Comparison

Hyphen vs Etched

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

Head to head
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.

About

Etched

Features
Read full description

Stop losing your own notes. Etched finds what you wrote by meaning — not just by keyword. Ask for "the note about slowing down to think" and it surfaces, even if those exact words were never written. Everything runs on your device. Write in plain markdown and watch it render as you type — no symbols, no preview pane, no modes. What you see is the file. Your notes stay portable .md, yours forever. FREE, and complete: • On-device semantic search — find notes by meaning • Live WYSIWYG markdown — bold, headings, lists, quotes, code • Tables, callouts, code blocks, footnotes, highlights, links • iCloud sync across your devices • Export to .md (raw or with rendered images), PDF, plain text ETCHED PRO — one-time purchase, yours forever: • Flashcards + spaced repetition — turn notes into memory • Diagrams from plain text (flowcharts, sequences, mind maps) • Typeset math and chemistry (LaTeX) • Charts from a few rows of data • Sheet music from ABC notation • Handwriting / sketches • Present mode — turn a note into full-screen slides • Per-note themes Reading every format is always free — Pro unlocks creating them. No subscription, ever. Pay once and keep it. Coming from Apple Notes, Obsidian, or Bear? Your markdown imports as plain .md, and you finally get search that finds notes by meaning — privately, with no account. Private by design: your notes never leave your devices except through your own iCloud. No account, no tracking, no ads. Your notes, etched in memory. — Made by Hyojin Mo. Support: support@vibeland.app

Screenshots

Hyphen4 screens
Etched4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hyphen at none against Etched's 1. On price, update cadence, ads 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. Etched sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Hyphen asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Hyphen versus Etched: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHyphenEtched
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 daysEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB87 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCHRISTOPH J WHITELAMSoyeon Noh

In-app purchases

None

Hyphen

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Etched

One-time1
  • Etched Pro$14.99

Questions

Is Hyphen free?
Hyphen is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Etched free?
Etched is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Hyphen or Etched have ads?
Neither Hyphen nor Etched shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hyphen or Etched?
Hyphen ships an update every 2 days, and Etched every 2 days. Most recently, Hyphen was updated on October 8, 2026 and Etched on October 5, 2026.

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