# Joplin vs Orbit Down

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Joplin at 15.6 against Orbit Down's 17.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Joplin ships an update monthly, Orbit Down fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Joplin | Orbit Down |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.1 (480 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **480** | — |
| Positive reviews | 66.5% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Fortnightly** |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Size | 73 MB | 38 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.6** | 17.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Laurent Cozic](https://appshunter.io/developer/1315599796) | [Joaquin Zelnick](https://appshunter.io/developer/1885622213) |

## What reviewers say

### Joplin

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797)

A privacy-focused note-taking and to-do application that allows you to capture multimedia notes, organize them with notebooks and tags, and sync across devices. It offers end-to-end encryption and an offline-first approach for secure and accessible information management.

**Highlights:** Capture multimedia notes (speech, photos, videos, PDFs), Organize notes with notebooks and tags, Create to-dos and set reminders, End-to-end encryption for privacy, Cross-device synchronization (Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive), Offline-first access, OCR search for text within images and PDFs

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great app
- 🔒 End-to-end encryption
- 👍 Excellent cross-platform support
- 👍 Intuitive Markdown support
- 👍 Flexible sync options (Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV)

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Sync issues, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Buggy UI, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Slow performance at times
- 🐛 Confusing interface, not very intuitive

**Reported bugs**

- Sync issues with WebDAV and Dropbox
- Crashes when creating new notes
- Keyboard issues, text getting obscured
- Rendering problems in dark mode
- Compatibility issues with older iOS versions

**Requested features**

- Add web clipper functionality on iOS
- Implement nested notebooks on iOS
- Allow password/biometric protection for notes
- Improve text editing experience on mobile
- Add more font and formatting options


### Orbit Down

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/orbit-down/id6789743974)

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Joplin free?

Joplin is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Orbit Down free?

Orbit Down is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Joplin or Orbit Down have ads?

Neither Joplin nor Orbit Down shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Joplin or Orbit Down?

Joplin ships an update monthly, and Orbit Down fortnightly. Most recently, Joplin was updated on October 29, 2026 and Orbit Down on October 28, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*