The best brain dump apps for iPhone in 2026 By typing or by talking.
A brain dump works when getting the thought out costs less than holding it. Some apps give you a blank page or a record button and help you tidy up afterwards. Others skip the tidying and put each thought on a list. These eight do one of the two well.
I build Driftto, and it is on this list. It sits at the top of the second group, the apps that put a thought straight on a list, because that is the one job it does. For a dump you want to read back and sort, the first group serves you better.
This list is for iPhone. Five apps hold the dump, a page or a voice note, and help you sort it later. Three put each thought straight on a list. Many people with ADHD ask for apps like these on Reddit, so I kept an eye on how few decisions each asks before you start. Prices and features come from each app's App Store page, pricing page and help center in October 2026.
The short list
For a brain dump on iPhone, five apps hold the dump and help you sort it later: Apple Notes, Drafts, Brain Dump, AudioPen and Voicenotes. Three skip the sorting and put each thought straight on a list: Driftto, Todoist and Tiimo. Apple Notes is already on your phone.
| Rank | App | Best for | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dump now, sort later | ||||
| 1 |  Apple Notes |
A blank page that is already on your phone | Included with iOS | |
| 2 |  Drafts |
A fresh page every time, sent on later | Free, or $2.99 a month | |
| 3 |  Brain Dump |
Typing first, with AI to tidy up after | Free, or $10.99 a month | |
| 4 |  AudioPen |
Talking it out, and getting clean text back | Free, or $99 a year | |
| 5 |  Voicenotes |
A searchable archive of everything you said | Free, or $9 a month | |
| Straight into your list | ||||
| 6 |  Driftto |
Each thought on the list where it belongs | From $2.99 a month | |
| 7 |  Todoist |
Talk a pile of tasks into Todoist | Free, or $59.99 a year | |
| 8 |  Tiimo |
Dump the tasks, then see them on a day | Free, or Tiimo Pro | |
Dump now, sort later A page or a recording, tidied up afterwards.
1 Apple Notes
Apple · iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, iCloud.com
The dump you don't have to install. Fine for a page of loose thoughts, less good at turning them into anything.
- Price
- Included with iOS.
- Works on
- iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, synced with iCloud, and at iCloud.com on other computers.
- Capture
- Quick Note from Control Center, Siri, and audio recordings inside a note with a live transcript on iPhone 12 or newer.
- Sorting later
- Folders, tags, smart folders and checklists. With Apple Intelligence on, a recording can be summarized.
- The catch
- Nothing moves on by itself. A to-do in a note stays a line in a note until you copy it somewhere.
For many people the brain dump already lives here: one long note called Inbox or Thoughts that grows all week. Quick Note opens from Control Center without finding the app, and a recording in a note now gets a transcript you can search and copy.
Where it stops is the second half of the job. Notes keeps your dump safe, but deciding what is a task and moving it to your list is still work you do by hand.
2 Drafts
Agile Tortoise · iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch
Opens to an empty page with the keyboard up, then lets you send the text almost anywhere when you are ready.
- Price
- Free to use. Drafts Pro is $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year in the App Store.
- Works on
- iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, synced with iCloud.
- Capture
- A new draft on open, dictation, Siri, widgets, the share extension, and voice capture from the watch.
- Sorting later
- An inbox you tag, flag or archive, plus actions that send text to Reminders, Todoist, email and other apps.
- The catch
- The sending is a second visit. You dump now, then come back to run an action on each draft.
Drafts is the classic answer for people who think in text. Every launch is a new page, so there is no choosing a folder before you write. The inbox fills up, and later you clear it the way you clear email: tag it, archive it, or run an action that moves it on.
The action directory is the deep end. Ready-made actions reach most list and note apps, and you can write your own if the built-ins fall short.
3 Brain Dump
Francesco Leoni · iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro, web
A notes app built around one habit: write it down now, decide what it is later, and let AI help with the later.
- Price
- Free to use. Focus is $10.99 a month or $99.99 a year. A one-time lifetime plan includes everything in Focus except AI.
- Works on
- iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro, plus a web app. No Android or Windows app.
- Capture
- Opens on a new note. Widgets, Lock Screen and Control Center, an Action Button control, Siri, and a share sheet.
- Sorting later
- Folders and tags, merging notes, and AI that turns a note into a to-do list, summary or email. Three AI uses a month free.
- The catch
- The AI is the paid part. On the free plan you get three uses a month, so the tidying stays mostly yours.
This is the app most people mean when they search the phrase. Its maker says it was made with ADHD brains in mind, and the design shows it: no title, no folder, no setup before you type, and a Freewriting space for emptying your head across several notes at once.
The paid Focus plan adds the part that sorts the mess: ask questions of your notes, or turn a page of fragments into a checklist.
4 AudioPen
Nicheless, Inc. · iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, web
Ramble for a few minutes and get back a tidy note instead of a raw transcript.
- Price
- Free plan with recordings up to 3 minutes. Prime is $99 a year on the web. App Store prices differ.
- Works on
- iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, a Chrome extension and the web, on one account.
- Capture
- A record button in the app, and a voice keyboard for typing by voice inside other apps.
- Sorting later
- Writing styles that rewrite your words, combining notes into one, and Zapier or webhooks to send notes on.
- The catch
- It rewrites by design. If you want your exact words kept, check the style first.
