Comparison

Leaf Bookmarks vs Instink Handwritten Notes

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

Head to head
About

Leaf Bookmarks

Organize and revisit saved links with rich details and AI-powered features. Transform your saved content into a usable library for research, inspiration, or personal knowledge.

Highlights
  • Save links from app or share sheet
  • Organize with folders and tags
  • Add summaries, thumbnails, and descriptions
  • Quickly reopen saved links
  • AI-powered summaries and suggestions
  • Create a personal knowledge library
Features
Read full description

Leaf Bookmarks is your personal space for links worth keeping. Every day you come across articles, videos, products, recipes and ideas you want to come back to. Saving them is easy. Finding them again, and remembering why they mattered, is the hard part. Leaf turns your saved links into a library that is easy to browse, search and actually use. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account and no sign-up. Open the app and start saving. • Your library is stored on your device and synced through your own private iCloud. • AI runs on your device. Your links are never sent to an AI service. SAVE AND ORGANIZE • Save links from the app or from the share sheet in any app. • Organize with folders, nested folders and tags. • Add notes and custom thumbnails. • Choose how your cards look. FIND IT AGAIN • Search by meaning, not only by the exact words. • Read Later queue for what you want to get to next. • Rediscover brings back links you saved and forgot. • Find your links from Spotlight. ON-DEVICE AI • Summaries of what you save. • Suggested tags and folders, chosen from the ones you already use. Summaries require a device with Apple Intelligence. On other devices Leaf still suggests tags and folders. BRING YOUR LINKS, TAKE THEM WITH YOU • Import bookmarks from Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Arc (HTML), or from a CSV file. • Export your whole library any time, as a bookmarks file or as JSON. • Save links with Shortcuts and Siri. ONE PRICE, NO SUBSCRIPTION Try everything free for 7 days. After that, a one-time purchase unlocks Leaf forever. There is no subscription and nothing renews automatically. If you decide not to buy, you can still export all your links. Leaf works on iPhone and iPad, and on Mac with Apple silicon. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: https://leafbookmarks.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://leafbookmarks.com/privacy

About

Instink Handwritten Notes

Features
Read full description

An idea shows up. By the time you've unlocked your phone, found your notes app and opened a new page, it's gone. Instink is a blank sheet on your Home Screen. Tap it and you're already writing — by hand, in your own handwriting. Tap Done and you're back where you were. One second. WHY PEOPLE KEEP IT • Ready in under half a second. No account, no sign-up, nothing to choose before you write. • Your handwriting, not a font. Finger or Apple Pencil, with ink that follows your hand. • Saved from the very first stroke. Put the phone away mid-sentence: the note is already safe. • Hands busy? Type, snap a photo or record your voice from the same sheet. • Phone locked? Ask Siri to add a note to Instink and dictate it. No unlocking. EVERY WAY IN Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, Control Center, the Action button, Back Tap and Shortcuts. Use the one closest to your thumb. THEN, WHEN YOU HAVE A MINUTE • Sort new notes like cards: swipe right to send, left to keep, down to delete. Ten seconds. • Send any note to Notion, Notes, Google Keep, Obsidian, Mail or Messages — as text, with your handwriting attached. • Search your handwriting. Instink reads it on your device. • Wrote "dentist tomorrow at 10"? Instink offers to put it in your calendar. • Once a day an old note resurfaces — "a week ago today" — so good ideas don't get buried. • At night the sheet turns dark, so it won't blind you in bed. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No ads. No tracking. Your notes stay on your device and never pass through a server of ours. Handwriting and voice are recognized on your iPhone. WHAT INSTINK IS NOT It's not a notebook with folders and pages. It's the pen for the notes system you already use. Questions or ideas: hello@instink.app — a real person reads every message.

Screenshots

Leaf Bookmarks4 screens
Instink Handwritten Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Instink Handwritten Notes at none against Leaf Bookmarks's 2. Instink Handwritten Notes also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support 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. Leaf Bookmarks sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Instink Handwritten Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Leaf Bookmarks versus Instink Handwritten Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLeaf BookmarksInstink Handwritten Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB4 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperTomas Frechoupaolo aru

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Leaf Bookmarks

One-time2
  • 7-day TrialFree
  • Leaf Lifetime$4.99
None

Instink Handwritten Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Leaf Bookmarks free?
Leaf Bookmarks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Instink Handwritten Notes free?
Instink Handwritten Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Leaf Bookmarks or Instink Handwritten Notes have ads?
Neither Leaf Bookmarks nor Instink Handwritten Notes shows ads.

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