The best brain dump apps for iPhone, compared honestly

We make Clarity, so read this knowing that. We still wrote it the way we would want to read it: what each app is best at, where ours loses, and the prices as they were in the US App Store on 5 November 2026.

Updated 2026-11-05

How we compared them

A brain dump is easy to start. What changes from app to app is what you get back when you stop: one long note, a cleaner version of what you said, or separate things you can act on. That is the column that matters most here. After that, the price, where it runs, and whether you can share what you saved.

We left star ratings out. Three of these apps, ours included, had fewer than 200 ratings in the US App Store on 5 November 2026, which says little either way. Facts about other apps come from their own App Store pages, help centers and pricing pages, read on 5 November 2026 and linked at the bottom.

Notion and Obsidian also come up in brain dump lists. We left them out because both are tools for building a system of notes, which is a bigger project than getting everything out of your head tonight.

App	Best for	What one long dump becomes	Price (US, 5 Nov 2026)	Runs on	Shared lists
Clarity: Voice Planner (ours)	Saying work and home at once and seeing exactly what was saved	Separate tasks, in your week or in Later, and it shows you what it saved	Free plan; Pro $9.99/mo or $59.99/yr	iPhone, iPad, Mac	No
Apple Notes	A free place to put it all, already on your iPhone	One note, typed by dictation or transcribed from a recording	Free, built in	iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch	Yes, notes and folders
Google Keep	Free notes and lists you can share, on a phone or a computer	One note, with the transcript of a voice memo	Free	iPhone, iPad, plus Android and web	Yes, notes and lists
Todoist (Ramble)	A spoken list of to-dos, inside a full task manager	Separate tasks you confirm; the free plan gets 10 Ramble sessions a month	Free plan; Pro $6.99/mo or $59.99/yr	iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, plus Android and web	Yes, projects
AudioPen	Turning a ramble into clean writing	One clean, rewritten text; free recordings run up to 3 minutes	Free plan; Prime $99/yr on the web, App Store prices can differ	iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, plus Android and web	Not documented
Voicenotes	Long thoughts and meetings you want to search later	A transcript and a summary	Free plan with 100 transcription minutes a week; Pro $9/mo on its website	iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Windows, plus Android and web	Summaries, by link
Brain Dump	Writing first and sorting later	A note; its AI tools can turn notes into a to-do list (3 free uses a month)	Free plan; Focus $89.99/yr; Lifetime $39.99 (no AI)	iPhone, iPad, Mac, web	Yes, a note or folder by link
Goblin Tools	A typed dump turned into a list of actions	A list of actions (Compiler), or one task broken into steps (Magic ToDo)	Free on the web; iPhone app $0.99; Pro $3.99/mo or $39.99/yr	iPhone, iPad, Mac, plus Android and web	With Pro

Clarity: Voice Planner (ours)

Best for the person who says ten things at once, from work and the kids and the house, and wants to see exactly what was saved. You talk or type, all mixed, and it turns what it understood into separate tasks, in your week or in Later, and shows you what it saved, with widgets on the Home Screen and Lock Screen.

Where it loses: if what you want is a page of your thoughts, word for word or cleaned up, a notes app or AudioPen fits better, because Clarity turns what it understood into tasks. No Android and no web yet, no shared lists, and a young review base. The list, reminders, widgets and talking to Clarity are free, with no end date.

Why we make it: we help people believe in their potential, act on their ideas, and turn what they imagine into reality, toward a world where every mind gets to realize its full potential. The app is where that starts today, with the smallest step: getting what is in your head onto a list you can see.

Apple Notes

Best if you want it free and already on your phone. Dictation types what you say into a note, and you can also record audio inside a note and get a transcript you can search, copy or add to the note, on iPhone 12 and later in supported languages, English included. With Apple Intelligence, on iPhone 15 Pro and later, it can also summarize a recording. What comes back is the note itself, so deciding what has a date is still your job. Notes and folders can be shared with other people.

