Updated 16 October 2026
Drafts is a powerful text tool: it opens to a blank page and lets you send what you write almost anywhere. Prod is narrower: it's for catching ideas in seconds, then sorting them and bringing them back.
Both are good at quick capture. Which one suits you depends on what happens after.
Drafts is a text tool. It opens to a blank page so you can start typing straight away, and then lets you send that text almost anywhere with Actions: to other apps, to email, to files, or through your own automations. Drafts describes itself as the place “where text starts”.
Prod is narrower. It's only for ideas. You catch one in a few seconds, and Prod holds on to it until you've decided what it is: something to act on now, something to come back to, something to pass on, or something to let go.
| Prod | Drafts | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Catching ideas, then sorting them later | Capturing any text, then processing it with Actions |
| Opens to | Your ideas, with a capture button | A blank draft, ready to type |
| After capture | A swipe review: Active, Paused, Send or Archive | Inbox, flags, tags and an archive; Actions send text on |
| Brings ideas back | Yes, a nudge about each idea after a few days | No built-in nudges |
| Automation | Siri and Shortcuts | Deep: Actions, scripting, Shortcuts, URL schemes |
| Apple Watch | Capture by dictation, Scribble or keyboard; complications | Capture, plus browse, flag, tag and archive drafts; four complications |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch |
| Price | Free; Prod Pro is optional | Free core app; Drafts Pro is $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year (US, October 2026) |
Choose Drafts if most of what you capture is text that needs to go somewhere else. If you write in one place and publish in another, send notes to a task manager, or like building your own workflows, Drafts does far more than Prod, and it has done it well for years.
Drafts is also the better fit if you want a fuller Watch app that lets you browse, flag, tag and archive drafts on your wrist.
Choose Prod if your problem isn't moving text around, but losing ideas. Prod is built for the few seconds after an idea arrives, and for what happens next:
Yes. Some people catch ideas in Prod and, once an idea is worth working on, send it on through the share sheet to wherever they write or plan. Drafts is one good place for that.
For capturing ideas, yes. For processing text with Actions and automation, no. Prod doesn't try to do what Drafts does there.
Both are built for speed. Drafts opens straight to a blank page. Prod opens to your ideas with a capture button, or you can capture from a Home Screen widget, Siri, or your Apple Watch.
Yes, both do. Prod captures by dictation, Scribble or keyboard, with complications for your watch face. Drafts on Apple Watch can capture new drafts and browse your Inbox and Flagged drafts, with four complications.
Yes. Prod is free to download and use. Prod Pro is an optional upgrade that adds unlimited ideas, Resurfacing, a Weekly Prod and detailed Insights.
Prod is free on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
Questions? See Support or email support@getprod.app.