Comparison

Birch vs Ikes

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

Ikes

Capture and organize text or image ideas with a dynamic feed. Intelligent search and discovery help you find inspiration and make unexpected connections. Syncs seamlessly across devices and prioritizes your privacy.

Highlights
  • Quick capture for text and images
  • Dynamic Idea Feed for discovery
  • Tag, source, and color organization
  • Intelligent search by meaning
  • Automatic idea discovery
  • Shuffle for serendipity
  • iCloud sync across devices
Read full description

Ikes is not your ordinary note app. It's built for capturing ideas and finding them again — fast. Got an idea? Read a great quote? Snapped a page from a book? Just throw it all into Ikes. Text, images, and links drop into a single feed, and you add tags, sources, and sparkles to whatever matters. Later, filters and search bring anything back in seconds. Now with a new unified export: send your whole library — or just the ideas matching your current filter — out as TXT, CSV, TSV, JSON, or YAML. JSON and YAML are designed for AI and RAG workflows, ready to drop straight into your pipeline. - Save text, images, and links instantly, with tags, sources, and sparkles. - Works inside Safari, X/Twitter, book readers, and other apps via the share extension. - Filter bar, tag/source browsers, and full-text search surface what you need. - Shuffle and random idea views bring forgotten ideas back to the top. - iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac — included for free. - Place your favorite quotes on your Home Screen with widgets. [ Premium features ] - Intelligent Search — semantic search across your entire idea feed. - Intelligent Discovery — surface related ideas you had forgotten. - Unified Export to TXT / CSV / TSV / JSON / YAML (Export All or Export Filtered). - Text recognition (OCR) on captured images — perfect for reading physical books. - Filter which ideas appear in widgets. - Custom color schemes and app icons. [ Ikes at a glance ] - Free iCloud sync - Text, images, and links with tags, sources, and sparkles - Share extension for 3rd-party apps - Filter bar + tag cloud - Shuffle / random view - Home Screen widgets - Dark mode - Universal: iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Screenshots

Birch4 screens
Ikes4 screens

Verdict

The call

Birch and Ikes both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 93% of Ikes's written reviews are positive against 84% of Birch's. Birch's advantage is ratings volume (127 vs 31) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Birch sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month and Ikes 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Birch against 4.7 for Ikes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 127 and 31 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Birch's written reviews are positive against 93% of Ikes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Birch ships an update every 3 weeks, Ikes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Birch versus Ikes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBirchIkes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (127 ratings)4.7 (31 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.6% of reviews92.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings127 — better31
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB284 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel McCarthyINCREDIBLE FOX, Inc.

Customer experience

Birch

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

Ikes

All ratings31 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral3.2%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive92.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.1%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Birch

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

Ikes

One-time1
  • Ikes PREMIUM$9.99

Questions

Is Birch free?
Birch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ikes free?
Ikes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Birch or Ikes?
Ikes is rated higher. Birch averages 4.6 out of 5 from 127 ratings, while Ikes averages 4.7 from 31 ratings.
Do Birch or Ikes have ads?
Neither Birch nor Ikes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Birch or Ikes?
Birch ships an update every 3 weeks, and Ikes every 2 weeks. Most recently, Birch was updated on October 22, 2026 and Ikes on October 24, 2026.

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