Nook vs Note Weaver
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Nook
This app offers a secure and private space for your notes and journal entries. It features unique privacy typing to obscure text as you write and ensures all data remains locally on your device with no cloud synchronization or tracking. Organize your thoughts with customizable notes, lockable folders, and robust security options.
- Privacy Typing to obscure text
- Local storage, no cloud
- Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode lock
- Lockable folders
- Customizable note appearance
- Nested folder organization
- Encrypted backup export
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Nook is a calm, private place for your notes, journal and everyday thoughts. Everything you write stays on your iPhone. There is no cloud, no account, and no tracking. The app has no internet access at all, so your words simply never leave your device. Most note apps sell you the cloud. Nook does the opposite, and makes a promise you can actually verify: your notes are yours alone. PRIVACY TYPING Something you have not seen before. Turn on Privacy Typing and every word you write is blacked out on screen the moment you finish it, so no one can read over your shoulder on the train, in a meeting, or at home. The word you are currently typing stays faintly visible just for you. Tap the eye to reveal the whole note, and Nook remembers the setting per note. You choose the bar color and how hidden the current word stays. HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT Protecting a page while you write it does little if your list still reads like a table of contents. Tap the eye on the home screen and every title and preview is covered behind glass. Bring them all back with Face ID, or uncover one note at a time, which is safer still. Everything covers itself again the moment you leave the app, so Nook never opens onto your own words. SOMEWHERE TO START Fifty one writing prompts, written by hand and grouped by what you might need: today, how you are, the people in your head, looking back, looking ahead, the quiet ones, the unsaid ones. They work on every device, with no model required. On devices with Apple Intelligence, Nook can also suggest a topic or reflect on an entry using Apple's on-device Foundation Models, with no network call at any point. WHY YOU WILL LOVE NOOK • Privacy Typing. Black out every word as you type, so no one reads over your shoulder. • Hide your notes. Cover every title and preview in the list, and bring them back with Face ID, all at once or one note at a time. • Truly private. No account, no email, no sign in. Open the app and start writing. • Lives only on your phone. No cloud and no servers. Your notes are stored locally and protected on device. • Locked for your eyes only. Choose Face ID, Touch ID, or your own passcode to open Nook. • Lockable folders. Put a passcode on any folder, and everything inside it stays private too. • Write beautifully. Titles, headings, bold and italic, plus a page background and text color for every note. • Beautifully organized. Nest folders as deep as you like, give them colors, pin what matters, and search everything in an instant. • Yours to back up. Export an encrypted backup to Files or AirDrop. You choose the passphrase, so only you can ever open it. • Prompts for empty days. Fifty one hand written prompts, plus on-device suggestions on Apple Intelligence devices. • Made for iPad. A two column desk, folders down one side and your pages beside them. • A widget that fits in. Quick capture from the Home Screen, following your own tint. • Calm by design. A warm, focused interface with a gorgeous light and dark theme. NO SUBSCRIPTION. EVER. Try everything free for 7 days. If you love it, buy us a coffee just once and Nook is yours forever. One payment of $5.99. No subscription, no account, no cloud. PRIVACY YOU CAN TRUST Nook collects NO data. There is nothing to leak, nothing to sell, and nothing to track. Your App Store privacy label says it plainly: Data Not Collected. Made with care by an independent couple. Buy us a coffee and keep your thoughts to yourself.
Note Weaver
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Note Weaver is both a Rich Text and a Markdown editor with a notes library to organize your notes. Note Weaver is designed for people who want a calm, capable writing space that still respects the private nature of personal notes, journals, technical material, research, and working drafts. You can write in rich text or Markdown, organize notes into folders, embed images, preview pages, and export documents, while keeping your library local-first. You will receive a license via email after starting a subscription. A single license enables you to synchronize up to five devices across Mac, iOS, among others (see website). No further purchase required. Authentication when using Note Weaver is performed once each day. If you go offline and Note Weaver cannot validate your license, you have a 30-day grace period, so you won't be locked out of your notes when visiting remote locations. From Version 1.0.3 on the Desktop versions, included in your subscription, you can now import notes from Bear, Obsidian, and OneNote, with auto-tagging to make organizing imported notes a breeze! Change History Version 1.1.0 (July 23, 2026) * Added authenticated local-network synchronization for devices on the same network, while preserving end-to-end encryption. * Note Weaver automatically falls back to the secure Fiction Loom relay when a direct local connection is unavailable. * Improved synchronization across multiple licensed devices, including more reliable change distribution, inventory verification, and library repair. * Updated backend components for better stability and performance. V1.0.5 (July 14, 2026) * Introduced a load-balanced synchronization relay architecture for improved reliability, capacity, and performance. * Added a verified, resumable onboarding process that gives newly added or reinstalled devices a complete copy of the note library and embedded assets. * Strengthened synchronization with inventory reconciliation, causal version tracking, improved multi-device convergence, and more accurate conflict detection. * Improved desktop background synchronization and made the desktop synchronization helper part of the standard setup. * Rebuilt the rich-text editor using Tiptap for more reliable rich-text and Markdown editing. * Significantly improved image handling, including drag-and-drop insertion, touch resizing, percentage-based sizing, inline images, page-edge anchoring, alignment, and Fit to Page Width. * Added OneNote import support on Windows, including imported-note tagging and color-assisted organization. * Improved Bear imports with hierarchical tag support, automatic folder and subfolder creation, and better imported-image sizing. * Added color-coded tags and folder highlighting to help organize imported and tagged notes. * Improved page layout, page breaks, text alignment, preview stability, and persistence of document-specific settings. * Reorganized Editor Settings and Page Settings, with additional fonts and improved support for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and other Unicode text. * Improved dual-sidebar keyboard navigation, selection visibility, scrolling, mobile sizing, and multi-note movement. * Improved folder creation by supporting nested folders and preventing accidental duplicate folder names. * Added reliable restoration of deleted folders, their subfolders, and contained notes. * Improved conflict review by keeping the currently reviewed conflict copies visible. * Improved startup performance, responsiveness, and keyboard behavior. * Improved mobile sidebar resizing, image controls, and touch interaction. * Updated subscription-management routing. * Updated and expanded the bundled Note Weaver User Manual. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Note Weaver at weekly against Nook's fortnightly. Note Weaver also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). 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
Both are free to download. Nook sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Note Weaver sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Nook ships an update fortnightly, Note Weaver weekly. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Nook | Note Weaver |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AI Adviesbureau B.V. | Martin Bailey Photography K.K. |
In-app purchases
Nook
- Buy us a coffee$5.99
Note Weaver
- Note Weaver Monthly Subscription$5.991 Month
- Note Weaver Annual Subscription$59.991 Year









