Comparison

Notes vs Deep Work & Focus

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

Head to head
About

Notes

Capture ideas, create to-do lists, and sketch designs with a versatile digital notebook. Customize your notes with various paper templates, stickers, fonts, and colors. Effortlessly organize and share your work as PDFs.

Highlights
  • Customizable paper covers and templates
  • Multimedia tools: pencil, text, photos
  • Vector-based digital pencil for drawing
  • Hundreds of font and color options
  • Organize notes with custom titles and covers
  • Export notes as PDF
Features
Read full description

Take your notes to the next level! Download Notes: Note taking & writing for free and experience the new way of taking digital notes. This notetaking app is as flexible as you are. Jot down ideas, take notes, or sketch your next big idea. Whether you're a student, a professional, or just love doodling, you'll find all the tools you need. UPGRADE YOUR NOTE-TAKING β€’ Choose from various cute and inspiring paper covers. β€’ Work on your content with many available paper templates like Daily Plan, To-do-list, Vocabulary list, and more. β€’ Bring photos from the gallery to your notes with one click. Easily memorize and mark the photos you prefer. β€’ Various sticker selections to make your notes lively and memorable. YOUR NOTES YOUR STYLES WITH CUSTOMIZED TEXTS AND HAND-DRAW OPTION β€’ Use multi-media tools like pencil, and text to work on the content. β€’ Add your text anywhere in the notes and choose from hundreds of available fonts and colors of your choice. β€’ Experience the most lifelike, vector-based digital pencil to freely draw anything you like. Enjoy fine-tuned, responsive, and precise writing. STAY ORGANIZED, STAY PAPER-FREE β€’ Keep all your notes in one place, without the bulk or waste of paper. β€’ Freely add additional pages to your current work to make your note endless. β€’ Organize with hundreds of different notebook covers and specify the title of your choice. SHARE IDEAS EFFORTLESSLY AS PDF β€’ Easily share your notes in PDF format with any contacts and channels. Our note-writer app goes beyond just being a cutting-edge, fast, and reliable note-taking appβ€”it's designed for anyone who takes notes or writes. This smart notepad and writing workspace is perfect for both your iPad and iPhone. Contact us: teammarketing@lutech.ltd Terms of Services: https://lutech.vn/term Privacy Policy: http://lutech.vn/privacy

About

Deep Work & Focus

Features
Read full description

Observatory is a calm focus and deep-work app. Start a session on one task, stay with it, and see real patterns in how you focus. Free to start. When you drift or pause, that time isn't counted as focus. When you focus, it counts. And a quiet day is never treated as a failure. FOCUS Start a focus session on a single task and stay with it A glowing orb that keeps you company while you work, with no pressure and no gamification Drift detection: leave the app and a gentle reminder brings you back Pauses and drifts are tracked, and never counted as focus Six focus environments: Rainfall, Tide, Hearth, Nightfall, Drift and Forest Ambient focus sounds to help you settle in See your calendar alongside your day, and turn events into focus tasks PROGRESS Today's focus inside rings for your daily goal, active days and on-task rate Clear charts of your focus time, with more detail on shorter ranges A heatmap of when your sessions tend to start across the week Records and a Grind Score, drawn from your own sessions Your trajectory over time, so you can see how you're changing Focus time per project and per task, including estimate versus actual A COMPANION THAT LEARNS YOU Discovers your patterns: when you focus best, your strongest days, how your sessions run deepest Tells you what it notices in plain words, based on your own sessions Suggests small experiments, and gives an honest read on whether they worked A weekly review that brings your week together and shows what changed A Story of your focus to look back on When there isn't enough data to say something, it says so MAKE IT YOURS Focus themes, Home backdrops, orb colours and sounds Light and dark mode A daily focus goal and a weekly consistency goal Every number and sentence in Observatory comes from your own sessions. It won't flatter you, and it won't shame you. DETAILS https://observatoryfocus.com observatoryapp2026@gmail.com OBSERVATORY PREMIUM The core focus timer, stats for the week and month, recent trends and a few projects are free, always. Premium unlocks: Every pattern and the complete picture of how you focus Personalised suggestions and experiments Your full history and long-term trends The weekly review All focus themes, Home backdrops, sounds and orb colours Unlimited projects Premium is available as a monthly or annual subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://observatoryfocus.com/privacy Download Observatory and do the work that matters.

Screenshots

Notes4 screens
Deep Work & Focus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Deep Work & Focus at none against Notes's 4. Notes's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 4 days) and device support (3 vs 1). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Notes sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Deep Work & Focus asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notes ships an update every 2 days, Deep Work & Focus every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences Β· 4 level
Notes versus Deep Work & Focus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotesDeep Work & Focus
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews0.0% of reviewsβ€”
Update frequencyEvery 2 days β€” betterEvery 4 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo β€” better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesβ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS14.0 β€” better16.4
Further details β€” not scored
Size180 MB128 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLutech-DNRohan Agarwal

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Notes

Subscriptions4
  • monthly$0.991 Month
  • quarterly$2.493 Months
  • Premium Year$3.491 Year
Show 1 more
  • Loyalty member1 Year trial$3.991 Year
None

Deep Work & Focus

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Notes free?
Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Deep Work & Focus free?
Deep Work & Focus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Notes or Deep Work & Focus have ads?
Neither Notes nor Deep Work & Focus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notes or Deep Work & Focus?
Notes ships an update every 2 days, and Deep Work & Focus every 4 days. Most recently, Notes was updated on October 7, 2026 and Deep Work & Focus on October 8, 2026.

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