IDmelon Authenticator vs ForgeNotes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
IDmelon Authenticator
Transform your smartphone into a FIDO2 security key for passwordless logins across all your devices. Generate, store, and manage passkeys for secure and easy access to online accounts and applications.
- Smartphone as FIDO2 security key
- Passwordless logins
- Passkey generation and management
- Cross-device compatibility
- Integration with GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft
- Tap & Login experience
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Turn your smartphone into a USB FIDO2 security key that helps you go passwordless and keep your data safe on all devices. IDmelon enables you to turn your all-in-one smartphone into a FIDO security key. Once IDmelon is installed and activated on your smartphone, you will no longer deal with passwords on PC for login to Windows, online accounts, and applications. Instead, you will use passkeys for safer easier logins across all your devices without having to reregister credentials on every new device of yours. You can also use passkeys for login to accounts and applications on iOS devices and iPad/tablets. This means that you can generate, store, and manage passkeys to access your data, anywhere, anytime, on any of your devices. IDmelon is fully compatible with GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft products and services such as Outlook, Office etc, as well as many more FIDO2 supported platforms. To set up your smartphone as a security key or a passkey manager, you will receive an activation link/button via email. After the activation process on your smartphone has finished, your smartphone is ready to work in combination with either IDmelon Pairing Tool or IDmelon Reader. You can pair your smartphone with PC via IDmelon Pairing Tool, which is a desktop/laptop app. To pair your smartphone with a PC, you need the IDmleon Pairing Tool installed on the computer first. Then, you scan a QR code on the PC screen only once, and from then on, a single tap on a push notification on your paired smartphone is enough to login! Notice: IDmelon Pairing Tool is compatible with macOS and Windows 10 or later (Entra ID, formerly known as Azure AD, joined). Permission notice: IDmelon Pairing Tool needs your permission to use smartphone camera only for the purpose of QR code scanning once to pair your smartphone with PC. To enjoy the unique Tap & Login experience, however, you need IDmelon Reader, which is a plug and play hardware that can be plugged into USB ports on PCs. Workspaces with shared computers are great places to use IDmelon Reader. With a single tap of your smartphone on Reader, you will receive a notification to login. Permission notice: To use IDmelon Reader, IDmelon app requires permission to access your smartphone's Bluetooth only for authentication purposes. Sometimes, your work might roll out IDmelon and ask you to set up your smartphone as a security key when accessing certain files, emails, or apps. So, you will receive an invitation email containing an activation link/button. You need to first install the IDmelon app on your smartphone to be able to click on the link/button on the same device on which the app is installed. Or, you may be empowered to use your ID badge or NFC card as a FIDO security key for the same purpose. To find out more, visit our website: https://www.idmelon.com/ License Agreement can be found at: https://www.idmelon.com/end-user-license-agreement/ For the latest Privacy Policy, see: https://www.idmelon.com/privacy-policy/
ForgeNotes
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Record a meeting on your iPhone and get a transcript, a summary, decisions and action items in minutes. No bot joins the meeting, recording and transcription are unlimited on every plan, and the Free plan needs no payment. When you press record, ForgeNotes says "This meeting is being recorded." aloud, so everyone in the room knows. NO BOT, AND IT SAYS SO • Nothing joins your meeting as a participant. ForgeNotes records only when you press record • The announcement is on by default, with 12 voices to choose from and one switch to turn it off • If it only reached headphones, or the volume was off, the app tells you • Calls are recorded with the ForgeNotes apps for Mac and Windows NOTES YOU CAN CHECK • Transcripts with speakers in 41 languages. Choose the spoken language or let ForgeNotes detect it • Summary, decisions and action items, each linked to the line it came from • Ask across your meetings ("what did we decide about pricing?") and get answers with citations • Insights under every meeting: talk time, questions and interruptions • Your own vocabulary keeps names and terms spelled right • Name the speakers once and ForgeNotes keeps a list of what each person committed to YOUR RECORDING IS SAVED AS YOU GO • Audio is saved to your iPhone every few seconds, with the screen locked, for as long as the meeting runs • If the app is closed or the battery dies, what was recorded is still on the phone and is picked up next time • No signal needed. Uploads wait for a connection, retry by themselves and carry on in the background • Import what you already have: voice memos, lectures, audio and video files SHARE IT AND PUT IT TO WORK • Export a meeting as PDF or Word, made on your iPhone, or as text or Markdown, or to Notion • Clips: cut a moment from the transcript and share just that part on a link, with an optional PIN and expiry • Recap emails with the summary and action items, sent when you choose • Post notes to Slack, turn action items into HubSpot, Asana, Linear or Jira tasks, or use webhooks for Zapier and Make • Teams: share meetings with colleagues, who read them free • Apple Watch: start, pause and stop a recording from your wrist PLANS Recording and transcription are unlimited on every plan. Very heavy use only moves new meetings later in the processing queue: nothing is blocked or cut off, and there are no AI credits. • Free: AI notes on 10 meetings a month, Ask across your last 30 days, text, Markdown and Notion export, and Insights • Pro: unlimited AI notes, PDF and Word export, clips, vocabulary, recap emails, AI agents (MCP) and creating teams. 7-day free trial for new subscribers • Pro Plus: everything in Pro, plus Slack, HubSpot, Asana, Linear, Jira, webhooks and AI coaching notes • Team: everything in Pro Plus, plus the team admin console and top processing priority One account covers iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, the web, and the Mac and Windows apps. WHERE YOUR MEETINGS GO Your recordings upload so they can be transcribed. Transcription and the AI that writes your notes run on computers we operate. No third-party AI service receives your audio, transcripts or notes, and they are never used to train AI models. Audio is kept for 1 year and transcripts and notes for 2 years, or 2 and 4 years on Pro Plus and Team. Deleting a meeting removes its audio, transcript and notes, and you can delete your account in the app. Recording other people requires their consent in many places. ForgeNotes announces itself and reminds you before you record; making sure everyone agrees is your responsibility. ForgeNotes Pro, Pro Plus and Team are auto-renewing subscriptions, billed monthly or yearly. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation, or when the free trial ends; the subscription renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Terms: https://notes.thecontentforge.io/terms Privacy: https://notes.thecontentforge.io/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: ForgeNotes at 100% against IDmelon Authenticator's 50%. ForgeNotes also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). IDmelon Authenticator's advantage is iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. IDmelon Authenticator sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per year and ForgeNotes sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ForgeNotes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 3 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of IDmelon Authenticator's written reviews are positive against 100% of ForgeNotes's.
IDmelon Authenticator ships an update every 2 weeks, ForgeNotes every 2 days. Both last shipped on November 13, 2026.
| Parameter | IDmelon Authenticator | ForgeNotes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (7 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 165 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | IDmelon Technologies Inc | joshua smoliak |
Customer experience
IDmelon Authenticator
ForgeNotes
In-app purchases
IDmelon Authenticator
- IDmelon Standard$5.991 Year
- IDmelon Premium$11.991 Year
ForgeNotes
- Pro: Unlimited AI Notes7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Pro Plus: Slack, Jira & CRM$14.991 Month
- Team: Shared Meeting Notes$29.901 Month
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- Pro Annual: Unlimited AI Notes7 Days trial$69.901 Year
- Pro Plus Annual: Slack & CRM$149.001 Year
- Team Annual: Shared Notes$299.001 Year
Questions
Is IDmelon Authenticator free?
Is ForgeNotes free?
Which has better reviews, IDmelon Authenticator or ForgeNotes?
Do IDmelon Authenticator or ForgeNotes have ads?
Which is updated more often, IDmelon Authenticator or ForgeNotes?
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