AudioPen is for the walk-and-talk dump. You speak the way you think, half sentences included, and it hands back the same thoughts written out cleanly in the style you picked. On the free plan a recording stops at three minutes, which is often enough for one tangle of ideas.
Prime lifts that to fifteen minutes per recording and adds combining notes, so a week of voice dumps can become one summary.
5 Voicenotes
Coping Hard Inc. · iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, Android
Record everything you say out loud, then ask its AI what you said last Tuesday.
- Price
- Basic is free, with 100 transcription minutes a week and 30 days of history. Pro is $9 a month on the web, $14.99 in the app.
- Works on
- iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac and Android.
- Capture
- One record button for memos, meetings and thinking out loud, transcribed in over a hundred languages.
- Sorting later
- Summaries, search across every recording, and questions you ask the AI about your notes. Connects to Notion, Todoist and Zapier.
- The catch
- It leans toward meetings now. For a quick personal dump, the free plan's 30-day history is the limit to watch.
Voicenotes treats a brain dump as raw material you will want again. Every recording becomes a transcript and a summary, and the point is less the tidy note than being able to ask, weeks later, what you decided about the move or which book someone recommended.
That makes it a good fit if you think out loud often and lose track of what you said.
Straight into your list Each thought becomes an item right away.
6 Driftto
Made by me · iPhone
No pile to sort later. Type or say the thought, tap where it goes, and it is already an item on your list.
- Price
- Free to download. $2.99 a month, $19.99 a year with a free week for new subscribers, or $29.99 once.
- Works on
- iPhone, with Siri, Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, and a Control Center control on iOS 18.
- Sends to
- Apple Reminders, Todoist, TickTick, Notion, Asana, Jira, Linear and email. One thought can go to several at once.
- Sorting later
- None in Driftto. You pick the place when you capture, and the list app does the rest.
- The catch
- One capture becomes one item, with the whole note as its title. A long ramble makes a long title, not tidy separate tasks.
Driftto opens to one field with the keyboard already up. You type or speak, the speech becomes text on the phone, and you tap a destination you set up once with its default list or project. The thought lands in Reminders or Todoist as an item, not in a pile to empty tonight.
I built it for the dumps that are really to-dos: call the plumber, send the deck. Every sorting step later is a chance to lose them.
7 Todoist
Doist · iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows, web
Ramble turns one spoken stream into several tasks with dates, if Todoist is already where your list lives.
- Price
- Free for up to five projects. Pro is $59.99 a year or $6.99 a month in the App Store.
- Works on
- iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android, Windows and the web.
- Capture
- Quick Add with plain-language dates, Siri, widgets, and Ramble: talk and it builds tasks while you speak.
- Ramble limits
- Ten sessions a month on the free plan, unlimited on Pro. It needs an internet connection.
- The catch
- It only fills Todoist. If your list is in Reminders or Notion, Ramble does not help you.
Ramble is the closest thing to a brain dump inside a list app. You open it from Quick Add, talk through everything on your mind, and it splits what you say into separate tasks with projects and due dates. You can correct it out loud, or tell it to drop a task it got wrong.
If you would rather type, Driftto also writes into Todoist. How that works.
8 Tiimo
tiimo ApS · iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, Android, web
A visual day planner with a to-do list for dumping tasks, and AI that groups and schedules them.
- Price
- Free version with the basic planner and limited AI chats. Tiimo Pro is monthly or yearly, with a 7-day trial on yearly only.
- Works on
- iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac and Android. The web planner needs Pro.
- Capture
- A to-do list to dump tasks into, widgets and Live Activities, and an AI co-planner you can talk tasks through with.
- Sorting later
- AI priority grouping, time estimates, and a color-coded visual schedule. Syncs with Apple Calendar and Reminders.
- The catch
- It wants to plan your day, not just hold the list. If you only need the dump, that is more app than the job.
Tiimo takes a dump of tasks and turns it into a day you can see. Its makers built it with neurodivergent people in mind, and it was Apple's iPhone App of the Year for 2025. The to-do list is where the dump goes, and the AI groups it by priority and estimates how long each thing takes.
How I picked
Every app here lets you start writing or talking without naming a note, choosing a folder or setting anything up first. The dump-and-sort apps were judged on what happens afterwards: how easy it is to find, tidy and move what you dumped. The list apps on one criterion: the fewest steps from a thought to an item on a list you already keep, whichever app that list is in.
Nobody paid to be here and there are no affiliate links. If you are building a whole system around your list, the GTD list covers the apps that hold it. When a price or feature changes, this page changes too.
Questions
What is a brain dump app?
An app that lets you get every thought out of your head quickly, by typing or talking, without organizing first. Some help you sort the pile afterwards, others put each thought on a list straight away.
Can I use Apple Notes for a brain dump?
Yes. One running note works well as a dump, and Quick Note opens it from Control Center. Moving the to-dos out of it to your list is still manual.
Is it better to brain dump by voice or by typing?
Talking is quicker for a long tangle of thoughts, and apps like AudioPen tidy the result. Typing is better for short items you want to act on, and for places where you can't talk out loud.
Are brain dump apps good for ADHD?
Many people with ADHD ask about them on Reddit, and some of these apps were built with them in mind. I can't tell you an app helps with ADHD. What they do is cut the steps between a thought and somewhere safe to put it.
Driftto is in the App Store now.
Free to download. The yearly plan starts with a free week.