VisualRecord vs Obius
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
VisualRecord
This app offers a visual database for recording information about objects, including photos. It allows for powerful searching using SQL or a simpler fetch interface. Ideal for cataloging valuables for insurance or personal inventory.
- Visual record keeping
- Attach multiple photos per record
- Store textual descriptions
- SQLite database storage
- SQL query language support
- Intuitive 'fetch' interface for filtering
- Use iPad camera or Photo Library
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VisualRecord for iPad provides an easy to use, visual record keeping database. With its intuitive interface, VisualRecord allows you to record information about a particular object, including one or more pictures of the object itself. The information you supply about the object, including photos, is stored in the form of a record in a SQLite database table. This allows you to use the powerful SQL query language to search over the records you've created and filter the data to suit your needs. In addition, VisualRecord provides a "fetch" interface which requires no prior knowledge of SQL that also allows you to filter your data based on simple criteria. When you add a new record for a particular object to your database table, VisualRecord makes it easy to insert a picture of the object into the record itself using your iPad's Photo Library or Camera. The records in your database table can include textual fields of arbitrary length. This allows you to include descriptive text in the record associated with the object in question. VisualRecord is ideal for record keeping of your valuables for insurance purposes.
Obius
This app offers a visual workspace for organizing notes and ideas. It allows for reusable content blocks, color-coded sections for intent, and AI-powered features for content generation and semantic search. It prioritizes privacy with local-first storage and end-to-end encryption.
- Visual workspace for notes and ideas
- Reusable content blocks (Loops)
- Color-coded sections by intent
- AI-powered content generation and search
- Version history and snapshots
- Offline functionality and end-to-end encryption
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Obius — Notes that evolve. Designed for the way you think. Your ideas don't arrive in straight lines. Obius is a visual workspace where notes carry color, ideas connect to each other, and what you wrote yesterday folds into what you're building today. Built for founders, PMs, designers, researchers — and anyone who outgrew Apple Notes but never quite fit into Notion. LOOPS — WRITE ONCE, REUSE EVERYWHERE Drop a Loop into any note — a named, reusable content block like @launch_checklist or @weekly_review. Edit it in one place, every copy updates instantly. Perfect for running lists, shared context, and anything you reference more than once. SECTIONS THAT CARRY MEANING Every section has an intent — a color that tells you at a glance what kind of thinking lives there. Open ideas, questions you're sitting with, work in motion, issues to fix, things that are done. Five colors. Five intents. Your thinking, visible. — Drag and drop to reorder — Collapse, expand, and nest sections — Rich content: text, checklists, code, quotes, images, audio — Tap once to change a section's intent ECHOES — REMINDERS THAT BRING THE NOTE BACK Attach a time-based reminder to any Loop. Unlike calendar pings, an Echo resurfaces the full note when the moment matters — with all its context intact, not a one-line nag. OBIUS INTELLIGENCE AI that lives inside the workspace, not in another tab. — Generate full pages from a single prompt — Edit, rewrite, and refine content in place — no copy-pasting between apps — Smart titles that actually describe the page — Semantic search that finds ideas, not just keywords — Research context: pull what you need, paste, and think from there INSIGHTS THAT SURFACE WHAT MATTERS Obius watches your pages for patterns so you don't have to. Cleanup suggestions, related notes you forgot about, lists hiding in your text, and safety flags for leaked credentials or secrets. VERSION HISTORY, BUILT IN Every note quietly snapshots itself. Browse the timeline, restore any earlier version, watch your thinking evolve over time. No save button. No lost work. SHARE LIVE OR FROZEN Generate a short public link to share a live note that updates as you edit — or freeze a snapshot in time. Readable URLs. View counts. Comments optional. CALENDAR See your work across time. Plan ahead, look back, stay oriented — without leaving Obius. LOCAL-FIRST. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT. — Pages stored on your device first — Works fully offline; syncs when you reconnect — End-to-end encrypted sync — No tracking. No selling data. Not now, not ever. — Optional local-only mode for maximum privacy YOUR MIND. YOUR ARCHITECTURE. Obius isn't another notes app. It's a workspace shaped like thinking — simple enough to start in seconds, deep enough to grow with how you actually work. Designed for the way you think. Terms of Use (EULA): https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRq_bt_Z_V7ci7lS3hHLzq4QjRrDFJsJu6Ab-oedeeSakGPGcx_dJlG3EDAzdetptd21GPyEtzTxKbg/pub Privacy Policy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRbJ9cYTWnyQSYeL8JrTOizC0eC-f8rhoicqh3GttTDIrbNlesR-_auwkFz2OLsTTzguDG3YLtzwnEY/pub
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Obius at weekly against VisualRecord's every 10 months. VisualRecord's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. VisualRecord sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Obius sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for VisualRecord against 5.0 for Obius. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.
VisualRecord ships an update every 10 months, Obius weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | VisualRecord | Obius |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kal-El Software | Demetri Hodges |
Customer experience
VisualRecord
Obius
In-app purchases
VisualRecord
- Remove App Restrictions$2.99
Obius
- Obius Pro Founder$4.991 Month
- Obius Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
- Pro Annual$79.991 Year
- Power Pack$9.99









