Comparison

Cork Board Notes vs KiCad Viewer

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

Head to head
About

Cork Board Notes

Features
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BoardOn is a visual corkboard for organizing notes, photos, links, checklists, and reminders in one place. Create personal spaces for ideas, plans, and everyday projects. Add pins, move them freely, connect related items with strings, and keep everything visible at a glance. What you can do with BoardOn: - Add notes, photos, links, locations, checklists, and reminders - Drag and drop pins anywhere - Connect ideas visually with strings - Open your favorite space faster from the Home Screen widget - Keep everything private on your device Great for brainstorming, planning, study prep, travel ideas, and personal organization. Fast, visual, and easy to use. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

KiCad Viewer

View KiCad schematics, PCB layouts, 3D models, and BOM lists directly on your mobile device. Facilitates hands-free soldering and code review by allowing interactive navigation and comparison of design changes.

Highlights
  • Interactive schematic viewer
  • Cross-probing between schematic and layout
  • PCB layout exploration with layer toggling
  • 3D board view with AR support
  • Grouped and searchable BOM list
  • Pull/merge request review for design changes
  • Direct GitHub/GitLab/Gitea integration
Features
Read full description

KiCad Viewer is a tool built for engineers hand-soldering their PCBs designed in KiCad. It lets you view the schematic, layout, 3D board and BOM list on your iPad or iPhone — keep your design on the bench right next to your iron, no laptop required. And when a pull request comes in, you can review what changed from the same place. Open native KiCad files directly. No exporting, no converting — point it at your project, in Files, iCloud Drive or a network share, and it reads your .kicad_sch and .kicad_pcb files as-is. Features: - Interactive schematic — pinch to zoom and pan around the full drawing. Tap any component or net and it stays highlighted, so you never lose your place mid-solder. - Cross-probing — select a part on the schematic and watch it light up on the board (and vice versa). Instantly find where R47 actually lives on your layout. - PCB layout viewer — explore the board with smooth zoom and pan. Toggle copper, silkscreen, and other layers on and off, dim the ones you're not working on, or switch to KiCad's own colors. - 3D view — turn the board to any angle, in perspective or isometric, tap a part to find it on the schematic, or put it on your desk at real size in AR. - BOM list — every part grouped by value and footprint, with quantities and reference designators, plus search to find that one cap fast. - Pull and merge request review — open a pull request from GitHub or Gitea, or a merge request from GitLab, and see every change on the schematic, board and BOM: parts added, removed or moved, traces rerouted, values edited. Flip between before, after and overlay, and step through the changes one by one. Paste a link to review a pull request without cloning the repo. A sample pull request is included, so you can try it right away. - Log in and clone directly from GitHub, GitLab or Gitea — sign in once and pull your repositories straight onto your device, private repos included. Self-hosted GitLab, Gitea and Forgejo (Codeberg) work too. Pull new commits and switch branches from the app. - Nested and hierarchical projects — opens multi-sheet schematics and projects buried in subfolders. - Works offline — once a project is on your device, everything loads with no connection. Perfect for the workbench, the lab, or anywhere. - Dark and Light modes — whichever you prefer. - Legacy to modern — supports KiCad 5 through 10, so decade-old .sch schematics open right next to brand-new projects. Designed from the ground up for touch, KiCad Viewer keeps your schematic, board, and parts list one tap away while your hands are busy. Requires a one-time purchase or subscription. Free trial available. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://www.kicadviewer.com/privacy KiCad Viewer is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the KiCad project or its contributors. The app renders KiCad files with its own independent implementation, so some schematics or boards may not appear exactly as they would in KiCad. Please reach out to us if your design is not rendering correctly!

Screenshots

Cork Board Notes4 screens
KiCad Viewer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: KiCad Viewer at every 2 days against Cork Board Notes's every 2 months. KiCad Viewer also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). 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. Cork Board Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and KiCad Viewer sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cork Board Notes ships an update every 2 months, KiCad Viewer every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Cork Board Notes versus KiCad Viewer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCork Board NotesKiCad Viewer
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB48 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMANUEL MATAS GALEOTEMark Szente

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Cork Board Notes

Subscriptions2
  • BoardOn Premium Monthly$9.991 Month
  • BoardOn Premium Annual7 Days trial$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • BoardOn Premium Lifetime$44.99
2 purchases

KiCad Viewer

Subscriptions1
  • KiCad Viewer7 Days trial$0.991 Month
One-time1
  • KiCad Viewer$14.99

Questions

Is Cork Board Notes free?
Cork Board Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is KiCad Viewer free?
KiCad Viewer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Cork Board Notes or KiCad Viewer have ads?
Neither Cork Board Notes nor KiCad Viewer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cork Board Notes or KiCad Viewer?
Cork Board Notes ships an update every 2 months, and KiCad Viewer every 2 days. Most recently, Cork Board Notes was updated on October 26, 2026 and KiCad Viewer on October 25, 2026.

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