Mindscope vs Deer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mindscope
Organize your thoughts and ideas with a powerful yet simple outliner. Create nested boards, sort entries, and export your work. Unlock advanced features like search and cross-linking with an in-app purchase.
- Create and drag text entries
- Nested sub-boards
- Sort thoughts into categories
- Export as bullet list
- Import .mindscope files
- In-app purchase for advanced features
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Mindscope is a new and powerfully simple way to store your thoughts without getting lost in the details. • Quickly create text entries with a double-tap and drag them around, aligning them to each other. Perfect for brainstorming, capturing, and sorting thoughts or taking notes. • Tapping an entry enters its own page where you can create more entries (and as many sub-boards as you like). • Drag entries into other entries to quickly sort your thoughts into categories and projects. • Keep track of lists, todos, notes, and anything else you feel like keeping track of, for example a list of ways to be funny when writing an app description. Or something. • Copy and paste entries including their sub-entries • Export all entries and sub-entries of a board via e-mail as a bullet list. • Import any saved .mindscope file. • Set a default font size for any board (long-press on a font size and select "Set As Default" All of the above, as a universal app, with iCloud sync...completely for free! Yeah, I know, I can't believe it either. You can "pay" me with an App Store review, how does that sound? However, if you are up for spending money, with the "Unlock Everything" in-app purchase, you can also save your own .mindscope files, search through all your entries instantly, create cross-links between boards, create arrows and lines between entries, set up a grid background for a page, set your own colors per page, and export boards to an OPML file (suitable for opening in most major mind-mapping programs). Any upcoming features in future updates will be included for the unlocked version at no extra cost. See a video of Mindscope in action at http://www.mindscopeapp.com Quotes from happy customers: "It’s hitting a sweet spot for me. I have pretty much every single Mind-Mapping or Outlining app for iOS, and this is among the best.” “This is EXACTLY what I've been hoping for. I so need to send flowers to your mother for having you.” "Mindscope is a terrific app, elegant, easy to use, and incredibly useful.” "Scapple for Mac comes closest to Mindscope in its combination of function, ease of use and minimalism but Mindscope is better." "A very cool app. Think of it as Workflowy unbound from the outline."
Deer
This app offers structured note-taking with features to reorder lines, convert notes to outlines, and generate mind maps. It helps organize complex information and newly learned knowledge points for clearer understanding.
- Freely reorder notes by line
- One-click outline conversion
- One-click mind map generation
- Drag and drop paragraph reordering
- Clearer structure visualization
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Deer is a structured note-taking app. "Freely Reorder Notes" Beyond basic functions, each line in the note can be freely dragged and moved using keyboard shortcuts. You can quickly adjust the order of text in your note. “One-Click to Outline" For clearer organization of your note, you can convert them to an outline with one click. Editing text in the outline provides a clearer view of the structure. Drag and drop is also supported in outline mode, but you drag an entire paragraph. “One-Click to Mind Map" If you find the outline mode still not clear enough, you can convert it to a mind map with one click. In this ultimate mode, the disorganized information in your note becomes crystal clear. This will help you organize newly learned knowledge points or complex theoretical concepts. If you need support, or want to give your valuable suggestions, please let us know by email: todo-color@outlook.com If you choose the "subscription" purchase model, before subscribing, please know: • Monthly subscription users: Each subscription period is 1 month. • Annual subscription users: Each subscription period is 1 year. • In the "Deer" purchase window, the latest subscription price will be displayed in real time. After the payment is confirmed, or after the free trial period (if any) ends, the iTunes account will be debited. • The subscription is automatically renewed unless the auto-renewal feature is turned off 24 hours before the current subscription period. • The account will be deducted for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period, and the renewal amount is the same as the previous subscription amount. • The user can manage the subscription service by himself, and the automatic renewal service can be turned off in the user's account settings after purchase. terms of use: Please read the following terms carefully before using the "Unlocked Full Version" value-added service provided by "Deer": 1. Subscription model This service is a subscription-based fee-based service, which means that you will pay in advance for future subscription usage. Currently, you can choose to use the service on a monthly or yearly basis. At the end of each subscription period, your subscription will be automatically renewed by default, unless you cancel the automatic renewal yourself or we cancel the service. 2. Expenses The current standard service price may change during the promotion period. When the price adjustment occurs, the new fee will be incurred in your next subscription cycle. 3. Refund The current subscription fee will not be refunded. Please be sure to cancel the service by yourself before the end of the trial. 4. Unsubscribe If you need to cancel the renewal, please cancel at least 24 hours in advance. You can cancel by the following method: open the system settings-click on Apple ID-click on subscription-select "Deer" to cancel the subscription 5. Other The same Apple ID can only open one subscription to "Deer" contact us If you have any questions about these terms of use, please contact us. Email address: todo-color@outlook.com. Link to Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy link: https://rednowapp.github.io/privacy-policy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Deer at 4.8 against Mindscope's 4.0. Deer also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 81%). Mindscope's advantage is ratings volume (46 vs 6). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Mindscope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Deer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Deer holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mindscope has 46 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Mindscope's written reviews are positive against 89% of Deer's.
Mindscope ships an update every 2 weeks, Deer every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mindscope | Deer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (46 ratings) | 4.8 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.7% of reviews | 88.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 46 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Goering | 佳文 潘 |
Customer experience
Mindscope
Deer
Bugs and requests
Mindscope
Reported bugs
15 issues- App crashes when adding entries
- Text input box disappears before typing
- Crashes on iPad with iOS 15 upgrade
- iCloud access causes app to hang indefinitely
- Crashes when exporting to plain text
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- Data loss during iOS version upgrades
- Layout issues when rotating device orientation
- Crashes when searching linked elements
- Crashes when inserting text
- Bluetooth keyboard input not working (earlier versions)
- Audio playback interruption
- Alignment and sync issues across devices
- Copy-paste groups items on top of originals
- Undo/redo sequence inconsistencies
- Version 1.5 splash screen hang on startup
Requested features
19 requests- Image and photo insertion capability
- Apple Pencil handwriting support
- Text formatting (bold, colors, font options)
- Infinite or larger canvas with zoom
- iPhone app version
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- Cloud sync (Dropbox, iCloud improvements)
- Multiple independent maps/documents
- Dark mode theme
- Better file management system
- Import from other mind-mapping apps
- Color-coding individual entries
- Calendar and reminders integration
- Web version or Mac companion app
- Notification features
- Improved animation controls
- Circular context menu for faster access
- Plain text export without HTML markup
- Randomize board item locations
- Flowchart options
Deer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mindscope
- Unlock Everything$3.99
Deer
- Subscription Monthly$0.991 Month
- Subscription Yearly$5.991 Year
- Lifetime VIP$9.99








