Comparison

Mental Note ๛ vs My Charles Town

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

Head to head
About

Mental Note ๛

This app offers a versatile digital notepad experience, allowing users to combine text, photos, voice recordings, and drawings on a single page. Capture ideas in any format, organize them with tags, and share them easily.

Highlights
  • Combine text, photos, audio, and drawings
  • Finger drawing with multiple colors
  • Add photos from album or camera
  • Record audio while editing notes
  • Organize notes with tags
  • Password protect private notes
  • Export notes in various formats (PDF, text)
Read full description

"...a true notepad experience that may help you make a clean break from the pencil-and-paper era." -New York Times. Users describe Mental Note as "the only notepad app... that's actually better than, and as simple as, a pen and paper." It's "the future of note taking", and "a big sketchpad... [to] free associate and put stuff down in any format". Turn your iPhone into a digital notepad. Combine photographs, voice recordings, drawings and text - all on the same page, in any order you choose. An idea... a flash - a moment of genius. When a thought hits, and you have to remember it, why limit how you record it? The more context and sensory details you can capture, the clearer the idea can be put down. Use photographs, audio, sketching and text together on the same page... a digital page that can be shared with anyone. Mental Note allows you to capture ideas as they happen: use photographs, dictate, add text, sketch on anything. Ideas clarified. Creativity captured. FEATURES - Draw with your finger using multiple colours and widths on top of photographs, text, or anywhere else on the page. Zoom in to sketch fine details. - Take a photo or choose one from your album and add it to the page. - Add audio to the page by recording with your microphone. Continue to edit your note while recording. - Organize your notes using tags. - Password protect your private notes and flag your important ones. - Attach Calendar events to your notes. - Undo, redo anything in the note by shaking the device. - Delete note sections using the toolbar button or by swiping any note section. - Move a note section by swiping and then dragging it to its new location. - Length of a note is limited only by device memory. - Export in a variety of formats including PDF, text, Mental Note format, and more. Send using email, iCloud, Dropbox, and more. * Send a note in Mental Note format so the note may be imported into another person's Mental Note app. * Using email, export a complete note directly from Mental Note as either a PDF document or a picture (each audio recording is attached to the email as a separate file). You can also email just the text from your note. - Export your notes and backups to your iCloud and/or Dropbox account. - Share a note with your friends using most installed apps. - Map the location a note was created at (if location services are enabled). - Change the size and font of the text in your notes. - Change the color and background of your notes. - Numerous other configuration options. THIS VERSION IS OPTIMIZED FOR iPhone. FOR iPad, PLEASE SEE Mental Note for iPad. Read more: www.zymbiotic.com X @zymbiotic facebook.com/zymbiotic

About

My Charles Town

Features
Read full description

Directly engage with the City of Charles Town by downloading our official app. With features like how to report a water or sewer issue, report street light problems, Parks and Facilities, Pay Parking Citations, you'll find it easier than ever to stayed connected with the City of Charles Town with just a few taps on your mobile device.

Screenshots

Mental Note ๛4 screens
My Charles Town3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: My Charles Town at Free against Mental Note ๛'s $4.99. My Charles Town also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 5 months). Mental Note ๛'s advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.6). On ads 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

My Charles Town is free to download; Mental Note ๛ costs $4.99 up front. Mental Note ๛ sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. My Charles Town asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mental Note ๛ ships an update every 5 months, My Charles Town every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Mental Note ๛ versus My Charles Town: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMental Note ๛My Charles Town
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.1 (16 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews63.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings16 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZymbiotic TechnologiesCity of Charles Town

Bugs and requests

Mental Note ๛

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes sometimes disappear or get deleted unexpectedly
  • Audio recording feature not working properly
  • Keyboard issues causing loss of typed text
  • Location services not accurately detecting user's location

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add iCloud or Dropbox sync
  • Implement copy/paste and text formatting options
  • Improve drawing tools with more customization
  • Introduce a task/to-do list feature
  • Add video recording capability
Show 1 more
  • Provide more font and color options

My Charles Town

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Mental Note ๛

One-time3
  • Paper Customization feature$2.99
  • Straight Line Drawing feature$3.99
  • Dark Mode Override feature$3.99
None

My Charles Town

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mental Note ๛ free?
Mental Note ๛ costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is My Charles Town free?
My Charles Town is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Mental Note ๛ or My Charles Town have ads?
Neither Mental Note ๛ nor My Charles Town shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mental Note ๛ or My Charles Town?
Mental Note ๛ ships an update every 5 months, and My Charles Town every 5 weeks. Most recently, Mental Note ๛ was updated on November 6, 2026 and My Charles Town on October 30, 2026.

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