Comparison

Captured! vs ZFiles

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

Head to head
About

Captured!

This app acts as a universal clipboard, saving links, photos, videos, audio, files, and texts shared from other applications. It offers on-device processing for previews, AI descriptions, OCR, and transcription, with smart organization and full-text search capabilities.

Highlights
  • Universal content capture from any app
  • Automatic previews and AI enrichment
  • On-device OCR and transcription
  • Smart organization with folders and views
  • Full-text search and Spotlight integration
  • iCloud sync for selected folders
  • JSON backup and restore
Features
Read full description

Tired of losing links, photos, videos, audio, files or texts shared from your apps? Captured is your universal clipboard. Tap Share from any app and choose Captured — everything is instantly saved, previewed and enriched, on-device by default. UNIVERSAL CAPTURE Accepts URLs, photos, videos, audio, files and text from any app. Automatic source detection (Safari, YouTube, Instagram, X, Photos...). AUTO-GENERATED PREVIEWS Every item gets a thumbnail: web pages via live browser, photos/videos from first frame, files via QuickLook, audio as waveform, text as typographic render. Thumbnail gallery with on-demand regeneration. AI DESCRIPTION, OCR & TRANSCRIPTION AI image/video description: Apple Vision (free, on-device), OpenAI GPT-4 Vision or Anthropic Claude. Built-in OCR on photos and videos. Audio speech-to-text transcription — all on-device by default, no cloud required. SMART ORGANIZATION Folders with batch move/delete and drag-and-drop reorder. Smart Views: All, Recent (7 days), Unread, With Location, With AI. Configurable sort: manual, newest, oldest, title, source. Filter by type: URL, file, photo, video, audio, text. FULL-TEXT SEARCH & SPOTLIGHT Instant search across titles, URLs, notes, AI descriptions and transcriptions. All items indexed in system Spotlight — searchable from the home screen. RICH METADATA Auto-fetch of web page title and last-modified date (bold title signals updated content). Reverse geocoding of GPS coordinates in photos. WIDGET WidgetKit widget in small, medium and large sizes showing unread items in real time. BACKUP & RESTORE Full JSON export/import (items, folders, settings, thumbnails) with Replace or Merge mode. PRIVACY All your data stays on your device. No account, no server, no ads. Network calls only when you explicitly enable web fetching or AI description via your own API key. iCloud sync, folder by folder Choose exactly which folders you want to find on your other devices. A long press on a folder offers "Sync with iCloud": its photos, videos, files and links — including previews — automatically appear on your iPhone, iPad and Mac linked to the same Apple account. Folders that are not synced remain strictly local. A "Resync iCloud" option lets you reconcile state across devices in one gesture. Link previews: lock, zoom, crop You can now lock a link's preview so it never changes, or enlarge the preview by a factor of 2 to better see thumbnails from your favorite sites. A new setting automatically crops the white or black bands surrounding some previews. Organization: everything by drag-and-drop Reorganize your folders by dragging them in the sidebar. Move an item from one folder to another simply by dragging it onto the destination folder. No more drop-down menus. Paste a link from the clipboard A new menu entry lets you directly add the currently copied link, without going through another app's "Share" menu. Manage your space better The info panel now shows the space used in iCloud when sync is active. A long press on each line gives access to quick actions. The "Delete local data only" option frees up space while keeping your synced folders intact.

About

ZFiles

Read full description

ZFiles is an iOS file browser for personal file management. Browse the iOS Files app, SMB shares on your local network, SFTP servers, WebDAV servers, and hidden files and folders. After downloading, all included features are available with no subscriptions or in-app purchases. Save frequently used servers, jump back into folders with bookmarks, preview images, videos, Markdown, JSON, and common documents, and manage transfers from one place. ZFiles has no ads and does not track users. Server settings and bookmarks stay on your device, and passwords are stored in the system keychain.

Screenshots

Captured!3 screens
ZFiles4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Captured! at 17.6 against ZFiles's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Captured! ships an update fortnightly, ZFiles every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Captured! versus ZFiles: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCaptured!ZFiles
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB13 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperAlexandre Fenyo之铭 刘

In-app purchases

None

Captured!

No in-app purchases

None

ZFiles

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Captured! free?
Captured! is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ZFiles free?
ZFiles is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Captured! or ZFiles have ads?
Neither Captured! nor ZFiles shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Captured! or ZFiles?
Captured! ships an update fortnightly, and ZFiles every 3 weeks. Most recently, Captured! was updated on September 22, 2026 and ZFiles on September 14, 2026.

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