Swipe Memo vs ZZZ Let's Read!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Swipe Memo
Read full descriptionHide full description
It is an application that allows you to concentrate only on taking notes. Swipe left for unlimited notes, swipe down for a list, swipe down again for a note! That's all you need to do.
ZZZ Let's Read!
Read full descriptionHide full description
ZZZ Let's Read! β On-device OCR for Japanese (vertical, horizontal, classical, kuzushiji) and English Point your camera at a book or a receipt, and get text in an instant. Every byte of OCR runs locally on your device β captured images and recognized text never leave your phone. Ideal for privacy-conscious users and offline environments. β SUPPORTED OCR LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS β This App recognizes only the following: β’ Japanese β vertical (tategaki) and horizontal (yokogaki) writing, modern Japanese, classical/pre-modern kanji, and kuzushiji (cursive handwriting). 7,141 characters of the NDLmoji charset. β’ English β basic Latin alphabet (AβZ / aβz), digits, and common punctuation. Other writing systems are NOT recognized: Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Korean (Hangul), Cyrillic, Arabic, etc. Accented Latin characters (Γ©, Γ±, ΓΌ, Γ§, Γ£, β¦) are also not in the OCR charset. The app interface is available in 6 languages, but the OCR engine itself supports only Japanese and English. β FEATURES β Document Mode β Books, Manuscripts, Classical Japanese β’ Powered by the National Diet Library's NDLOCR-Lite β’ 7,141-character NDLmoji charset including pre-modern Japanese kanji β’ "Detect" outlines all text regions β tap to OCR only what you need β’ "Read all" runs OCR on the entire page in one go β’ Copy or share recognized text β’ Pinch-to-zoom on the captured snapshot Receipt Mode β Automated Bookkeeping β’ Auto-extract amount and date from any receipt β’ Multi-currency: JPY, USD, GBP, EUR, and more β’ Date formats: Gregorian, Reiwa/Heisei, abbreviated wareki, English month names (e.g. 16AUG2015) β’ Auto-detects DD/MM vs MM/DD by device locale β’ Handles European decimal comma (15,65 β¬) correctly β’ Bill splitter β divides the amount by N people β’ Share CSV via Mail / Drive / messenger, or clear with one tap β SIX INTERFACE LANGUAGES β Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese. Unsupported locales fall back to English automatically. β PRIVACY BY DESIGN β β’ Fully offline OCR β no network required for recognition β’ Captured photos are discarded after OCR; nothing is sent to a server β’ Only the camera and one CSV file on internal storage are accessed β’ Network is used solely for ad delivery (Google AdMob) β WHO IT'S FOR β β’ Students and researchers studying classical Japanese β’ Writers and editors quoting from physical books β’ Freelancers, sole proprietors, and households tracking receipts β’ Travelers logging expenses across multiple countries β’ Anyone handling confidential documents or working offline β REQUIREMENTS β β’ iOS 13.0 or higher β’ ~200 MB free storage β’ Rear-facing camera β’ Internet not required for OCR (used only for ads) β OPEN-SOURCE CREDITS β The OCR engine in this App is built on these open-source assets, redistributed under their respective licenses. β’ National Diet Library NDLOCR-Lite β CC BY 4.0 β’ PARSeq scene-text recognition model β Apache License 2.0 β’ PaddlePaddle PP-OCRv4 detection model β Apache License 2.0 The native iOS port (Swift + ONNX Runtime) is the work of this App's developer. β MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION (REMOVE ADS) β β’ The "Remove Ads" monthly plan hides all ads in the app β’ Payment is charged to your Apple ID account β’ The subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period β’ Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period β’ You can manage or cancel anytime in iOS Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions β TERMS OF USE (EULA) β This App is provided under the following End User License Agreement (EULA). Terms of Use: https://smolt-stage.com/home/privacy/zzz-ocr-terms.html β PRIVACY POLICY β This App handles information in accordance with its privacy policy. For details, see "About" inside the App or the link in this store listing.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Swipe Memo at none against ZZZ Let's Read!'s 1. ZZZ Let's Read!'s advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. ZZZ Let's Read! sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per month. Swipe Memo asks for nothing beyond the download.
Swipe Memo ships an update every 3 months, ZZZ Let's Read! fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Swipe Memo | ZZZ Let's Read! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Fortnightly β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No β better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod β better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 β better |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 125 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yuya Tajima | SMOLT STAGE, K.K. |
In-app purchases
Swipe Memo
No in-app purchases
ZZZ Let's Read!
- ZZZ Let's Read! Premium$0.991 Month
Questions
Is Swipe Memo free?
Is ZZZ Let's Read! free?
Do Swipe Memo or ZZZ Let's Read! have ads?
Which is updated more often, Swipe Memo or ZZZ Let's Read!?
Other comparisons















