smalltype vs Kihya Memo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
smalltype
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Short notes, many times a day, saved as plain .md files in real folders. Open the same folder on your Mac in VS Code, Vim, or any editor. Calm, minimal, and ready for iPhone Duo. smalltype is for your notes. The small ones, the quick ones, the big ones, the unpolished ones. It's a fast, quiet place to type. ## Start No tutorial, no setup screen. Tap New Note and start typing. Leave one empty and it quietly disappears, so you never end up with a pile of blank untitled notes. That's the whole app. ## Yours Every note is a real .md file, sitting right there in the Files app. You can open it, copy it, or back it up yourself, anytime. Delete one and it still goes to Recently Deleted, same as any other file: nothing's gone for good. ## Sync or Don't Keep notes in iCloud Drive to have them on every device. Or keep them On My iPhone, fully local, never leaving your device. Either way, you can switch anytime. ## Visible Markdown Markdown markers stay gently visible as you type. What you see is exactly what's in the file. A bar above the keyboard types the markers for you, with undo and redo a tap away. ## Organize Folders, search, and quick note-making, all from one screen. Nothing to set up first. Put "daily" in a folder's name and new notes inside it get today's date as their name. ## No Catch No ads. No subscription. No tracking. No account, ever. Markdown notes. Yours to keep.
Kihya Memo
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Kihya Memo is a lightweight, offline-first Markdown notepad. Write the source directly, use focused formatting tools, and switch to a beautiful native preview while every note remains a file you can keep. Markdown is the heart of the app. When needed, the same plain-text editor also opens safe UTF-8 text and source documents without converting them to a proprietary database. There is no Kihya account to create and no required Kihya memo server. Google Drive sync and remote server folders are optional. KEY FEATURES ⢠Switch instantly between Markdown source and native preview ⢠Toggle task checkboxes directly in preview ⢠Use focused Markdown tools for headings, lists, bold, italic, strike, code, links, attachments, and underline ⢠Convert pasted rich text into clean Markdown ⢠Create, edit, rename, move, and share HTML, JSON, XML, CSV, PHP, ASP, JavaScript, SQL, and other UTF-8 text or source files when needed ⢠Live syntax colors and line numbers without adding formatting to the file ⢠Static HTML/SVG, pretty JSON/XML, table, calendar, contact, and color-source previews ⢠Plain-text copy and paste for code; rich-text conversion only inside Markdown ⢠Import photos, PDFs, archives, and other files from Photos or Files ⢠Drag, rename, move, and safely remove nested folders in a dedicated manager ⢠Search file names and full note contents ⢠Find, Replace, and Replace All from the title menu, with case options, regex, and capture groups ⢠Choose Save, Discard Changes, or Keep Editing when leaving an unsaved note ⢠Move, rename, trash, or open past versions from the title menu ⢠Open Recently Deleted from the folder list to restore items to their original location or delete them permanently ⢠Optionally protect Recently Deleted with Face ID, Touch ID, or the device passcode ⢠Keep pre-save versions locally and load one into the editor without saving it immediately ⢠Recover the latest local edit draft after an unexpected app termination ⢠Optional marker-texture highlighting for bold and underlined preview text ⢠Preview local images and open clearly marked local-file links ⢠Open and share editable text, source documents, and stored files through the system Files app ⢠Optionally sync original files through a visible app folder in your own Google Drive ⢠Add SFTP, plain FTP, explicit FTPS, or implicit FTPS servers as remote folders, with local recovery drafts, history, conflict detection, and verified saves ⢠Export the visible folder tree as a ZIP without trash or private history ⢠Start writing instantly from a resizable Quick Note Home Screen widget ⢠See a sourced daily thought matched to morning, afternoon, evening, or night ⢠Continue writing beneath a thought and share it as a 4:5 image card ⢠Open a favorite document in full-screen reading mode from the Home Screen ⢠Five bundled Korean typefaces in addition to the system font ⢠Native phone navigation and an iPad three-pane or full-screen editor PRIVACY BY DESIGN ⢠No Kihya sign-up or required login ⢠No ads or cross-app tracking ⢠Google Drive connects only when you choose it; notes are never sent to a Kihya server ⢠Remote connections go directly from your device to the server you enter; credentials use device-only protected storage and remote contents, hosts, paths, and user names are excluded from analytics ⢠SFTP and FTPS are encrypted. Plain FTP is visibly marked and requires a separate warning because its credentials, file names, and contents are not encrypted ⢠Firebase usage events never include note text, file names, searches, or Google account details ⢠Access is limited to local files and files the user explicitly selects ⢠Normal history and recovery drafts stay on device; pre-overwrite sync text is also protected in hidden app data in your Drive
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Kihya Memo at daily against smalltype's every 4 days. Kihya Memo also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
smalltype ships an update every 4 days, Kihya Memo daily. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | smalltype | Kihya Memo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | Daily ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac ā better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 16.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 33 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Herman Haidin | Kihya |
In-app purchases
smalltype
No in-app purchases
Kihya Memo
No in-app purchases









