Comparison

uFocus vs Collected Notes

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

Collected Notes

A note-taking platform that allows users to create private notes, share them publicly, and build a blog with a custom domain. It focuses on a simple, native experience with live Markdown previews and no ads or tracking.

Highlights
  • Markdown with live preview
  • Create private notes
  • Share notes publicly
  • Build a blog with custom domain
  • Native iPhone experience
  • No ads or tracking
Read full description

Upload your thoughts. The simplest, and most powerful note-taking blogging platform ever made. Create private notes, share them publicly and create your blog with a custom domain. ■ Markdown with live preview Live Markdown previews allow you to see the final result in real-time as you type. ■ Simplicity Every app out there eventually tries to do more than they should. We believe in doing less, but better. ■ Native experience The iPhone app allows for a fast native-first experience. Just open the app and go right into writing mode. ■ No nonsense No ads. No feature creep. No tracking. No annoying emails. No data sold. No comments. No vanity metrics. No proprietary formats. You'll never see popups, clutter, subscription up-sells, or anything that interferes with the reading experience. Collected Notes is a reading-first experience. Your attention matters. Terms of use: https://collectednotes.com/blog/terms

Screenshots

uFocus4 screens
Collected Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: uFocus at none against Collected Notes's 2. uFocus also leads on device support (5 vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). Collected Notes's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Collected Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. uFocus asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for uFocus against 4.7 for Collected Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 35 and 43 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 92% of uFocus's written reviews are positive against 87% of Collected Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

uFocus ships an update monthly, Collected Notes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
uFocus versus Collected Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteruFocusCollected Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (35 ratings) — better4.7 (43 ratings)
Positive reviews91.5% of reviews — better86.7% of reviews
Number of ratings3543 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNicolas KickAlfajor Co.

Customer experience

uFocus

All ratings35 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews142 reviews
Positive91.5%
Neutral1.4%
Negative7.0%

Collected Notes

All ratings43 ratings
Positive90.7%
Neutral2.3%
Negative7.0%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive86.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative13.3%

In-app purchases

None

uFocus

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Collected Notes

Subscriptions2
  • Collected Notes Basic7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Collected Notes Premium7 Days trial$4.991 Month

Questions

Is uFocus free?
uFocus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Collected Notes free?
Collected Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, uFocus or Collected Notes?
uFocus is rated higher. uFocus averages 4.7 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while Collected Notes averages 4.7 from 43 ratings.
Do uFocus or Collected Notes have ads?
Neither uFocus nor Collected Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, uFocus or Collected Notes?
uFocus ships an update monthly, and Collected Notes every 2 weeks. Most recently, uFocus was updated on September 21, 2026 and Collected Notes on September 14, 2026.

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