FrameReply vs Skein Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FrameReply
This app provides AI-powered reply suggestions directly within your messaging conversations. It learns your writing style and remembers context about contacts to help you craft personalized responses without leaving your chat screen.
- Context-aware AI reply suggestions
- Interactive Shortcuts overlay
- Person-specific context memory
- Customizable personas
- Conversation strategy and rationale
- User control over message sending
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FrameReply is an open-source chat assistant that delivers two context-aware reply ideas directly on your current messaging screen using Shortcuts and snippets. It remembers useful details about each person, supports custom personas, and adapts to your writing style. STAY IN THE CONVERSATION • Get AI-powered reply ideas across messaging apps, based on chat screenshots and delivered in an interactive Shortcuts overlay without leaving your conversation. • Bring in chat screenshots or copied messages via Share Sheet or Shortcuts. The image shortcut can also capture the current screen or launch with Back Tap. KEEP THE THREAD • Automatically add new messages to an existing chat when there is a reliable match, or add them directly to one you already have open. • Memorize useful person-specific context, such as preferences, shared history, and recurring plans. • Set a Current Goal for the chat, or add one-time Reply Guidance for what you want to say next. MAKE IT SOUND LIKE YOU • Choose a built-in persona or create your own. Personas can learn recurring patterns from messages you send. • Get Conversation Strategy and Strategy Rationale that explain why the replies were suggested. YOU STAY IN CONTROL • AI suggestions are drafts. The app never sends messages for you; you choose what to copy and whether to edit or send it in your messaging app. • Delete a chat, remove a provider connection, or erase all local data from your device whenever you choose. REQUIREMENTS • iPhone with iOS 26 or later. • A FrameReply AI subscription where available, or your own API key for OpenAI, OpenRouter, or MiniMax. • When using your own API key, usage may incur charges from that provider. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Skein Notes
This app allows users to create and organize notes using plain Markdown files stored locally or in iCloud Drive. It offers powerful search capabilities, real-time editing of Markdown features, and the ability to manage JSON Canvas boards. Notes are kept safe with version history and conflict resolution.
- Plain Markdown file storage
- Direct iCloud Drive integration
- Instant capture field
- Advanced search and tagging
- Full Markdown support
- JSON Canvas board integration
- Note version history
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Skein is a notes app for people who want to keep their own files. Your vault is a folder of plain Markdown on your device or in iCloud Drive. Skein reads and writes those files directly — the same folder you open in Skein for Mac, or in any other editor. Nothing is locked in a database, and there is no service in the middle. Write it down before you lose it The app opens on a capture field. Type the thought and send it; the first line becomes the note's title and Skein files it where you told it to. No dialog, no folder picker, no naming a file before you have written anything. Find it again Search matches titles the moment you start typing and searches inside every note once the index is ready, ranked, with the matching lines and their line numbers — tap one and land on it. The Vault filters by name, by #tag or by folder in one field, and tags are real: tap one anywhere in the app to see everything carrying it. Real Markdown, properly Headings, lists, task lists, tables, footnotes, code blocks, callouts, ==highlights== and [[wikilinks]] — read cleanly and edited as text. A keyboard bar puts the things you actually reach for above the keys, including arrows that move by character and by word, and you can choose which of them appear. Type / for a command, #for a tag it already knows. Canvas Open a JSON Canvas board, move cards, connect them, colour them and write on them. The same file, the same format Obsidian writes, so a board made on the Mac opens here and back again. It keeps your writing safe Skein keeps earlier versions of a note as you edit, so you can go back to what you wrote this morning. When the same note has been changed in two places, Skein keeps both and asks — it never picks a winner quietly. Also Share text from any app straight into your vault. Four themes, including one for reading at night. Dynamic Type throughout, and full VoiceOver support. Skein does not have an account, a subscription for the basics, a server, or telemetry. Your notes never leave your device except through iCloud Drive, which is yours. Skein for Mac is a separate app on the same purchase.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: FrameReply at 5.0 against Skein Notes's 4.0. Skein Notes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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. FrameReply sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per month. Skein Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.
FrameReply holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively.
FrameReply ships an update every 10 days, Skein Notes fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FrameReply | Skein Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | GigaBeyond (Guangzhou) Technology Ltd. | Tomasz Smieja |
Customer experience
FrameReply
Skein Notes
In-app purchases
FrameReply
- AI Access Monthly3 Days trial$4.991 Month
Skein Notes
No in-app purchases









