SimpleMind vs Chirys Draw
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SimpleMind
Organize thoughts, capture ideas, and generate new concepts with a powerful mind mapping tool. Its intuitive interface allows for free-form or auto-layout creation, with options to add media, documents, and synchronize across devices. Share your mind maps in various formats or present them as slideshows.
- Free-form and auto layout options
- Add images, notes, icons, and links
- Voice memos and video integration
- Cloud synchronization across devices
- Export to PDF, Image, Reminders, Calendar
- Customizable styling and themes
- Collapse/expand branches for overview
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Mind mapping helps you organize your thoughts, remember information and generate new ideas. We've created a beautiful, intuitive app, so you can mind map wherever you are and whenever you want. Free Functionality • Everything you need to get started with mind mapping. • No ads. • No data collection. • No need to sign up for an account. • Upgrade to full functionality is a one-time single purchase. Highlights • Easy to use. • Continuously fine-tuned based on customer feedback. • Trustworthy and reliable: 15+ years of updates and improvements. • Used in a wide range of applications: business, education, legal and medical. • Tools to help you maintain overview. Create ○ place topics anywhere you want in the free-form layout ○ or use auto layout - great for brainstorming ○ reorganize and restructure using drag, rotate, re-arrange or reconnect ○ use checkboxes, progress bars, auto-numbering ○ connect any two topics with a crosslink ○ label relations ○ virtually unlimited page size and number of elements ○ supports multiple Mind Maps on one page Add media and documents ○ images and photos ○ notes ○ icons (stock, emojis or custom) ○ link to a topic, mind map, contact, file or webpage ○ voice memos ○ videos Seamless synchronization using clouds ○ sync mind maps with your iPads and iPhones ○ sync mind maps across platforms. For example with Mac - as a separate purchase ○ sync using iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, 坚果云 - Nutstore and Nextcloud Share your Mind Map ○ for example as PDF or Image ○ outline, can be imported in word processors ○ create a slideshow to present your Mind Map (Tablet only) ○ print ○ export to Reminders or Calendar Style your mind map ○ change the appearance by selecting one of the 15+ style sheets ○ create your own style sheets ○ style every detail, exactly how you want it ○ change borders, lines, colors, background color, the checkbox color, and much more Maintain overview ○ collapse and expand branches ○ hide or show branches or topics ○ block out distractions with autofocus ○ highlight branches by displaying branch borders ○ visually group topics with group borders ○ organize your Mind Maps in folders ○ outline view ○ search
Chirys Draw
Easily create complex molecular structures and reaction schemes with intuitive gestures. This app offers chemically aware text, automatic calculations, and publication-quality export options for scientists and students.
- Draw complex molecular structures and reaction schemes
- Chemically aware text and automatic calculations
- Intuitive circle gesture for ring creation
- Publication-quality image and PDF export
- Airdrop sharing and cross-platform compatibility
- Import/export MOL files
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Draw complex molecular structures and reaction schemes using your fingertips. An easy circle gesture (U.S. Patent No. 9754085 and No. 10,424,399) makes even complicated polycyclic rings easy and fun to draw. Multiple double bonds or multiple functional groups are simple to add all at one time. Annotation and reaction condition text is chemically aware and properly subscripts numbers. With over 175k downloads, Chirys Draw is speeding the way scientists draw and communicate. Imagine what you will create! Take notes at those seminars or class lectures! Present your ideas at project or group meetings! Draw structures and reaction schemes for your next paper! See the how-to videos on the Chirys web site. Key Features: • Create saturated, aromatic rings and chains • Draw reactions and reaction schemes with reaction conditions • Draw retrosynthetic pathways • Create multi-line text annotations with fonts and colors • Create complex fused and spirocyclic ring systems • Generate ion pairs • Airdrop sharing with colleagues • Airdrop transfer to your Macintosh • Copy and paste images or PDFs into Pages®, Keynote®, and other applications • Copy images to the Camera Roll • Send images of molecular structures by email, ready for publication • Make publication-quality prints and images • User-defined Groups • Export drawings as a scalable graphics PDF • Import and export molecules as MOL files Additional Features: • Automatic identification of molecular formulas in text • Molecular formula, weight, elemental composition, and exact mass calculations • Automatic layout of functional groups • Resonance and equilibrium arrows • 24 levels of undo and redo User feedback: “Wow. First of all, please let me say that this is the single best iPad application that I have ever used (not to mention one of the best structure drawing programs on any platform). You really nailed using gestures to design and manipulate structures. The app is an awesome example of harnessing the spirit of the iPad. I was up and drawing in 30 seconds. The interface is clean, intuitive, and so very well designed. Beautiful output too.” — Stephen “I use this for all my structure drawing needs now - desktop applications are so expensive and actually harder to use than Chirys Draw. Developer is very responsive. Improvements to the app keep coming. If you're a student, or a lecturer like myself, and need to draw quality chemical structures, then look no further. Exporting features make it easy to create a structure, then email to yourself for incorporation into a Powerpoint, Keynote, Word or any other sort of document. Highly recommended, and well worth the cost (much cheaper than desktop apps and for most purposes just as functional).” — Australian user “Extremely well-done, very easy to learn, and elegant. It will be easier and faster other competitors to sketch high-quality structures and could be really handy for taking notes in meetings.” — Jeff “Brilliant addition to the iPad workload. This is clearly a creative application and the most full featured molecular drawing app. I think the developers here have the most motivation, and have put more original thought into this. I hope they will be encouraged to continue with their vision…” — Cascade “I wanted to let you know directly how much I appreciate this app. It works exactly as advertised, is highly capable, and is now substituting for a desktop-based chemical structure drawing app. I am right now using it to prepare structures for my pharmacognosy lectures, and it is working well.” — Ian “The words that come to mind: Impressive. Quality. The development of Chirys Draw shows your deep, consistent, and scholarly chemistry flair and precision, and is impressive. Professional chemists will continue to love this.” — Atsuo “ChirysDraw represents the best chemical drawing package to date on the iPad.” — Brian “Thank you again for such a lovely program.” — Olivia
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: SimpleMind at 4.5 against Chirys Draw's 2.6. SimpleMind also leads on ratings volume (981 vs 8) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months). Chirys Draw's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). On price 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
Both are free to download. SimpleMind sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chirys Draw asks for nothing beyond the download.
SimpleMind holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SimpleMind has 981 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of SimpleMind's written reviews are positive against 67% of Chirys Draw's.
SimpleMind ships an update every 2 months, Chirys Draw every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SimpleMind | Chirys Draw |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (981 ratings) — better | 2.6 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 77.2% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 981 — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | xpt Software & Consulting B.V. | John Clark |
Customer experience
SimpleMind
Chirys Draw
Bugs and requests
SimpleMind
Reported bugs
2 issues- Maps disappearing after device resets
- Inability to import/export certain file formats
Requested features
4 requests- Improved syncing and cloud integration
- More customization options for appearance and layout
- Keyboard shortcuts and power user features
- Better support for Apple Pencil and handwriting
Chirys Draw
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
SimpleMind
- Unlock Pro Functionality$10.99
Chirys Draw
No in-app purchases








