uFocus vs BYOK Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Unobtrusive interface
- Text statistics
- MultiMarkdown support
- Fountain screenplay support
- Highlighting options
- Typewriter scrolling
- Customizable themes
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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.
BYOK Studio
This app provides a dedicated writing environment for organizing and developing creative projects. It offers tools for drafting, planning, mapping ideas visually, and managing project-specific reference material.
- Focused writing editor
- Manuscript building from scenes
- Card and outline planning
- Visual idea mapping
- Project wiki for reference
- Scratchpad for quick ideas
- Project organization drawer
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Studio is a writing space built for writers and writing projects. Draft scenes, organize notes, plan chapters, build manuscripts, map ideas, and keep your work together in one purpose-built environment. Whether you are writing a novel, memoir, essay, screenplay, journal, research project, or long-form draft, Studio gives you a flexible place to move from first idea to structured work. Write in a focused editor Draft chapters, scenes, notes, essays, and long-form projects in a clean editor designed to keep the work in front of you. Build manuscripts from scenes Bring separate files, chapters, and sections together into a larger manuscript so your project can take shape piece by piece. Plan with cards and outlines Capture scene ideas, research, structure, notes, and beats using flexible cards and hierarchical outlines. Map your ideas visually Use the Grid Map to create mind maps, flow charts, relationship maps, timelines, and visual plans with shapes and connection lines. Create a project wiki Keep track of characters, places, concepts, research, worldbuilding, and other reference material in a living wiki for your project. Use the Scratchpad for quick ideas Capture loose thoughts, reminders, and checkable tasks before they disappear. Scratchpad entries can also be created from your BYOK device. Keep every project organized Use the Project Drawer to store and organize files, folders, drafts, notes, cards, outlines, grids, wiki entries, and other project materials. Connect with BYOK Studio is designed to work alongside the BYOK writing device, giving you a place to continue organizing, editing, and shaping the drafts you start elsewhere. Studio is more than a blank page. It is a writing environment for the whole project behind the words. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: uFocus at none against BYOK Studio's 3. uFocus also leads on ratings volume (35 vs 2) and device support (5 vs 3). BYOK Studio's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and review sentiment (100% vs 91%). On price, update cadence, ads and iOS requirement 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. BYOK Studio sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. uFocus asks for nothing beyond the download.
BYOK Studio 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 point the same way: 91% of uFocus's written reviews are positive against 100% of BYOK Studio's.
uFocus ships an update monthly, BYOK Studio every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | uFocus | BYOK Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (35 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 91.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 35 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nicolas Kick | BYOK LLC |
Customer experience
uFocus
BYOK Studio
In-app purchases
uFocus
No in-app purchases
BYOK Studio
- Standard$9.991 Month
- Standard1 Year trial$82.991 Year
- Lifetime Plan$299.99









