Comparison

UpNote vs Back to This

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

Head to head
About

UpNote

This app provides a clean and beautiful interface for writing and organizing notes, journals, and to-do lists. It offers rich formatting options, an intuitive organization system, and instant syncing across devices, with offline capabilities. Premium features include enhanced security and export options.

Highlights
  • Rich text editor with formatting tools
  • Intuitive organizing system (notebooks, pins, links)
  • Secure note locking with Touch/Face ID
  • Instant cross-device syncing and offline access
  • Markdown support and export
  • Task management and to-do lists
Features
Read full description

UpNote is a clean and beautiful app for writing and organizing. It's easy to use with rich features and delightful experience. UpNote is designed to help you take notes easily and stay focused on what matters most. UpNote has beautiful fonts and elegant themes that you can adjust to make your writing experience most comfortable and pleasant. UpNote is an ideal place to keep your diary and journal. It has a powerful lock feature so that you can rest assured that your notes stay private and secure. You can also use Touch ID or Face ID to securely unlock your notes. UpNote’s intuitive organizing system will keep your note space neat and light. There are many ways to organize your notes: putting them into notebooks, pinning your notes to the top of the note list, bookmarking them for quick reference or linking to other notes. You can also close any notebooks to focus on only most important one. UpNote’s rich editor makes it perfect for planning and managing your tasks. Simply write down your to-do list and have them synced to all your devices. UpNote offers highlight, text colors, table, nested list, code and many other important formatting tools so that you could easily format your notes. UpNote syncs notes instantly on all devices. It also works reliably offline, so you could take note anytime, anywhere. If you are a markdown user, UpNote is great for you too. It has intuitive shortcuts based on markdown, which makes it more fun to write notes. You can also export your notes to Markdown or PDF. Try UpNote now and you will fall in love with it! ---- Upgrade to Premium to get full power of UpNote: - Lock your notes and notebooks - Insert table and attachments - Write unlimited number of notes - Elegant themes and notebook covers - Export to text PDF, HTML and Markdown ---- Price may vary by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. Manage your subscriptions in Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial peri​od will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription. ---- If you have any question or feedback, we would love to hear it. Send an email to support@getupnote.com, and we would love to get in touch with you! ---- Privacy policy: https://getupnote.com/privacy.html Terms of use: https://getupnote.com/terms.html

About

Back to This

Read full description

You save a link "for later." Later never comes. Back to This fixes that. Instead of dumping links into a bookmark folder you'll never open again, Back to This reminds you — again and again — until you actually open the link or delete it. It's a link inbox with a nudge, not a graveyard. THE 15 RULE Your inbox holds up to 15 active links. Save a 16th and the oldest quietly moves to your Archive. A short, finishable list instead of an endless pile — because if everything is saved, nothing is. HOW IT WORKS • Paste or share a link from any app • Tag WHY you saved it — Read Later, Learn, Work, Idea, Buy, Watch, Reference • Pick WHEN and HOW OFTEN to be reminded • Get repeated reminders until you open it or let it go BUILT TO BE FAST • Save from any app with the Share extension • Tap a reminder to jump straight to the link • Open in the related app, or read inside the app • Clean, distraction-free, light and simple WHY PEOPLE LOVE IT • No feeds, no ads, no social clutter • No account required — your links stay on your device • Reminders that don't let you forget • A calm inbox that stays small on purpose Stop bookmarking things into the void. Save it, and let Back to This bring you back. — Back to This Pro Try everything free for 7 days. After the trial, keep Pro for the listed price per month. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. https://getbacktothis.com/terms

Screenshots

UpNote4 screens
Back to This4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Back to This at none against UpNote's 8. UpNote's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). On price and ads 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. UpNote sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Back to This asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

UpNote ships an update weekly, Back to This every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
UpNote versus Back to This: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUpNoteBack to This
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.1K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews85.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.1K — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size82 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUpNote Company LimitedQuanite FZE

Bugs and requests

UpNote

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Black screen issues
  • Lost notes and data
  • Incompatibility with newer iOS versions
  • Google sign-in not working

Requested features

8 requests
  • Reminders and calendar integration
  • More customization options (fonts, colors, etc.)
  • Improved drawing/handwriting support
  • PDF annotation and embedding
  • Optical character recognition (OCR)
Show 3 more
  • Ability to reorder bullets and lists
  • Improved table editing and formatting
  • Apple Watch app

Back to This

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

UpNote

Subscriptions1
  • Premium monthly subscription$1.991 Month
One-time7
  • Life-time Upgrade$19.99
  • Life-time Upgrade to Premium$19.99
  • Life-time Upgrade$24.99
Show 4 more
  • Life-time Upgrade to Premium$24.99
  • Life-time Upgrade$29.99
  • Life-time upgrade to Premium$34.99
  • Life-time upgrade to Premium$39.99
None

Back to This

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is UpNote free?
UpNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Back to This free?
Back to This is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do UpNote or Back to This have ads?
Neither UpNote nor Back to This shows ads.
Which is updated more often, UpNote or Back to This?
UpNote ships an update weekly, and Back to This every 3 weeks. Most recently, UpNote was updated on September 22, 2026 and Back to This on September 9, 2026.

Other comparisons