Comparison

ArcaNotes vs Contacts Magic

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

Head to head
About

ArcaNotes

This app is designed for rapid note-taking with a focus on single ideas per note. It uses an AI-enhanced approach to help organize and retrieve information naturally through a feed-like interface. The app also encourages sharing knowledge by making it easy to follow and contribute to shared feeds.

Highlights
  • Rapid micro-note creation
  • AI-suggested topics
  • Natural feed-based review
  • Question-based note retrieval
  • Effortless knowledge sharing
  • Topic-based note organization
Features
Read full description

ArcaNotes is a different kind of note-taking app. It's designed for speed of entry ("micro-notes"), makes reviewing feel natural, streamlines sharing, and uses AI to help you organize and retrieve. ArcaNotes has a small mission and a big mission. The small mission is to make a great note-taking app that is fast, flexible, and aligned with how many of us work today. The bigger mission is for ArcaNotes to become your second brain, the place where you store all of your information. By making it effortless to retrieve, share, and review, your knowledge will be unlocked for you and others. How is ArcaNotes different? 1. It’s designed for rapid note-taking * Rather than taking long notes that cover several disparate topics, try using ArcaNotes to take “micro-notes” - short notes, each about one idea. * As soon as you have something you want to jot down, just enter it, and worry about organizing it (ie, assigning a topic) later. * The intention is for there to be nothing between your thought and the act of storing it - no friction. Capturing information is as simple as texting yourself. 2. Retrieval and review feel natural * Notes are displayed like a feed, similar to messaging apps. For many people, scrolling a feed is a more natural way to review and retrieve than clicking through nested folders. * Notes can be assigned one or more topics, and notes under that topic can be viewed, much like a channel. 3. It encourages you to share your knowledge * So much knowledge is trapped in our heads and apps. Often, we don’t share it because of the extra work required. * ArcaNotes aims to change that by making sharing and following feeds of other users’ notes easy. The intent is for a portion of your notes (the ones you want to share) to be opened up so others can quickly scan and review them. It’s a bit like how people routinely scan various message channels to catch up on other teams’ activities. 4. It leverages AI technology to help you be more productive * ArcaNotes suggests topics that best fit the content of your note, as you type. The goal is to help you work faster by doing some of the thinking about organizing for you. * Rather than searching by keyword, you can ask your notes a question. ArcaNotes will generate an answer based on the knowledge contained in your notes.

About

Contacts Magic

This app helps you remember important details about your relationships. It allows you to log conversations and events, set follow-up reminders, and quickly retrieve information about people you know. Stay thoughtful and connected with ease.

Highlights
  • Log conversations and events naturally
  • Set context-aware follow-up reminders
  • Ask questions about contact details
  • Journal entries tied to people
  • Organize contacts with groups and tags
  • Full-text search across all data
  • Siri and Shortcuts integration
Features
Read full description

Contacts Magic is a personal relationship manager that remembers what matters — what you talked about, what they care about, when to follow up. Talk to it in your own words: tell it what happened, ask it what you've forgotten. It understands who you're talking about and handles the rest. YOUR RELATIONSHIPS DESERVE BETTER THAN YOUR MEMORY Your friend mentioned her mom's surgery — you meant to check in. Your college roommate's kid started school — when was that again? The details that make you a thoughtful person fade in 48 hours. Contacts Magic keeps them forever. HOW IT WORKS • After a coffee, a phone call, a party — describe what happened in your own words. No forms, no fields. Magic Chat understands what you said and organizes it into the right contacts, journal entries, and follow-up reminders. Say "last Thursday" or "in a couple weeks" — it handles dates naturally too. • Need to remember something? Ask. "Where does Sarah work?" "What does my dad like?" "What should I get him for Christmas?" Magic Chat searches everything you've captured and answers in a conversation. • Before your next call or meetup, you know exactly what's happening in someone's life and what you promised. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BE THOUGHTFUL • Relationship context beyond phone numbers and email addresses — how you met, what they care about, your shared history • Follow-up reminders with full context so you know why you're reaching out • A journal tied to people, capturing conversations and moments over time • Groups and tags to organize your circles — family, book club, neighbors, coworkers • Full-text search across contacts, journals, and follow-ups WORKS THE WAY YOU ALREADY USE YOUR PHONE • Siri and Shortcuts for hands-free capture while walking, driving, or between meetings • Home screen widgets for upcoming follow-ups at a glance • Syncs across iPhone and iPad through your iCloud account YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS Everything syncs through your personal iCloud account. When you use Magic Chat, what you say and the relationship details needed to answer your question are sent to our AI provider for that single request. We don't keep your data, our AI provider doesn't either, and none of it is used to train AI models. Remember the people who matter. Download Contacts Magic and stop relying on your memory to be a good friend. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ArcaNotes4 screens
Contacts Magic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ArcaNotes at none against Contacts Magic's 8. ArcaNotes also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.2). 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. Contacts Magic sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. ArcaNotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for ArcaNotes against 5.0 for Contacts Magic. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 6 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
ArcaNotes versus Contacts Magic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArcaNotesContacts Magic
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings36 — better
Update frequency—Every 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB28 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperArcaNotes, LLCDisparate Elements LLC

Customer experience

ArcaNotes

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Contacts Magic

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

ArcaNotes

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Contacts Magic

Subscriptions2
  • Contacts Magic Plus$4.991 Month
  • Contacts Magic Plus$9.991 Month
One-time6
  • 30 Magic Credits$0.99
  • 60 Magic Credits$1.49
  • 60 Magic Credits$1.99
Show 3 more
  • 120 Magic Credits$2.99
  • 180 Magic Credits$3.99
  • 180 Magic Credits$5.99

Questions

Is ArcaNotes free?
ArcaNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Contacts Magic free?
Contacts Magic is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ArcaNotes or Contacts Magic?
ArcaNotes and Contacts Magic are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 6 ratings respectively.
Do ArcaNotes or Contacts Magic have ads?
Neither ArcaNotes nor Contacts Magic shows ads.

Other comparisons