Comparison

Card Buddy vs FocusCard

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

Head to head
About

Card Buddy

This app provides a digital corkboard for organizing ideas with index cards. Effortlessly arrange cards, add images, and utilize different text styles to outline stories, plot novels, or manage research. Its intuitive interface makes idea management feel natural and flexible.

Highlights
  • Drag-and-drop index cards on a free-form canvas
  • Two-sided cards with front summary and back details
  • Add images to cards for storyboards
  • Multiple text styles including Markdown
  • Kanban layout for column organization
  • Syncs across Mac and iPhone
Features
Read full description

Card Buddy turns your screen into an infinite corkboard for index cards. Drag cards anywhere on the canvas and watch neighboring cards glide out of the way — outlining your story should feel as natural as moving notecards on a desk. Perfect for screenwriters, novelists, and anyone who thinks in cards. Lay out your beat sheet, rearrange plot points, and build your story one card at a time. Features: - Drag-and-drop index cards on a free-form canvas, with neighbors that move out of the way automatically - Two-sided cards — type a summary on the front, details on the back - Add images to any card for storyboards and moodboards - Three text styles: Plain, Auto-style (instant headers and subtitles), and Markdown - Kanban layout to organize cards into columns - Built for Mac and iPhone — your boards go where you do Whether you're breaking a screenplay, plotting a novel, or organizing research, Card Buddy keeps your ideas movable. Terms of use: https://www.ussherpress.com/cardbuddy/terms/ Privacy policy: https://www.ussherpress.com/cardbuddy/privacy/

About

FocusCard

This app displays your chosen task prominently on your screen and Lock Screen to help you concentrate. It integrates with your existing iOS Reminders and provides a simple way to mark tasks as complete or pause your session.

Highlights
  • Displays single task prominently
  • Integrates with iOS Reminders
  • Lock Screen Live Activity
  • Screen stays awake during focus
  • Mark complete with undo
  • Customizable reminder lists
Read full description

You sit down to do one thing — twenty minutes later you're three apps deep wondering why. FocusCard puts that one task, huge, on your screen and Lock Screen, until you mark it done. You'll still drift. The way back is one tap. Built for deep work, ADHD focus, and anyone who's ever taped a sticky note to their laptop. HOW IT WORKS • Pick one task from your iOS Reminders. • Tap it. The screen turns black, the title fills it. • The same task lives on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island while you work. • Tap "Mark Complete" when done. Tap anywhere else to pause. FEATURES • Reads from iOS Reminders. No extra task list to maintain. • Grouped by Reminders list, color-coded. • Lock Screen Live Activity with the active task title. • Screen stays awake during focus sessions, so you can prop your phone up. • Swipe left or long-press to mark done, with undo. • Settings lets you choose which Reminders lists show up. • Long-press any reminder to deep-link to it in the Reminders app. WHY THIS WORKS FocusCard isn't a Pomodoro timer or a habit tracker. It's a digital index card, propped where the thing you most want to ignore lives. The research: • Attention residue (Leroy, 2009): switching tasks leaves cognitive sludge. A single visible focus reduces it. • The Zeigarnik effect: unfinished tasks loop in your mind until you externalize them. • Cognitive offloading (Risko & Gilbert, 2016): writing a task down frees working memory. PRIVACY FocusCard does not collect any data. No accounts. No analytics. No third parties. The whole app runs on your device. BUILT BY ONE PERSON For a year I had a stack of 3×5 index cards on my desk. Every morning I'd write the one thing I most needed to do, in big letters, and prop it next to my laptop. The cards worked. They kept going missing. So I built FocusCard. Same idea, on the device I always have with me. — Dewang Mistry

Screenshots

Card Buddy4 screens
FocusCard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: FocusCard at 5.0 against Card Buddy's 4.3. FocusCard also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Card Buddy's advantage is ratings volume (44 vs 1) and device support (4 vs 1). On price, ads and monetization model 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. Card Buddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. FocusCard asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

FocusCard holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Card Buddy has 44 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Card Buddy versus FocusCard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCard BuddyFocusCard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (44 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings44 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAllen UssherDewang Mistry

Bugs and requests

Card Buddy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Trial mode does not allow saving
  • Images not displaying adequately
  • Double-tap zoom out feature interrupts text selection

Requested features

19 requests
  • Tagging individual cards
  • Apple Pencil support
  • More keyboard shortcuts
  • Support for multiple canvases within a single document
  • More customized options for text formatting, fonts, and colors
Show 14 more
  • Auto update to cloud option
  • Form of auto version number on save
  • Dropping small video clips
  • Templates
  • Fit to window view
  • Grab function for moving the board
  • Linking notes
  • Basic formatting (Bold, Italics, underline, highlight, color)
  • Share outline with others for editing
  • iPhone version
  • Duplicating boards
  • Duplicating cards
  • Disabling double-tap zoom out feature or making it customizable
  • Adding back previous document type options (Storyboard, Kanban, etc.)

FocusCard

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Card Buddy

One-time1
  • Non-expiring License$19.99
None

FocusCard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Card Buddy free?
Card Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is FocusCard free?
FocusCard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Card Buddy or FocusCard?
FocusCard is rated higher. Card Buddy averages 4.3 out of 5 from 44 ratings, while FocusCard averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Card Buddy or FocusCard have ads?
Neither Card Buddy nor FocusCard shows ads.

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