Google Keep

Best if you want free notes and lists you can share and open on a phone or a computer. Its App Store page says you can record a voice memo and have it transcribed automatically, get reminded about a note at a time or a place, and share notes and lists with family and friends. A long dump stays one note.

Todoist with Ramble

Best if your dump is mostly to-dos and you want a full task manager around them. Ramble listens as you talk and shows the tasks it found in a preview you confirm. Todoist's help center calls it a quick capture tool rather than a conversational assistant, asks you to say each task clearly before moving to the next one, and says free users get 10 sessions a month. Projects can be shared.

AudioPen

Best if you think out loud and want clean writing back. You talk, and it rewrites what you said into readable text in the style you pick, which suits ideas, journaling and emails. What comes back is text, not tasks. The free plan takes recordings up to 3 minutes. Prime is $99 a year on the web, and its pricing page says prices in the iPhone app can differ.

Voicenotes

Best if you record long thoughts or meetings and want to find things in them later. It transcribes what you say, summarizes it, and lets you search everything you recorded; its website says it can turn a meeting into follow-up emails, reports or to-do lists. The free plan includes 100 transcription minutes a week and 30 days of history. Pro is $9 a month on its website.

Brain Dump

Best if you like to write first and sort later. It opens straight to a blank note, has a freewriting space for emptying your head across several notes, and lets you put a reminder on a note (one reminder on the free plan). Its AI tools can turn notes into a to-do list or a summary, with 3 free uses a month. Its pricing page lists Focus at $89.99 a year for unlimited AI, and Lifetime $39.99 as a one-time purchase without the AI tools. It runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and on the web.

Goblin Tools

Best if you type your dump and want a list of actions back, or one big task broken into steps. Its Compiler turns a messy brain dump into a list of actions, and Magic ToDo breaks a task into smaller steps. The website is free, with no ads. The iPhone app costs $0.99, and the App Store's in-app purchase list shows Goblin Tools Pro $3.99/mo or $39.99/yr, which adds sync, templates and shared lists. Its About page says the results come from general-purpose AI models and are guesswork, so check what comes back.

How to choose

You want it free and already on your phone: Apple Notes, or Google Keep if you also use devices that are not Apple's.
Your dump is mostly to-dos and you already live in a task manager: Todoist with Ramble.
You think out loud and want clean writing back: AudioPen.
You record long thoughts or meetings and want to search them later: Voicenotes.
You like to write first and sort later: Brain Dump.
You type the dump, or one big task is what is stuck: Goblin Tools.
You say ten things at once, work and home mixed, and want them back as tasks you can see: Clarity.

Download Clarity on the App Store

Questions

What is the best brain dump app for iPhone?

It depends on what you want back. Free and already on your phone: Apple Notes. Clean writing from a ramble: AudioPen. Tasks inside a full task manager: Todoist with Ramble. A list of actions from a typed dump: Goblin Tools. Ten things at once, work and home mixed, as tasks you can see: Clarity, which turns what it understood into tasks and shows you what it saved.

What app helps me get everything out of my head?

Any of these will take it; the right one depends on what you need afterwards. To keep your thoughts as a page, word for word or cleaned up: Apple Notes or AudioPen. If most of what is in your head is things to do, Clarity turns what it understood into separate tasks, and Todoist's Ramble captures tasks as you talk. Clarity takes work, the kids and the house mixed, in one go, and shows you exactly what it saved.

Is there a free brain dump app?

Apple Notes and Google Keep are free, and Goblin Tools is free on its website. Todoist, AudioPen, Voicenotes and Brain Dump have free plans with limits. Clarity's list, reminders, widgets and talking to it are free, with no end date.

Can I brain dump by voice and get tasks back?

In Clarity and in Todoist's Ramble, yes, according to each app. Apple Notes, Google Keep and Voicenotes give you a transcript, AudioPen gives you cleaned-up text, and Brain Dump and Goblin Tools can turn written notes into a to-do list or a list of actions.