Comparison

Fleeting Thoughts vs Ki

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

Head to head
About

Fleeting Thoughts

Capture thoughts privately with voice, text, scans, videos, and files in a unified timeline. Your data stays on your device or chosen cloud storage, with no accounts or tracking. Edit, tag, and export your notes easily.

Highlights
  • Unified timeline for voice, text, scans, video, and files
  • On-device transcription and Apple Intelligence cleanup
  • Private data storage (device, iCloud, or Files app)
  • Video trimming, reframing, and image cropping
  • Document scanning with text extraction
  • Tagging and filtering for organization
  • Markdown or JSON export options
Features
Read full description

Fleeting Thoughts is a private capture pipeline for the agentic era. Save ideas, notes, links, screenshots, scans, PDFs and voice thoughts the moment they appear, as plain files you control, ready for the notes apps, workflows and AI agents you choose. Use it when you want a fast private place to save something now and organize it later. Start with a quick voice note, paste text, share in a link, scan a page, import a file, or capture from Apple Watch. Everything lands in one clean timeline you control. - YOUR DATA, YOUR CHOICE Every thought is saved as a plain, readable file, on your iPhone or in a folder you choose. Use those files with your notes app, your own database, your local agents or the AI assistant you prefer, or keep them just for yourself. Nothing requires an agent or a subscription, and your data stays yours whatever you use next. - CAPTURE FAST Tap the mic to record, type a note, paste from the clipboard, scan a page, import a photo or file, or share content into Fleeting Thoughts from other apps. - BUILT FOR THE MOMENT The app is designed for quick capture first. Save the thought, hear the confirmation, and move on. You can clean it up later. - TAGS THAT STAY SIMPLE Use lightweight tags to keep ideas, links, health notes, project thoughts, and other captures separated without turning capture into a filing task. - MEDIA THAT STAYS USEFUL Keep original images, scans, screenshots, videos, audio, and PDFs attached to the thought that created them. Preview, copy, share, export, trim, crop, or remove extra attachments when needed. - PDF READER COMPANION Open saved PDFs in a focused reader, resume where you left off, bookmark a page, save a page as an image, clip selected text, and add page notes back into the original thought. - APPLE WATCH CAPTURE Capture from your wrist when your phone is not in your hand. Watch recordings keep going while you use other apps, then arrive in your iPhone timeline, transcribed. - SEARCH AND EXPORT Search your timeline, copy individual thoughts, export selected groups, and use iPhone Spotlight to find saved thoughts from outside the app. - LOCAL-FIRST BY DEFAULT No account required. No tracking. Your captures stay private and local unless you choose to share or export them. You can also choose a folder for readable saved files. - ONE PURCHASE, EVERY PLATFORM Universal Purchase includes iPhone, Apple Watch, and Mac. Each app is designed for its own device: iPhone for capture on the go, Apple Watch for wrist capture, and Mac for desktop dictation. Fleeting Thoughts is for people who think faster than they can organize: builders, writers, researchers, students, and anyone who needs to save useful things before they disappear.

About

Ki

Capture, organize, and connect all your learning in one place. This app allows you to save notes, links, code snippets, and ideas, then link them together to build a web of knowledge. Find anything fast with full-text search and visual knowledge graphs.

Highlights
  • Capture notes, links, quotes, code snippets, and ideas
  • Organize with color-coded tags and custom topics
  • Connect notes with bidirectional linking
  • Visualize knowledge with interactive graphs
  • Full-text search and saved searches
  • Quick capture via floating button and widgets
  • Review workflow for managing notes
Features
Read full description

Ki-note is your personal knowledge base. Capture, organize, and connect everything you learn — all in one place. CAPTURE EVERYTHING • Notes, links, quotes, code snippets, ideas, and references • Quick capture with a floating + button from anywhere in the app • Save source URLs and titles for web content. You can share links from Safari to Ki-note! • Tag code snippets with their programming language (Swift, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust) • You can insert notes, text, links, into Ki-notes using the Share functionality • You can insert notes using voice in the Control Center widget or using a shortcut with Siri ORGANIZE YOUR WAY • Tags — color-coded labels to categorize your notes • Topics — group related notes under a single theme with custom icons • Smart Collections — automatic filters like Inbox, Favorites, Reading Queue, Unreviewed, Quotes, Ideas, Links, Untagged, and Unlinked • Configurable Quick Access dashboard on the home screen • Pin, favorite, and archive notes • Review workflow — track notes from Inbox → Unreviewed → Reviewing → Reviewed CONNECT YOUR KNOWLEDGE • Link notes together to build a web of ideas • Bidirectional linking — see which notes link to and from each note • Interactive Knowledge Graph — visualize all your notes and their connections • Customizable graph settings for colors, forces, and display options FIND ANYTHING FAST • Full-text search across all notes • Save frequently used searches for quick access • Browse by tags and topics • Filter by note type, status, or collection BUILT FOR YOU • 100% free — no ads, no subscriptions, all features unlocked • Local-first — your data stays on your device with SwiftData • Localized in 6 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese • Light and dark mode with customizable themes • Optional one-time tip to support development Ki-note is designed for students, researchers, developers, writers, and anyone who wants to build a personal knowledge base that grows with them.

Screenshots

Fleeting Thoughts4 screens
Ki4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Ki at Free against Fleeting Thoughts's $9.99. Ki also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days) and iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). Fleeting Thoughts's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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

Ki is free to download; Fleeting Thoughts costs $9.99 up front. Ki sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Fleeting Thoughts asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Fleeting Thoughts against 5.0 for Ki. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 2 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fleeting Thoughts ships an update every 5 days, Ki every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Fleeting Thoughts versus Ki: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFleeting ThoughtsKi
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings5 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.018.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDylan RussellJuan Casanueva

Customer experience

Fleeting Thoughts

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Ki

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Fleeting Thoughts

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Ki

One-time1
  • Buy me a coffee$0.99

Questions

Is Fleeting Thoughts free?
Fleeting Thoughts costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ki free?
Ki is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Fleeting Thoughts or Ki?
Fleeting Thoughts and Ki are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do Fleeting Thoughts or Ki have ads?
Neither Fleeting Thoughts nor Ki shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fleeting Thoughts or Ki?
Fleeting Thoughts ships an update every 5 days, and Ki every 2 days. Most recently, Fleeting Thoughts was updated on October 16, 2026 and Ki on October 18, 2026.

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