OV Notes vs Igneous
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OV Notes
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A calm, minimal place to write in plain Markdown, plan your days, and let a private AI Copilot do the busywork on the notes you already wrote. OV Notes keeps everything simple and yours. No account, no sign-up, no ads. Just open it and write, on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Write in Markdown • Plain Markdown that stays simple, readable files you actually own • A clean, focused editor that stays out of your way • Light and Dark themes that follow your system automatically Calendar and to-dos • A monthly calendar greets you on the home screen • Add to-dos to any date and check them off • See today's tasks at a glance AI Copilot for your own notes • Summarize a long note in seconds • Draft a meeting-note outline to start from • Organize today's to-dos so nothing slips • Ask "what's on my schedule this week?" and get a clear answer • It only ever works on your own notes, never anyone else's Stay organized • Folders and a nested file-tree vault keep everything in its place • An "All notes" list puts every note one tap away, even as it grows Widgets that keep up • Home-screen and Lock-screen widgets show your to-dos without opening the app Sync across your devices • iCloud sync keeps notes current on iPhone, iPad, and the OV Mac app • It uses your own iCloud, so your notes stay private to you Private by design • Local-first: your notes live on your device and in your own iCloud • No account or sign-up needed • No ads, no tracking, and nothing collected by us Free to use, and fully bilingual in Korean and English. Write a little, plan a little, and keep it all in one quiet place that's truly yours.
Igneous
This app offers a gesture-driven approach to note-taking, allowing users to manage their Markdown files with one-handed navigation. It supports various cloud storage options and integrates features like voice notes, live Markdown rendering, and drawing capabilities.
- One-thumb gesture navigation
- Plain Markdown file storage
- iCloud Drive and Files integration
- Live Markdown rendering
- Voice note recording and transcription
- Drawing and sketching canvases
- Mac and offline synchronization
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Igneous is a notes app you drive with one thumb. On iPhone there's no toolbar at the top of the screen: everything lives in one dock at the bottom, and it moves the way Safari's tab bar does. Your notes are plain Markdown files in a folder you choose — on your device, in iCloud Drive, or anywhere Files can reach — so they open in any other app, today and in twenty years. No account, no database, no analytics. GET ANYWHERE WITHOUT REACHING • Tap the pill in the dock to search every note, like tapping Safari's address bar. • Swipe it sideways to move between open notes, and keep going past the last one for a new note. • Swipe up on it and your open notes spread out as cards. • Swipe in from the left edge for your notebook, and from the right for the Inspector. • Pull down on a note to find a word in it. Hold any button for more. • While you read, the dock folds into a slim pill out of the way. Liquid Glass on iOS 26; solid with Reduce Transparency. • On iPad: a floating notebook pane, a real tab bar, and as many windows as Stage Manager will hold. CAPTURE THE MOMENT • Press the Action Button, a Lock Screen widget or a Control Center tile and you're typing in a new note — even from a closed app. • Record a voice note from the Action Button, Siri, the app icon or the note you're in. Igneous transcribes it on your device while you talk, shows the words on the Lock Screen, and saves the audio and transcript into today's note or a note of its own. • Copy a voice note — recording and transcript together — and paste it into Messages, Mail or another note. WRITE IN MARKDOWN, SEE IT BEAUTIFULLY • A live editor that renders headings, lists, tasks, tables, callouts, highlights, maths and diagrams as you type, while the file stays plain text. • A formatting bar just above the keyboard, and Writing Tools that keep your links and structure intact. • Wikilinks, embeds, backlinks, tags and a graph of how your notes connect. • Search every note instantly, including handwriting on your canvases. • Daily notes, a calendar, tasks gathered from every note, templates and a board view. DRAW WHEN WORDS WON'T DO • Canvases for sketches and diagrams, with Apple Pencil on iPad, beside cards and links to your notes. • Opens JSON Canvas and Excalidraw drawings. WORKS WITH YOUR MAC — AND OFFLINE • Keep a notebook in iCloud Drive ▸ Igneous and it's on all your devices. • Or pair with Igneous on your Mac over your own network: the phone keeps a full offline copy and sends its edits when it's back. Changes to different lines are combined, and if you both changed the same words, both versions are kept. Drawings merge shape by shape. • Nothing ever passes through a server of ours — there isn't one. SHORTCUTS, SIRI AND WIDGETS • Actions for new notes, today's note, tasks, search and voice notes, ready for Shortcuts and Siri. • Home Screen widgets with buttons you choose, Lock Screen widgets, Control Center controls, Focus filters and Live Activities. YOUR NOTES, YOUR FILES Igneous reads Obsidian-flavoured Markdown as written and never adds anything you didn't ask for. Point it at the vault you already keep.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: OV Notes at none against Igneous's 3. OV Notes also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). 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
Both are free to download. Igneous sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. OV Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | OV Notes | Igneous |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | HAKYUNG CHOI | JASON RANDALL DORFMAN |
In-app purchases
OV Notes
No in-app purchases
Igneous
- Small Tip$9.99
- Medium Tip$24.99
- Large Tip$49.99









