Comparison

Minimal | Notes vs Hey Max

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

Head to head
About

Minimal | Notes

This app offers a distraction-free writing environment inspired by meditation. It features collaborative writing, note expiration, and the ability to publish notes as websites. Organize tasks with integrated to-do lists and sync across all your Apple devices.

Highlights
  • Note Lifetime reminders
  • Collaborative writing
  • Publish notes as websites
  • Todo lists sync with Calendar
  • Beautiful formatting
  • Sync across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Features
Read full description

Write with focus. Open your mind with Minimal, a meditation-inspired notes and writing app. Minimal combines thoughtful, modern design with powerful features to deliver a spacious, beautiful writing environment. • Note Lifetime • Collaborative writing • Publish notes as websites • Add Todos to the Calendar app • Beautiful formatting • Sync everywhere: Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch Minimal is a simple yet powerful notes app. Inspired by meditation, nature, and architectural design, Minimal provides a beautiful space to think, write, and organize projects. NOTE LIFETIME The Note Lifetime keeps your notebook fresh and reflective of the present moment. When a note goes unedited for a duration you choose in settings, you’ll be gently notified. This is an opportunity to review the note, act on it, or let it go. COLLABORATIVE WRITING Share notes with friends, family, and teammates. With a gentle design, writing remains focused and tranquil, even as thoughts merge and ideas multiply. Everyone receives changes as notes evolve, and multiple people can make edits at the same time without conflict. FOCUSED + SPACIOUS DESIGN Minimal is designed so only one element is ever in focus. We love the beauty of a blank page – abundant empty space allows for an ease of creative expression. PUBLISH AS WEBSITE Transform notes into beautifully-formatted websites in microseconds. TODO LISTS Todo lists are an effective way to organize projects and complete tasks. Sync with the Calendar app, get things done, and check everything off. BEAUTIFUL FORMATTING Minimal combines Markdown-style formatting with elegant typography. The result is simple, expressive notes that make it easy to think and write. SYNC EVERYWHERE Bring focus to your favorite devices. Minimal is designed for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Cloud Sync is fast, reliable, and invisible. SHARE, EXPORT, IMPORT You’re in control of your notes. Share directly in iMessage, export as PDF or HTML, and use the system share mechanism to take notes anywhere. Importing links + prose into Minimal is just as easy. CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING The best notebook is personal. We made everything in Minimal customizable, from fonts + themes to sorting notes + note actions. You can also build custom workflows using the Shortcuts app. A LITTLE GIFT Wow, thanks for reading. As a little gift for tuning in, these are our favorite musicians -> Somi, Snarky Puppy, and London Grammar. They’re jazzy and introspective, just how we like it. Enjoy. —— For help, write us at team@minimal.app or on Twitter at @minimalnotesapp. To learn about our terms + approach to privacy, visit https://minimal.app/terms. We offer a long free trial and make cancellation easy. After that, Minimal costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. These prices are in USD and may vary by region. Cancel in your iTunes account settings at least 24 hours before renewal.

About

Hey Max

An intelligent AI personal assistant that can chat, generate ideas, write emails, send messages, and make calls. It offers real-time visual analysis through your camera and remembers your preferences for a personalized experience.

Highlights
  • AI-powered chat and idea generation
  • Email and message composition
  • Voice and video calling
  • Real-time visual analysis via camera
  • Multilingual translation
  • Personalized memory and assistance
Features
Read full description

Hey Max is the AI emotional assistant that talks with you, walks with you and truly gets you. Max isn't a search box. He listens, remembers what matters to you, and answers with warmth and emotional intelligence. Talk naturally, hands-free, while you're at home, out walking or driving. Ask for directions, check the weather, send a message, make a call, or point your camera at something and ask what you're looking at. Max keeps working when you switch apps and works with Bluetooth, headphones and your car. Meet Maxine, built in for kids Maxine is a gentle, child-friendly voice inside Hey Max, made for younger family members. She talks in a kind, age-appropriate way, helps with questions and stories, and keeps conversations safe and positive. No separate app needed: switch to Maxine whenever the kids want to chat. Hey Max is made for families, by a family. What Hey Max can do - Natural voice conversation with fast replies - Emotional intelligence: Max listens, understands and responds with care - Memory: remembers your preferences, people and plans - Walk and talk: hands-free guidance and company on the move - Vision: show Max something with your camera and ask about it - Messages with emojis, plus voice and video calls - Weather and navigation - Documents: ask Max to read, explain and help with them - Emergency help when you need it most - Maxine: a safe, child-friendly assistant for kids - Optimised for iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo Private by design Every person has their own separate account. Max never shares one person's information with another. We do not track you or sell your data, and you can delete your account at any time in the app. Subscription Hey Max is an auto-renewing subscription. Your subscription is charged to your Apple ID and renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it any time in Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions. Pricing is shown in the app before you subscribe. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://heymaxvision.com/privacy

Screenshots

Minimal | Notes4 screens
Hey Max3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Hey Max at free against Minimal | Notes's subscription. Hey Max also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs monthly) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Minimal | Notes's advantage is ratings volume (298 vs 1). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Minimal | Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Hey Max sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $14.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hey Max holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Minimal | Notes has 298 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Minimal | Notes ships an update monthly, Hey Max every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Minimal | Notes versus Hey Max: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinimal | NotesHey Max
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (298 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings298 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB86 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTimelessstephen marlow

Customer experience

Minimal | Notes

All ratings294 ratings
Positive91.8%
Neutral3.1%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews376 reviews
Positive81.4%
Neutral6.4%
Negative12.2%

Hey Max

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Minimal | Notes

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when using certain formatting or pasting content
  • Syncing issues between iOS and macOS versions
  • Incompatibility with older macOS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to insert images or attachments
  • Improve iCloud sync reliability
  • Implement a folder-based organization system
  • Add a word/character count feature

Hey Max

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Minimal | Notes

Subscriptions3
  • Minimal Monthly14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Minimal Annual14 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Minimal Family Plan14 Days trial$79.991 Year
1 purchases

Hey Max

Subscriptions1
  • hey. max pro$14.991 Month

Questions

Is Minimal | Notes free?
Minimal | Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hey Max free?
Hey Max is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Minimal | Notes or Hey Max?
Hey Max is rated higher. Minimal | Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 298 ratings, while Hey Max averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Minimal | Notes or Hey Max have ads?
Neither Minimal | Notes nor Hey Max shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Minimal | Notes or Hey Max?
Minimal | Notes ships an update monthly, and Hey Max every 3 days. Most recently, Minimal | Notes was updated on November 2, 2026 and Hey Max on October 31, 2026.

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