CognitiveAnchor vs Modrift
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
CognitiveAnchor
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Your intentions, anchored where you canβt miss them. CognitiveAnchor turns the thing youβre trying to remember into a living presence on your Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, and Home Screen β so βdonβt forgetβ becomes βcanβt forget.β No accounts, no cloud tracking, no clutter. Just a calm, glanceable anchor for what matters right now. WHY IT WORKS Out of sight is out of mind. An Anchor keeps your task visible with a color, an icon, a live countdown, and a subtle animation β the kind of persistent, ambient cue that actually changes behavior instead of buzzing once and disappearing. WHAT YOU CAN DO β’ Live Activities β watch an Anchor and its countdown live on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. β’ Home Screen & Control widgets β start your favorite Anchors in a single tap. β’ Walk-away failsafe β set an on-device geofence and get a time-sensitive alert if you leave before youβre done. Perfect for the oven, the laundry, a parking meter, or a child in the car. β’ Countdown timers with early warnings β a heads-up before time runs out, not just after. β’ One-tap parking β launch Pango, CelloPark, ParkMobile, or EasyPark with a live timer already running. β’ Ready-made templates β medication, EV charging, deep-focus sessions, baby feeds, watering plants, the oven, laundry, tea, hydration, naps, and more. β’ Make it yours β pick the icon, color, duration, and animation for every Anchor. β’ Accessibility built in β color-blind-friendly palettes and full support for six languages (English, Hebrew, Spanish, French, German, Korean). BUILT FOR People with a lot on their mind β parents, students, people with ADHD, shift workers, cooks, EV drivers, and anyone whoβs ever walked away from something they meant to finish. PRIVACY BY DESIGN Your location never leaves your device β geofencing is handled entirely on-device to power local reminders. No ad tracking. No analytics profiles. Anchors you choose to share travel through your own iCloud. PREMIUM (one-time unlock, no subscription) Upgrade once to run up to four Anchors at the same time, unlock every premium template, and create free-form custom-text Anchors. Includes Restore Purchases; your unlock is yours to keep. Anchor your attention. Finish what you start. Disclaimer of Liability: CognitiveAnchor provides reminders and location-based alerts for convenience and general productivity only. It is **not** a safety, security, medical, or child-monitoring device and must not be relied upon for those purposes. Notifications and geofence alerts depend on your deviceβs power, connectivity, permissions, and operating-system state, and may be delayed or may not be delivered. Always use appropriate professional judgment and dedicated safety equipment for medication, cooking, childcare, driving, and any situation where a missed reminder could cause harm. Location data is processed on-device for these reminders and is not collected by the developer.
Modrift
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Modrift is a lightweight client for quickly opening, reading, and lightly editing files stored in the cloud β right from your iPhone. Not a heavy notes app: just open, read, and tweak, as fast as possible. Key features - Open Markdown files (.md / .txt / .markdown) with clean formatted rendering - Launch straight from Files or any app via "Open in Modrift" - Keep your own working home (iCloud βΊ Modrift): list, create and organise files there - Switch between Home (by place) and Recent (by time) - Toggle between edit and preview with one tap - A formatting toolbar above the keyboard in edit mode β headings, lists, checkboxes, bold and more, one tap each - Automatic saving (no manual save button) - Full-text search, and sorting by date modified or name - Turn to landscape for longer lines β easier on long paragraphs and tables - Japanese / English interface Beyond Markdown - View images (PNG / JPEG / GIF / HEIC / WebP) with pinch to zoom β free - View PDFs with paging and zoom β Modrift Pro (one-time purchase) - View Word documents (.docx) formatted, with headings, lists and tables β Modrift Pro - View Excel workbooks (.xlsx) as tables, with sheet switching β Modrift Pro Markdown, text and images stay free. Only PDF, Word and Excel viewing is part of Modrift Pro β a single one-time purchase, no subscription. These formats are view-only; they cannot be edited. About your home and editing - Files in your home (iCloud βΊ Modrift) are editable in place, and edits sync to iCloud - Files outside your home (Dropbox / Google Drive, or iCloud Drive outside the Modrift folder) are view-only. To edit one, use "Copy to Home" and edit the copy (the original is not written back) - You can choose whether your home lives in iCloud or on this iPhone, in Settings Relationship to the Files app Modrift complements the Files app rather than replacing it. Leave general folder management to Files; Modrift focuses on formatted Markdown viewing, light editing, and tidying its own home folder. The name combines Mo (Mobile / Motion) + drift β the idea of thoughts and files flowing freely on mobile.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Modrift at none against CognitiveAnchor's 1. Modrift also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.6). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. CognitiveAnchor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Modrift asks for nothing beyond the download.
CognitiveAnchor ships an update every 3 weeks, Modrift every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | CognitiveAnchor | Modrift |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 4 days β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No β better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 16.4 β better |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 57 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gal Itach | Noriyuki Katahara |
In-app purchases
CognitiveAnchor
- Unlock Everywhere PROFree
Modrift
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is CognitiveAnchor free?
Is Modrift free?
Do CognitiveAnchor or Modrift have ads?
Which is updated more often, CognitiveAnchor or Modrift?
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