Comparison

Zoho Writer vs Harbor Private Voice Notes

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

Head to head
About

Zoho Writer

Create and edit documents with a clean, distraction-free interface. Collaborate with others in real-time, import and export various file formats, and access your work across all devices. Your changes are automatically saved and synced.

Highlights
  • Create and edit documents
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Import/export MS Word, PDF, ODT
  • Sync across devices
  • Offline access
  • Automatic saving
Features
Read full description

Simple, slick word processing app to create and edit documents, and collaborate on them with your friends. Sync docs across devices and access them wherever you go.   Writer is carefully designed to create a clean, blank paper-esque writing experience across your smartphone, tablet and computer. And it's free forever! Collaborate with your team - Join discussions, even when you're away from your desk. Add your thoughts to documents, reply to friends' comments, or just appreciate them by clicking "like."   Work with multiple formats - Import and edit your existing Microsoft Word documents. Take stories off your world by exporting it as an MS Word, PDF, ODT, HTML, or TXT file.   Get access to the full-blown web version - One of the best advantages of using Writer is that it features a powerful word processor on the web. It's incredibly easy to jot down notes on the move, and continue working on it on the web when you're back to your desk. Create beautiful looking documents - Format your documents. Add images, tables, and more. Work offline - Apart from a "Make available offline" option, 20 of your most recent documents will available offline by default too!   Forget saving documents - Forget clicking save, and manual back up. Your changes are saved and synced across all your devices as you make them. What's stopping you now? Get started. Write away!

About

Harbor Private Voice Notes

Record voice notes and transform them into searchable transcripts, summaries, and action items using on-device AI. Interact with your notes hands-free via Siri to ask questions and retrieve information privately.

Highlights
  • On-device voice recording and transcription
  • Siri integration for hands-free recording and queries
  • Automatic summaries, decisions, and action items
  • Speaker identification and labeling
  • Export notes in Markdown, RTF, or DOCX
  • iCloud Drive sync for library access
Features
Read full description

Turn voice notes into a private second brain you can talk to with Siri. Harbor is a completely free voice recorder, transcription app, and meeting note assistant built for iPhone. Record a thought, meeting, lecture, interview, or conversation. Harbor turns it into searchable transcripts, speaker-aware notes, summaries, decisions, and action items—without sending your content to a cloud AI. SIRI IS YOUR SECOND BRAIN Make your Harbor notes available to Siri, then ask questions across the transcripts and summaries you choose to index: • “What decisions have I made this month?” • “Summarize the most important themes in my notes.” • “Find unresolved questions across my voice notes.” You can also start recording hands-free with Siri, so ideas and conversations are easier to capture the moment they happen. COMPLETELY FREE Every Harbor feature is included. There are no subscriptions, recording credits, ads, accounts, trials, or paywalls. PRIVATE, ON-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE Apple Speech transcribes your recordings on device. On supported iPhones, Apple Foundation Models drafts titles, summaries, action items, transcript refinements, and speaker-name suggestions. Local Core ML models help separate speakers. Harbor has no developer-operated content server and does not send your recordings, transcripts, notes, or prompts to a cloud LLM. KNOW WHO SAID WHAT Follow provisional words and speaker labels while you record. Afterward, rename speakers, correct transcript sections, edit the summary, and play the original audio alongside your notes. SYNC WITH ICLOUD Choose an Apple Files folder for your library. Save it in iCloud Drive to keep your Harbor archive available through iCloud, or choose On My iPhone for local-only storage. Your selected Files provider controls storage and syncing. OWN YOUR ARCHIVE Harbor keeps the original audio and an authoritative recording.json file for every note. Export portable Markdown, RTF, or DOCX documents whenever you need them. Your edits remain the source of truth. CAPTURE WITHOUT FRICTION Start recording in Harbor, from the widget, or with Siri. Harbor saves audio first, so a conversation remains available even when an optional intelligence step needs another attempt. NO ACCOUNT. NO TRACKING. Harbor has no advertising, analytics, cross-app tracking, cloud LLM, or developer-operated account system. Audio, transcripts, summaries, speaker labels, titles, and edits stay on your iPhone or in the Apple Files location you choose. Some on-device features may download required model files the first time they are used. Siri and Apple Intelligence features depend on device, language, region, and system availability. Microphone access is required to record. Speech recognition, approximate location, calendar, and notification access are optional and used only for their related features. Requires iOS 27 or later.

Screenshots

Zoho Writer4 screens
Harbor Private Voice Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Harbor Private Voice Notes at 5.0 against Zoho Writer's 2.9. Harbor Private Voice Notes also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). Zoho Writer's advantage is ratings volume (140 vs 2) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Harbor Private Voice Notes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zoho Writer has 140 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Zoho Writer ships an update every 3 weeks, Harbor Private Voice Notes weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Zoho Writer versus Harbor Private Voice Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZoho WriterHarbor Private Voice Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (140 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews29.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings140 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size132 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZoho CorporationZac Henson

Bugs and requests

Zoho Writer

Reported bugs

23 issues
  • App crashes on document open
  • Cursor jumps randomly in document
  • Keyboard disappears during typing
  • Punctuation disappears after saving
  • Text erased or goes missing
Show 18 more
  • Undo function behaves erratically
  • Diacritics cause app crashes and data loss
  • Apple Pencil input causes immediate crashes
  • Documents fail to load with permission errors
  • Data migration errors on new accounts
  • Offline mode loses documents on sync
  • Lag increases with document size
  • Copy-paste corrupts text formatting
  • App freezes on tutorial screen
  • Documents deleted after app update
  • Sync fails to reflect web version changes
  • Microphone input text disappears
  • App locks up during formatting operations
  • Blank page display in read mode
  • Random extra spaces between words
  • Cursor placement in middle of words
  • Update failure notifications
  • App crashes when using WorkDrive integration

Requested features

18 requests
  • Dark mode for mobile app
  • Text wrapping around images
  • Adjustable image sizing
  • Cover page and page formatting options
  • Document list view (not just icon view)
Show 13 more
  • Search within document contents
  • Ability to save to specific folders
  • Multi-select for batch operations
  • Select all functionality
  • Landscape view support
  • Split-screen iPad support
  • Cloud import from Dropbox/OneDrive
  • Track changes feature
  • Outline navigation on mobile
  • Font size customization
  • Margin adjustment controls
  • Document templates
  • Alphabetical document sorting

Harbor Private Voice Notes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Zoho Writer

No in-app purchases

None

Harbor Private Voice Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Zoho Writer free?
Zoho Writer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Harbor Private Voice Notes free?
Harbor Private Voice Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Zoho Writer or Harbor Private Voice Notes?
Harbor Private Voice Notes is rated higher. Zoho Writer averages 2.9 out of 5 from 140 ratings, while Harbor Private Voice Notes averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Zoho Writer or Harbor Private Voice Notes have ads?
Neither Zoho Writer nor Harbor Private Voice Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Zoho Writer or Harbor Private Voice Notes?
Zoho Writer ships an update every 3 weeks, and Harbor Private Voice Notes weekly. Most recently, Zoho Writer was updated on November 6, 2026 and Harbor Private Voice Notes on November 5, 2026.

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