Reflect vs Notedown
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Reflect
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Reflect: Creative Sparks is a prompt deck for breaking creative blocks โ 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 โ 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 โ 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.
Notedown
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Notedown is a featherweight markdown notes app for people who just want to write. No accounts, no sync, no clutter โ every note is saved as a plain .md text file on your device and never leaves it. WRITE IN MARKDOWN Use familiar markdown to structure your thoughts: headings, bold and italic, bulleted lists, checkboxes, quotes, code, and links. A one-tap formatting toolbar inserts the syntax for you, so you never have to remember it. EDIT OR PREVIEW Flip between a distraction-free editor and a clean rendered preview with a single tap. See exactly how your note looks, then jump back to writing. FULLY OFFLINE, FULLY YOURS Your notes are stored as standard markdown files in the app's own folder on your device. There is no cloud, no login, and nothing to set up. What you write stays with you. FIND ANYTHING FAST Search across all of your notes instantly. The list keeps your most recently edited notes at the top. SHARE WHEN YOU WANT Export any note as markdown text through the standard share sheet. SIMPLE BY DESIGN - Light and dark themes - English and Japanese - Portrait, one-handed friendly layout - Free to use (contains ads) Notedown is the calm, lightweight alternative to heavy note apps โ just markdown, and nothing in your way.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Notedown at every 4 days against Reflect's every 6 months. Reflect's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Reflect ships an update every 6 months, Notedown every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Reflect | Notedown |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 4 days โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch โ better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.2 | 17.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mark Friedlander | Yuki Okawa |
In-app purchases
Reflect
No in-app purchases
Notedown
No in-app purchases









