Comparison

Reflect vs Hyphen

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

Head to head
About

Reflect

Features
Read full description

Reflect: Creative Sparks is a prompt deck for breaking creative blocks — inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies. Oblique Strategies began in 1975 as a physical deck of cards created by musician Brian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt. Each card offered a lateral instruction designed to interrupt habitual thinking and open new paths forward. Reflect is an independent digital work made in celebration of that idea. Each prompt is short, unexpected, and oblique by design. It won't tell you what to do. It will shift the angle of your attention so you can find your own way forward. Tap for a new card. Long-press to let them cycle on their own. On Apple TV, Reflect runs as ambient text — slow TV, but words. Leave it on in the background while you work. A prompt drifts past every few minutes. Some will land. Some won't. That's the point. On Apple Watch, a tap and a haptic click deliver a card to your wrist whenever you need a nudge. On devices with Apple Intelligence, Reflect generates fresh prompts on-device using Apple's Foundation Models — silently, privately, with no network connection required. No accounts. No subscriptions. No analytics. Nothing leaves your device. The prompt is the entire product. Reflect is not affiliated with or endorsed by Brian Eno or Peter Schmidt. It is an independent work made with deep respect for what they created.

About

Hyphen

This minimalist app allows for quick capture of daily thoughts, tasks, and moments. It organizes entries by day and provides a visual timeline of your year, highlighting days with more activity. Notes are automatically timestamped and can be entered via typing or voice.

Highlights
  • Quick entry via typing or voice
  • Automatic timestamping
  • Visual year-in-a-glance timeline
  • Smart grouping of related notes
  • Secure cross-device syncing
  • Private and inaccessible by developer
Features
Read full description

Hyphen is a quiet place for the details you would otherwise lose. Write a sentence, list, quotation, decision, observation, or full page. Every note belongs to its day, so you can move naturally through time and return by date, month, year, Chronicle, or search. WRITE WITHOUT FRICTION Capture a quick thought in place. Expand into the full editor when the thought becomes something larger. MARKDOWN MADE FOR IPHONE Use headings, emphasis, lists, checklists, quotations, links, and code without hunting through the iOS keyboard for punctuation. SEE YOUR DAYS TAKE SHAPE Move naturally between Day, Month, and Year, and view time as a quiet record of activity. Hyphen shows continuity without turning your writing into a streak game. FIND WHAT YOU WROTE Search your writing, browse Chronicle, and move directly back to the day where a thought belongs.

Screenshots

Reflect1 screens
Hyphen4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Hyphen at every 2 days against Reflect's every 6 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Reflect ships an update every 6 months, Hyphen every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Reflect versus Hyphen: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReflectHyphen
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—7 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.218.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMark FriedlanderCHRISTOPH J WHITELAM

In-app purchases

None

Reflect

No in-app purchases

None

Hyphen

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Reflect free?
Reflect is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hyphen free?
Hyphen is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Reflect or Hyphen have ads?
Neither Reflect nor Hyphen shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Reflect or Hyphen?
Reflect ships an update every 6 months, and Hyphen every 2 days. Most recently, Reflect was updated on October 7, 2026 and Hyphen on October 8, 2026.

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