  • Search and pin important notes
  • Share notes and lists (Pro)
  • Customizable note appearance (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Edit notes directly from Apple Watch. Cloud Notes lets you create, edit, and check off notes from iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Everything syncs securely through iCloud. Free to download, with an optional one-time Pro upgrade. No subscription. FREE - Unlimited notes and lists - iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch - Create and edit notes on Apple Watch - Organize with tags and folders - Search, pin important notes, and use light or dark mode GREAT FOR - Shopping lists on your wrist or home screen - Quick reminders and everyday notes - Notes you want available without reaching for your phone PRO - Share notes and lists with others via iCloud - Multiple tags per note - Fonts, text styles, and colors - Markdown tools in the keyboard toolbar - Customizable note appearance: checkmark colors, font styles and image sizes - Home screen widgets. Check off items without opening the app PRIVACY IN FOCUS - No extra login: syncs and shares through your own iCloud account - No external servers - No tracking Questions or feedback? support@lokkeapps.no

Screenshots

Recall4 screens
Cloud Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Recall at 4.5 against Cloud Notes's 3.0. Recall also leads on review sentiment (75% vs 50%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18). Cloud Notes's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Recall sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per year and Cloud Notes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Recall holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Recall's written reviews are positive against 50% of Cloud Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Recall ships an update every 2 months, Cloud Notes fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on July 7, 2026 and July 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Recall versus Cloud Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRecallCloud Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (8 ratings) — better3.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings8 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS13.0 — better18
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB8 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperRobert N LucasFredrik Nikolai Lokke

Customer experience

Recall

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

Cloud Notes

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Recall

Subscriptions1
  • Subscription$4.991 Year
1 purchases

Cloud Notes

One-time1
  • Cloud Notes Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Recall free?
Recall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cloud Notes free?
Cloud Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Recall or Cloud Notes?
Recall is rated higher. Recall averages 4.5 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Cloud Notes averages 3.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Recall or Cloud Notes have ads?
Neither Recall nor Cloud Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Recall or Cloud Notes?
Recall ships an update every 2 months, and Cloud Notes fortnightly. Most recently, Recall was updated on July 7, 2026 and Cloud Notes on July 17, 2026.

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