Comparison

SpeakMinder vs Notely

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

Head to head
About

SpeakMinder

Set hands-free reminders that speak a custom phrase at a specific time or location. Avoid checking your phone for notification sounds by having the app announce exactly what you need to know, when and where you need it.

Highlights
  • Hands-free voice reminders
  • Time-based alerts
  • Location-based alerts
  • Customizable spoken phrases
  • Reminder count indicator
Read full description

This is a hands free reminder app. You set it for either a location or at a time and it will speak a phrase you enter without having to touch the device. How many times has your phone played a sound, just so you can pick up the phone to find out why it was making the noise? This app speaks exactly what you want to say, exactly when or where you want to say it. You can also use it for a location. You can set it to say "Go in and talk to the teacher" when you pull into the school's parking lot, or "Pay the light bill" when you pull into your driveway. The icon will have a number, telling you how many reminders you have set. (English Only)

About

Notely

This app offers a private and flexible digital notebook for handwriting, typed notes, and PDF annotation. Convert handwriting to editable text, draw with precision tools, and organize your work with folders and backups. Keep ideas accessible without an account or internet connection.

Highlights
  • Handwriting to editable text conversion
  • Precision drawing tools
  • PDF annotation and markup
  • Organized library with folders
  • On-device search
  • Portable backups
Features
Read full description

Notely is a notebook for iPad and iPhone that feels like paper and keeps everything on your device. Write by hand, mark up PDFs, record a lecture while you take notes, then study from what you wrote. There's no account and no cloud. Your notes stay where you wrote them. New in 1.4 Notely has a hand-drawn look now, with drawn icons and handwritten headings. I also rebuilt the pencil from scratch. It picks up the grain of the paper and responds to pressure, and if you tilt Apple Pencil on its side it shades like a real one. Record the lecture with your notes Press record and keep writing. Notely transcribes on your device as you go and remembers when each stroke was written. Later, tap a line of ink and the audio jumps to what was being said at that moment. Tapping a line in the transcript works too. Transcription depends on on-device speech support for your language and device. If it isn't available, Notely still saves the audio. Study from your own notes Make flashcards yourself, or lay tape over part of a page and quiz yourself on what's underneath. Cards come back on a spaced review schedule, and you can turn on reminders for when they're due. On devices with Apple Intelligence, Notely can also draft cards from a note and answer questions about it, with a link back to the page each answer came from. You review every draft before it's saved. Handwriting that turns into text Tap the handwriting button and Notely turns your writing into typed text, on the device. Anything it can't read confidently stays as ink. Search also looks inside your handwriting, typed text and PDFs. Pages or open space Use Letter or A4 pages, or switch a note to an infinite canvas when you need room to think. There's always a blank page waiting at the end, and if you don't use it, it's left out when you export. Templates include Cornell notes, dot grid, lab reports, math and physics pages, and music staff. Import PDFs and write on them, or scan paper pages with the camera. Private by default Notely works offline, with no analytics and no ads. Lock any note with Face ID or a password. Locked notes are kept out of Spotlight search and the widget. A few more things - Export pages as PDF or PNG - Back up notes to a .vectora archive and restore them without overwriting anything - Bring notebooks over from Goodnotes or Notability (PDF exports work best; native import is experimental) - A home screen widget with recent notes and a New note button - Shortcuts actions to create a quick note or open recent notes - Folders, tags and smart collections Notely is made by one person. If something bugs you, the support page reaches me directly.

Screenshots

SpeakMinder4 screens
Notely4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Notely at Free against SpeakMinder's $2.99. Notely also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (8 vs 2). SpeakMinder's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.4) and review sentiment (50% vs 33%). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Notely is free to download; SpeakMinder costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SpeakMinder holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 8 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of SpeakMinder's written reviews are positive against 33% of Notely's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SpeakMinder ships an update every 4 months, Notely every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SpeakMinder versus Notely: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpeakMinderNotely
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.4 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings28 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDark Mouse Software LLCJUSTIN WEI SUN

Customer experience

SpeakMinder

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative40.0%

Notely

All ratings8 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

SpeakMinder

No in-app purchases

None

Notely

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SpeakMinder free?
SpeakMinder costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Notely free?
Notely is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SpeakMinder or Notely?
SpeakMinder is rated higher. SpeakMinder averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Notely averages 4.4 from 8 ratings.
Do SpeakMinder or Notely have ads?
Neither SpeakMinder nor Notely shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SpeakMinder or Notely?
SpeakMinder ships an update every 4 months, and Notely every 5 days. Most recently, SpeakMinder was updated on November 1, 2026 and Notely on November 5, 2026.

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