Comparison

uFocus vs zOutline

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

Head to head
About

uFocus

A distraction-free writing app designed for creative expression. It supports plain text files, offers advanced Markdown and Fountain syntax for various writing needs, and provides tools to enhance focus and productivity.

Highlights
  • Unobtrusive interface
  • Text statistics
  • MultiMarkdown support
  • Fountain screenplay support
  • Highlighting options
  • Typewriter scrolling
  • Customizable themes
Read full description

uFocus is a distraction-free writing environment that supports plain text files and allows you to keep them organized inside libraries. It allows everyone to express their creativity in the most simple way. • Unobtrusive interface: the navigation bar disappears while writing. • Swipe to show the sidebar. Here you can link your favorite libraries and quickly access your documents. • Show text statistics including character and word count and reading time. • MultiMarkdown: easily add headings, quotes, ordered and unordered lists, links, images, italics, bold, footnotes, citations, glossaries and acronyms. You can then export your documents to HTML or PDF. With CriticMarkup and Live Edit Mode you can easily mark removals, additions and substitutions, add highlghts and comments, and accept or reject them. • Fountain: create screenplays with the Markdown-inspired markup syntax and print or export them as PDF with industry-standard formatting. • Highlighting: you can stay even more focused by fading out all the text but the current sentence or paragraph. • Typewriter scrolling: automatically scrolls the text when you get on a new line. • Sound mode: experience the ultimate feeling of a typewriter. • No deletions mode: disable deletions and replacements if your greatest temptation is always to edit your text instead of writing. • Fullscreen: focus on your words and hide everything else. • Choose between three different editor widths, four font sizes and a light, dark, sepia or amber theme, or create your own theme. • Print single files or entire directory hierarchies. If you have any requests, suggestions or bug reports, you're welcome to visit the website through the Support link.

About

zOutline

This is a simple outline editor that allows for easy creation and management of hierarchical lists. It supports multiple outlines in tabs, text formatting, and various export options like HTML, RTF, and plain text. The app remembers your progress and allows sharing via email attachments.

Highlights
  • Simple tap and gesture controls
  • Multiple outlines in tabs
  • Text formatting (bold, italic, underline)
  • Export to HTML, RTF, and text
  • Email attachment sharing
  • Persistent editing state
Features
Read full description

A straightforward, uncomplicated outline editor. You tap an item to select. You double-tap to edit an item. You swipe left on an item to delete an item.. Or you tap-and-hold to cut & paste, etc. Multiple outlines can be edited at once in different tabs. zOutline remembers what you were editing even if you kill the app. You can send outline files as email attachments, and open outline file attachments. zOutline permits export as HTML, RTF or text. Outline items can be enumerated or dotted. Items can be bold, italic, underlined. Several fonts and text colors are available.

Screenshots

uFocus4 screens
zOutline1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: uFocus at 91% against zOutline's 50%. uFocus also leads on ratings volume (35 vs 2) and device support (5 vs 3). zOutline's advantage is monetization model (free vs paid) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

zOutline holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: uFocus has 35 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 91% of uFocus's written reviews are positive against 50% of zOutline's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

uFocus ships an update monthly, zOutline every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
uFocus versus zOutline: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteruFocuszOutline
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (35 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews91.0% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings35 — better2
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB1 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperNicolas KickZack Smith

Customer experience

uFocus

All ratings35 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews144 reviews
Positive91.0%
Neutral2.1%
Negative6.9%

zOutline

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

uFocus

No in-app purchases

None

zOutline

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is uFocus free?
uFocus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is zOutline free?
zOutline is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, uFocus or zOutline?
zOutline is rated higher. uFocus averages 4.7 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while zOutline averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do uFocus or zOutline have ads?
Neither uFocus nor zOutline shows ads.
Which is updated more often, uFocus or zOutline?
uFocus ships an update monthly, and zOutline every 3 weeks. Most recently, uFocus was updated on October 8, 2026 and zOutline on October 1, 2026.

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