Comparison

OneThing vs Recto Notes

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

Head to head
About

OneThing

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1Thing helps you cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters each day. The concept is simple: choose ONE important goal, lock it in, and give it your full attention. When you're done, close it with context — how much impact it had, how difficult it was. If you gave up, close it honestly and move on. ONE GOAL. NOT A LIST. Most productivity apps overwhelm you with tasks. 1Thing does the opposite — it forces you to ask: "What's the ONE thing that, if I do it today, makes everything else easier?" FEATURES Ā· Set one meaningful goal per day Ā· Lock it in with a two-question validation Ā· Mark it as achieved or resigned with reflection Ā· Weekly history to track your progress Ā· Home screen widget (small and medium) Ā· Daily reminders to define and close your goal Ā· Motivational quotes to keep you focused Ā· Beautiful, distraction-free design YOUR DATA. YOUR DEVICE. Everything stays on your iPhone. No accounts, no cloud, no tracking. Just you and your one thing. 1Thing — because less is more.

About

Recto Notes

Features
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For years I kept separate apps: one for writing, one for reminders and to-do's. They never talked to each other. The idea lived in the notes app, the deadline in the to-do app, and I lived somewhere in between. So I built Recto. All on the same page. You just write a note and if you give a task a date with '@', that task automatically becomes part of your neatly organised Task Center. You work inside a note, focused on a single project. As ideas turn into things that need doing, you capture them right there and give them a date, without breaking your train of thought. The plan grows out of the writing instead of living apart from it. Recto - Inline tasks with dates, captured without leaving the note - Task Center: overdue, today, tomorrow, this week, next week - Native iOS, fast and quiet Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internetservices/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

OneThing4 screens
Recto Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Recto Notes at every 11 days against OneThing's every 6 weeks. Recto Notes also leads on device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OneThing ships an update every 6 weeks, Recto Notes every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on September 12, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
OneThing versus Recto Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOneThingRecto Notes
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS26.1 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB5 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperGrupo Pixeles Latinoamerica, S.A. de C.V.Thijs Kremers

In-app purchases

None

OneThing

No in-app purchases

None

Recto Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is OneThing free?
OneThing is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Recto Notes free?
Recto Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do OneThing or Recto Notes have ads?
Neither OneThing nor Recto Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OneThing or Recto Notes?
OneThing ships an update every 6 weeks, and Recto Notes every 11 days. Most recently, OneThing was updated on September 12, 2026 and Recto Notes on September 19, 2026.

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