PopList vs Brain;Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PopList
Organize your thoughts and tasks with flexible notes that can be freely arranged, resized, and expanded. Ideal for brainstorming, managing to-do lists, and structuring ideas visually.
- Freeform text and picture layout
- Draggable, resizable notes
- Organize ideas
- Brainstorming tool
- Repeatable to-do lists
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- You can layout text & picture freely. - Each note can be drag, contract or expand. - This app is suitable for organizing ideas, brain storming, repeatable ToDo(ex. shopping list), and so on.
Brain;Notes
Organize your thoughts and information with a scrapbook-style notepad. Freely add text, photos, maps, URLs, and voice memos to multiple workspaces. Notes can be secured with biometric authentication and exported as PDFs.
- Scrapbook-style organization
- Support for text, photo, location, URL, and voice notes
- Multiple workspaces with custom wallpapers
- Biometric note locking
- Calendar and Reminder integration
- PDF export and AirDrop support
- Stable and Shared note modes
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"Brain;Notes" is a scrapbook-like sticky note that uses sticky notes to efficiently organize your ideas and information. You can freely write down not only text but also maps, photos, URLs, and other notes on your workspace. It can be used in a variety of ways depending on your ideas and thoughts, such as mind mapping. Main Features ・Simple menu-driven user interface. ・Available note types: text, photo, location, URL, and voice. ・Voice notes can be recorded for 60 seconds. ・Multiple workspaces are available for managing notes. ・Each workspace can have its own wallpaper. ・Each note can be locked by biometric authentication. ・Notes can be created as events in Calendar.app. ・Notes can be registered in Reminder.app. ・Workspaces can be exported as PDF files. ・AirDrop is supported. ・App supports for Sharing. (Notes can be created by "Share" from other apps. Notes can be created by dragging from other apps.) Unique Features: ・When a note is set to "Stable" mode, it will appear in all workspaces. If you create a new workspace, the note will still appear automatically. ・When a note is set to "Shared" mode, it will only appear in the workspace you select. Attentions: ・There is no ability to delete a workspace. However, you can delete all notes on a workspace with a three-finger tap gesture. Please be careful not to create too many workspaces. ・If there are less than 10 notes left, the app will automatically refill notes to 10 at midnight. Gesture Operations: Workspace (gray area): ・Single Tap: shows menu. ・Double Tap: creates new note. ・Two Finger Tap: reset wallpaper. ・Three Finger Tap: deletes all notes on the workspace. Sticky notes: ・Single Tap: shows menu. ・Double Tap: transforms appearance. ・Long Press: shows context menu.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: PopList at 100% against Brain;Notes's 0%. PopList also leads on rating (5.0 vs 1.0). Brain;Notes's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 months). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. PopList sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Brain;Notes sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PopList holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of PopList's written reviews are positive against 0% of Brain;Notes's.
PopList ships an update every 2 months, Brain;Notes every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PopList | Brain;Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Shigenori Kumagai | Kouichi Abe |
Customer experience
PopList
Brain;Notes
In-app purchases
PopList
- Upgrade$3.99
Brain;Notes
- 20 notes$0.99
- 50 notes$1.99
- 80 notes$2.99
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- 150 notes$4.99









