Comparison

Birch vs PhotoNote

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

Head to head
About

Birch

This app helps you organize your life using photos as notes. Simply snap a picture, add hashtags, and find it quickly later. It's ideal for visual individuals who use their photo album for reminders and references.

Highlights
  • Organized photo notes
  • Hashtag-based organization
  • Quick photo capture
  • Fast search functionality
  • Multiple hashtag support
  • Light and Dark mode support
Read full description

Birch is a different kind of Notes app, built for photos. It's Notes, for visual individuals! Organized photo notes: Are you the type of person who's always super busy, and takes quick reminder photos of things you need to remember later? Is your photo album filled with pictures of product labels, mail, receipts, household projects, whiteboards, recipes, etc? Many of us have turned our photo album into a visual notes app, but Birch can make this "Photo Notes" part of your life much simpler and more organized! Just snap a photo, add a hashtag in a note, and that's it! Create photo notes in seconds and find them lighting fast when you need them later. Hashtags are simpler and way more convenient than creating albums and folders to organize your photos, especially these reminder note photos! Think of it like a document scanner mixed with an organized file cabinet, except it's not limited to only documents or PDFs and can be used to document and reference anything that can be captured by a photo! Multiple hashtags can be added to any photo note, so you can find these organized pics in multiple places. And the organization is managed automatically for you by simply adding hashtags to your notes! Just a few examples of where Birch really shines: • Snapping a quick photo note of something you see in the wild and want to buy later. • Labels & product numbers of household supplies you need to find at the store later. • Receipts and mail you don't want to keep physical copies of. • Organizing and saving whiteboard notes, so you can safely erase but never lose. • Or even just organizing your favorite photos from an occasion (it's built for notes... but it's still way easier than managing personal photo albums) Free with a paid Pro option: I'm a small indie developer, but I don’t think it’s right to make money unless you’re actually getting value. So you get a good amount of features and functionality for free, then have an upgrade option to access more “power user” features. If Birch is helping to make your life a bit easier, upgrading costs less than 5 coffees per year… only 3 if you drink the good stuff! Organize your life, with beautiful photo notes! A clean, simple and intuitive design that looks great in Light or Dark mode! In-App purchase disclaimer: Should you decide to upgrade to Birch Pro, a purchase will be applied to your iTunes account at the time of upgrade. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial will be forfeited if you purchase a subscription. For more information, see our ToS EULA (http://danielmac.co/birch-eula) and Privacy Policy (http://danielmac.co/birch-privacy-policy).

About

PhotoNote

Capture information visually by taking photos instead of typing. Organize your visual notes with tabs and colored tags. Photos are stored within the app, preventing clutter in your device's photo gallery.

Highlights
  • Capture notes via camera
  • Organize with tabs
  • Categorize with colored tags
  • Internal photo storage
  • Reorder notes and tags
Features
Read full description

Instead of typing letters on the keyboard, I'm sure there are times when I take a picture and use it as a note instead. However, there is a risk that the photo folder will be flooded with notes. It is this application that is useful in such a case. All you have to do is take a picture with the built-in camera. You can organize the notes you have taken with tabs. In addition, the photos you took will be saved in the app, so you won't clutter up your photo folder! Usage examples: - Receipt - Timetable - Cooking Recipes - Deadline for reports written on the blackboard - Organize the screenshot. In addition, you can separate the notes you took with colored tags for each category. Tags can be added, deleted, and reordered from the pre-prepared colors. You can also reorder your notes.

Screenshots

Birch4 screens
PhotoNote3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Birch at none against PhotoNote's shown. Birch also leads on ratings volume (127 vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). PhotoNote's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (100% vs 84%). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Birch sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month and PhotoNote sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PhotoNote holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Birch has 127 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Birch's written reviews are positive against 100% of PhotoNote's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Birch versus PhotoNote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBirchPhotoNote
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (127 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings127 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB56 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel McCarthySatoshi Kobayashi

Customer experience

Birch

All ratings124 ratings
Positive88.7%
Neutral5.6%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews61 reviews
Positive83.6%
Neutral4.9%
Negative11.5%

PhotoNote

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Birch

Subscriptions2
  • Pro (Monthly)$1.491 Month
  • Pro (Annual)$14.991 Year
1 purchases

PhotoNote

Subscriptions1
  • Pro plan$3.991 Month

Questions

Is Birch free?
Birch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PhotoNote free?
PhotoNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Birch or PhotoNote?
PhotoNote is rated higher. Birch averages 4.6 out of 5 from 127 ratings, while PhotoNote averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Birch or PhotoNote have ads?
PhotoNote shows ads; Birch does not.
Which is updated more often, Birch or PhotoNote?
Birch ships an update every 3 weeks, and PhotoNote every 3 weeks. Most recently, Birch was updated on November 2, 2026 and PhotoNote on November 3, 2026.

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