FlatNote vs Sift

FlatNote is a markdown notes app for people who want their writing to stay plain, portable, and theirs. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and your notes sync across all of them through your own iCloud, or stay in a folder you choose. Type markdown and watch it format as you go. Headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, links, quotes, bullet lists, and tappable checkboxes all render while you write. The raw symbols stay out of your way and reappear only on the line you are editing, so you always know exactly what you typed. WHAT YOU GET - Live formatting. See the result as you type, with a one minute reference note included. - Photos in your notes. Paste an image or attach one; it is saved next to the note as an ordinary file, not in a database. - Folders, pins, and sorting. Organize notes into real directories and keep the ones you use on top. - Real checkboxes. Tap to check things off, right in the note. - Find in a note. Search the open note and jump between highlighted matches. - Quick formatting. A formatting bar above the keyboard on iPhone and iPad, and standard shortcuts on Mac. - Find your notes fast. Search the whole library by title or content. YOUR WORDS BELONG TO YOU - Every note is a plain .md file. No proprietary format, no lock-in, readable in any app, on any device, years from now. - Your notes live in your iCloud and sync across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac automatically, signed in with your Apple ID. No separate account to make. - Export carries everything. Share any note as markdown, with its pictures included, or export your whole library as one zip of ordinary files. The files are also right there in the Files app on iOS and Finder on Mac. - Delete is honest. Deleted notes go to Trash, where they can be recovered. QUIET BY DESIGN - No ads. No tracking. No analytics. Nothing about you leaves your devices and your iCloud. - Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, in light and dark. FlatNote keeps the format simple so you can keep your thinking clear.

Sift is a notes app built around one question: can you find what you wrote? Most note apps can't. Their search matches text exactly, so it misses "lightbulb" when you typed "light bulb", misses "running" when you searched "run", and gives you nothing at all when your thumbs put an extra letter in a word. Sift is built the other way round. FIND WHAT YOU HALF REMEMBER • Typo tolerance — "meting notes" finds "Meeting notes" • Word endings — "run" finds "running", "city" finds "Cities" • Compound words, both directions — "light bulb" finds "lightbulb", and the other way round too • Accents ignored — "resume" finds "résumé" • Results as you type, with the matching words marked so you can see why something matched • Filters when you want them: tag:work/clients, is:todo, "exact phrase", -exclude, updated:>2026-01-01 NOTHING IS EVER LOST Every save is a revision. Open the history of any note, read any earlier version, and bring it back with one tap. Restoring is itself just another revision, so it can't destroy anything either. Notes are written one file at a time, and the history is written before the file is replaced — so even an interrupted write leaves your words recoverable. Deleted notes wait 30 days in the trash. NOTES THAT KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER Type [[ to link one note to another. The link works both ways: the note you point at shows everything that points back. A connections view draws the shape of what you've been thinking about, and notes you've mentioned but not written yet become an invitation to write them. WRITING THAT FEELS RIGHT • Live Markdown — headings, bold, highlight, quotes, code, checklists • Lists continue themselves; Return on an empty item ends the list • Tap any line to put the cursor exactly there • Tick checkboxes without entering edit mode • Nested tags like #work/clients/acme • Pin, archive, and lock notes behind Face ID • Light and dark, six accent colours, three writing fonts, four text sizes YOUR NOTES ARE YOURS Every note is a plain Markdown file stored on your device. No account. No server. No sync that can fail, because there is nothing to sync. Export any note, or all of them, whenever you like. Sift is free. There is no subscription, no advertising, no note limit, and no paid tier holding features back.