RelatedWorks vs LinkLab

RelatedWorks is a native macOS and iOS/iPadOS app built for Computer Science researchers. It helps you manage the papers you read, annotate them with cross-referenced notes, and automatically draft the Related Works section of your next paper. Features * Project-based workspaces — one project per paper you're writing * Import PDFs with AI-powered metadata extraction (macOS only) * PDF Inbox via Share Extension — send PDFs from Safari or Files into a synced Inbox, then bulk import captured papers on macOS * Search DBLP and arXiv to fetch bibliographic data automatically (macOS only) * Semantic IDs — give each paper a short memorable tag like @Transformer or @BERT * Cross-reference annotations — link papers using @mentions in your notes * Citation Graph — compare @mentions, in-project references, and shared outside references for each project (macOS only) * Generate a streaming LaTeX-ready Related Works draft with one click (macOS only) * Per-project generation prompts with presets for Survey, Research Paper, Tech Report, or Custom (macOS only) * Export BibTeX entries fetched from DBLP or auto-generated (macOS only) * iCloud Drive sync — keep your library in sync across Mac and iPhone/iPad * Export, import, and open projects from Finder as .relatedworks files (macOS); import projects on iPhone and iPad * Supports Ollama and Google Gemini (macOS only) * iPhone and iPad companion app — browse papers, review notes, and make lightweight edits on the go * Automation and linking support — relatedworks:// deep links, read-only AppleScript, and Hookmark integration On iPhone and iPad, RelatedWorks is designed primarily as a companion viewer and lightweight editor for your research library. The iOS/iPadOS app does not require or rely on any AI backend; instead, it syncs your library seamlessly from the macOS version via iCloud. You can comfortably browse papers, review notes, and refine annotations on the go, making it easy to continue working on your literature and prepare for writing wherever you are. Any annotations you edit on iPhone or iPad automatically sync back to your Mac, providing a smooth “go-and-work” experience for paper reading and writing.

Links end up everywhere. A page you meant to read, sitting in a browser tab. A booking confirmation buried in an email. A recipe someone sent you in a group chat. A form your bank told you to fill in later. They are scattered across a dozen apps, and by the time you want one back, you can't remember which app it was in. LinkLab is one place for all of them. Share a link into LinkLab from whatever app you're in, give it a name you'll actually recognise, and it's there when you need it — on your device, offline, in a list you can search. SAVE A LINK FROM ANY APP, IN TWO TAPS Hit Share in Safari, Mail, Messages, or anywhere else a link turns up, pick LinkLab, and the save sheet opens right there. Add a label, drop it in a category, done — no app switching, no copying and pasting a URL into a note you'll lose. FIND IT AGAIN IN SECONDS Everything you save lands in one list, newest first, searchable by name or by URL. Group links into categories you name yourself — Recipes, Work, To Read, Bills, whatever fits — and filter the list down to one of them with a tap. Save the same link twice and LinkLab updates the entry you already have instead of piling up duplicates. A QR CODE FOR ANY LINK Generate a QR code for any saved link with one tap. Share it, or save it to Photos. It's the quickest way to get a link onto someone else's phone — the check-in page, the shared album, the menu — without spelling out a URL or making them type anything. OPEN ANYTHING, NOT JUST WEB PAGES Tap a saved link and LinkLab hands it to whatever app on your device can open it — a web page to your browser, an address to Maps, an email to Mail. It handles custom app links too, the myapp:// kind that Safari won't touch, which makes it a genuinely useful scratchpad if you build or test apps for a living. If nothing on the device can open a link, LinkLab says so plainly instead of doing nothing. RUNS ENTIRELY ON YOUR DEVICE LinkLab has no network code at all. No server, no account, no sign-up, no analytics, no third-party SDK — nothing your links could be sent to, because there is nowhere to send them. QR codes are generated on your device. Photos access is add-only and requested only at the moment you choose to save an image. For anyone whose links are scattered across too many apps, and for the developers and testers who have been using it as a deep link scratchpad since day one.