Comparison

Fleeting Thoughts vs ro

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

ro

Transform your iPhone home screen into a calm, minimal, and aesthetically pleasing environment. This app offers expertly designed layouts and a toolkit of 9 widgets to support your focus and reduce distractions.

Highlights
  • Minimalist home screen design
  • Customizable app launchers
  • Text-only widgets
  • Minimal dashboards
  • Weather summaries
  • Quote widgets
  • Privacy-focused data handling
Features
Read full description

In Danish, "ro" means calm, peace, and tranquility. Your phone should be a tool that supports your focus. ro transforms your iPhone home screen into a calm, minimal, and beautifully aesthetic environment. EFFORTLESS HARMONY ro does the design work for you. Personalize your apps, tint colors, and custom text, while the foundational layouts remain expertly proportioned. This guarantees that your home screen will always look perfectly balanced and distraction-free. 9 CRAFTED WIDGETS Explore a focused toolkit of 9 widgets, including text-only app launchers, minimal dashboards, weather summaries, and subtle quotes. COMMUNITY DRIVEN ro is an evolving, independent project. Join our Discord community to share feedback, request new widgets, and help shape the app's future. PRIVACY FIRST What happens on your home screen stays on your device. ro collects no personal data, uses no analytics trackers, and reads your calendar strictly on-device.

Screenshots

Fleeting Thoughts4 screens
ro3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: ro at Free against Fleeting Thoughts's $9.99. ro also leads on iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). Fleeting Thoughts's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On 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

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

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Fleeting Thoughts holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 7 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fleeting Thoughts ships an update every 5 days, ro every 11 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Fleeting Thoughts versus ro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFleeting Thoughtsro
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better4.3 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings57 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 11 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.018.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDylan RussellFilip Smalec

Customer experience

Fleeting Thoughts

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

ro

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Fleeting Thoughts

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

ro

One-time1
  • Full Collection$2.99

Questions

Is Fleeting Thoughts free?
Fleeting Thoughts costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ro free?
ro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Fleeting Thoughts or ro?
Fleeting Thoughts is rated higher. Fleeting Thoughts averages 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while ro averages 4.3 from 7 ratings.
Do Fleeting Thoughts or ro have ads?
Neither Fleeting Thoughts nor ro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fleeting Thoughts or ro?
Fleeting Thoughts ships an update every 5 days, and ro every 11 days. Most recently, Fleeting Thoughts was updated on October 31, 2026 and ro on October 31, 2026.

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