Comparison

ThinkAloud Notes vs I Saved This. Why?

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

Head to head
About

ThinkAloud Notes

Record your thoughts and let on-device AI transform them into structured notes with titles, tags, and links. Your data stays private on your phone, with no accounts or subscriptions required. Access and manage your notes as standard Markdown files.

Highlights
  • Voice, photo, and text input
  • On-device AI note generation
  • Automatic tagging and linking
  • Ask questions about your notes
  • Knowledge graph creation
  • Markdown file export
  • Optional cloud sync
Features
Read full description

You think out loud. ThinkAloud writes it down. Hit record and just talk: a passing idea, a meeting, a whole lecture. When you stop, you can play the recording back and decide whether it's worth keeping before anything happens to it. Only then does the on-device AI turn it into a real note, with a title, some structure, tags, and links to the related notes you already have. Here's the part that matters. All of this happens on your phone. ThinkAloud runs Google's Gemma model locally, so your voice and your notes never get uploaded anywhere. There's no account to create, no server in the middle, and nothing to pay every month. You download the model once, and after that it works offline. Your notes are just Markdown files in an ordinary folder, the same format Obsidian uses. Point ThinkAloud at a vault you already have, or let it keep one for you. Either way you can open, edit, or back them up with any app you like. Nothing is trapped inside. What it's good at: - Voice, photos, or quick text go in; clean, tagged notes come out - Ask your notes a question in plain language and get an answer with its sources listed, so you can tap straight through to where each fact came from - A knowledge graph that builds itself as your notes start linking up - Full-text search, tags, folders, and checklists - Optional sync to your own Google Drive or iCloud. Your account, a private folder, no servers of mine in between. No ads, no analytics, no tracking, no accounts. I made ThinkAloud because I wanted a notebook that was actually mine. That's the whole idea. The on-device model needs around 3 GB of free space and a fairly recent device.

About

I Saved This. Why?

Read full description

You saved the screenshot for a reason. I Saved This. Why? helps you figure out what that reason was — and what to do next. Choose a screenshot and the app analyzes the text on your device to identify what you may have wanted to remember. Depending on the screenshot, you can: • Add an event to Calendar • Create a reminder • Open a place in Apple Maps • Save useful information for later The app is designed to be simple, fast, and private. Your screenshots are selected by you and processed on your device using Apple technologies such as Vision and on-device Foundation Models when available. No account is required. No ads. No user database. No screenshot uploads to our servers. Apple Intelligence availability depends on your device, language, region, system settings, and model availability. Stop wondering why you saved that screenshot. Turn it into something useful.

Screenshots

ThinkAloud Notes4 screens
I Saved This. Why?3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: ThinkAloud Notes at 16.0 against I Saved This. Why?'s 26.6. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
ThinkAloud Notes versus I Saved This. Why?: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThinkAloud NotesI Saved This. Why?
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.6
Further details — not scored
Size116 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGhanashyam Vinod TattiHiroyuki Shibata

In-app purchases

None

ThinkAloud Notes

No in-app purchases

None

I Saved This. Why?

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ThinkAloud Notes free?
ThinkAloud Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is I Saved This. Why? free?
I Saved This. Why? is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do ThinkAloud Notes or I Saved This. Why? have ads?
Neither ThinkAloud Notes nor I Saved This. Why? shows ads.

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