Comparison

Orvena vs Avlu

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Orvena

A private, on-device assistant that integrates with your phone's tools and services. It prioritizes user privacy with on-device processing and explicit consent for any data sharing. A one-time purchase unlocks advanced features like voice conversations and service integrations.

Highlights
  • On-device AI processing
  • Integrates with calendar, reminders, maps, photos, and Apple Health
  • Receipts and approval for actions
  • Optional cloud model integration
  • Connects to Notion, GitHub, Home Assistant, and more
  • Voice conversations with on-device voice generation
Features
Read full description

Orvena is a complete assistant that runs on your iPhone. Its models run on the device itself, so conversations stay on your phone unless you choose a cloud model. There is no account, no Orvena server, and no analytics. ASK, AND IT GETS DONE Orvena works with the phone you already have: calendar, reminders, alarms and timers, maps and travel times, photos, Apple Health summaries, music, and files. Every action leaves a receipt you can read, and anything consequential asks for your approval before it runs. APPLE INTELLIGENCE, BUILT IN On iOS 27, Orvena can answer with Apple's on-device model, with nothing to download. It uses the same tools, receipts and approvals as Orvena's own model. You can also ask Orvena from Siri, Shortcuts, Spotlight and the Action button, and get the answer right where you asked. PRIVATE BY ARCHITECTURE Privacy pages usually ask for trust. Orvena's is a list: everything the app can ever send is enumerated in a short ledger in the privacy policy. On-device features work without any data leaving the phone, and anything that could ever leave asks first through a named consent step. ONE PURCHASE UNLOCKS THE REST The on-device assistant, every phone tool, web search and reading, and image understanding are free, without limits or a trial clock. A single one-time purchase adds: • Voice conversations, with a natural voice generated on the device • Connections to services you use, like Notion, Linear, GitHub, Home Assistant, and any MCP server, with sign-in built in • Apple's Private Cloud Compute on iOS 27, a larger model on Apple's servers that doesn't keep your data, within a daily limit Apple sets • Cloud models with your own API key, when you want a bigger model • Scheduled tasks, so Orvena can check on things at the right time and report back There is no subscription. REQUIREMENTS Orvena's own model runs on the phone itself, which needs recent hardware: iPhone 15 Pro or newer with 8 GB of memory, on iOS 26. The model, about 3.5 GB, downloads once. On iOS 27, iPhones with Apple Intelligence turned on can start with Apple's model instead, without the download.

About

Avlu

Features
Read full description

Memory is a place you build by hand. Avlu puts a palace over your notes. Every note is a plain markdown file in a folder you own; the palace arranges them as rooms you furnish, so that walking the room brings the ideas back with it. No account, no server, and nothing that leaves your iCloud. ROOMS YOU FURNISH A room is one subject. Start from a template — a library, a workshop, a music room, a memory gallery, a living hall — and put things in it: a writing desk, an armchair, an arch. Each piece of furniture holds one note or several, and it is the object you remember, not the file name. More than a hundred pieces wait in the catalog. Pinch to zoom, drag to pan, turn an object to face the other way. Take a piece out and it waits in storage with its notes intact. Removing something never destroys it. MARKDOWN THAT RENDERS AS YOU TYPE No edit mode and no preview pane. Headings, lists, tasks, quotes and code render in place, and the markup shows itself only on the line you are writing. Add a picture from Photos or Files, or paste one, and it stands where you put it; tap it and set it small, medium or big. Any other file drops in as a card that opens on a tap. Type [[ and pick the note to link. Rename a note and every link to it is repointed. Frontmatter you wrote yourself is left exactly as it was. LINKS BECOME THREADS Write [[a link]] between two notes and Avlu lifts it onto the furniture holding them, then draws it as a line across the floor. A connection becomes something you can see from the doorway, and every idea comes back with its neighbour. ROOMS FADE IF YOU NEGLECT THEM Notes you stop opening fall due, and the room they stand in dims. The dashboard counts what is waiting and lists the notes you have left longest. Opening a note is what reviewing means: no ratings, no schedules, nothing else to remember to do. BUILT FOR EACH SCREEN On iPhone, four tabs: Today, Palace, Notes and Commands. A room fills the screen, and a note opens as a page. On iPad, every screen and feature of the Mac app at touch proportions, in both orientations, with a sidebar that folds to a ribbon. The command list holds every action in the palace: make a note, a room or an object, jump to any room, change the theme. Its search reads every note's title and text. YOUR FILES, YOUR ICLOUD • A palace is a folder: plain .md files, plus one small folder beside them that holds the room layouts • Open it in the Files app, back it up, or point any other markdown app at it, Obsidian included • Keep it in iCloud Drive and your iPhone, iPad and Mac open the same palace • No account, no analytics, no advertising, and no network access of any kind • No permission prompts: Avlu never asks for your photo library, camera, contacts or location WHO IT IS FOR Students with a room for each subject. Engineers with runbooks they can walk. Designers, travellers, athletes — anyone whose notes have outgrown a list. Your first palace is built in four steps, and its first notes are already written for you. AVLU FULL Avlu is free: rooms, furniture, notes, threads, storage and review, without limits. Avlu Full is an optional subscription, monthly or yearly, that adds one thing: you choose the tile an object stands on, and you can move what is already placed. On a free palace every object finds its own spot. If a subscription ends, nothing moves. One subscription covers iPhone, iPad and Mac. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://useavlu.com/privacy/

Screenshots

Orvena4 screens
Avlu4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Avlu at 3 against Orvena's 1. Avlu also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Orvena sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Avlu sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Orvena versus Avlu: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOrvenaAvlu
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size77 MB31 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperAgnieszka SelaSelim Ustel

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Orvena

One-time1
  • Premium Unlock$14.99
2 purchases

Avlu

Subscriptions2
  • Avlu Full - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Avlu Full - Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Orvena free?
Orvena is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Avlu free?
Avlu is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Orvena or Avlu have ads?
Neither Orvena nor Avlu shows ads.

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