# Stenographer vs The Design Ethos

The clearest difference is price: The Design Ethos at Free against Stenographer's $4.99. The Design Ethos also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.5). Stenographer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.

The Design Ethos is free to download; Stenographer costs $4.99 up front. The Design Ethos sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Stenographer asks for nothing beyond the download.

Stenographer ships an update every 5 days, The Design Ethos weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Stenographer | The Design Ethos |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $4.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | **[4.3 (3 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stenographer/id6596780585/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **3** | — |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | **Every 5 days** | Weekly |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Size | 575 MB | 79 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | **15.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Caleb Phillips](https://appshunter.io/developer/1622370829) | [The Design Ethos](https://appshunter.io/developer/1880137269) |

## What reviewers say

### Stenographer

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stenographer/id6596780585)

This app offers on-device audio recording and transcription, ensuring complete privacy as your data never leaves your device. It utilizes advanced AI for accurate speech processing, summarization, and multilingual support, with a one-time purchase for unlimited use.

**Highlights:** 100% on-device processing, No subscriptions, one-time purchase, Discreet background recording, AI-powered transcription and summarization, Intelligent search and tagging, Multilingual transcription and translation, Cross-device synchronization

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Apple Watch app, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


### The Design Ethos

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-design-ethos/id6759677911)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (10)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| book_researchdesign | $0.99 | one-time |
| Prototyping in detail | $1.99 | one-time |
| video_scrum | $1.99 | one-time |
| Designing for Accessibility | $1.99 | one-time |
| Participatory design | $1.99 | one-time |
| IoT & UX | $1.99 | one-time |
| video_segmentation | $1.99 | one-time |
| localisation | $1.99 | one-time |
| Researchmethodogies | $4.99 | one-time |
| conversationalux | $49.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Stenographer free?

Stenographer costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Is The Design Ethos free?

The Design Ethos is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Do Stenographer or The Design Ethos have ads?

The Design Ethos shows ads; Stenographer does not.

### Which is updated more often, Stenographer or The Design Ethos?

Stenographer ships an update every 5 days, and The Design Ethos weekly. Most recently, Stenographer was updated on October 8, 2026 and The Design Ethos on October 14, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*