Reflect Review Australia 2026: Free on Mac, A$149 a Year on iPhone — Is Reflect Open Worth It?
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- History
- Edition 2. Was 15/25, Jun 2026
The gate: Five stars need 21+ and Australian Fit of at least 4/5.
Skip to the verdictVerdict (TL;DR): Reflect has rebuilt itself as Reflect Open — a free, open-source notes app for the Mac that keeps every note as a Markdown file on your own machine. The iPhone and iPad app costs A$14.99 a month or A$149 a year on the Australian App Store. AI runs on your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or OpenRouter key. For a Mac-only solo worker who wants private, local notes with AI, it's a strong free pick. It's still beta software, there's no Windows, Android or web app, and it does nothing for teams.
Score: 16/25 — ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very Good
Last reviewed: 8 October 2026 by Adam.
Earlier editions of this review: 20 Jun 2026 — 15/25. This is edition 2, dated 8 Oct 2026. We keep every edition so you can see how the tool and our verdict have moved — how and why.
What Reflect is now
Reflect started as a hosted, encrypted, subscription notes app built around backlinks. That's the product our June review scored. It still exists for existing customers as Reflect Classic, which the company says "is still maintained."
New customers now get Reflect Open. It's a different shape of product:
- Local files. "Your notes live in a folder you choose," as plain Markdown files. Reflect doesn't hold them on its servers.
- Open source. The code is on GitHub under the MIT licence.
- Your own AI key. AI features run on a key you supply from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or OpenRouter. Reflect says "requests go directly to your provider."
- Your own sync. Notes sync through iCloud Drive or a Git remote such as GitHub.
- Apple-first. A Mac app, an iPhone and iPad app, and a Chrome extension for capturing web pages. The project says Windows and Android are "out of scope for now."
The AI features cover what you'd expect from a notes app in 2026: chat with your notes, transcription, meeting summaries, grammar fixes and custom prompts. Notes you mark private are kept out of AI requests.
Reflect describes the project as "in beta and used daily." The App Store version was 0.14.0 when we checked.
What it costs in Australia
| Platform | Price | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Mac | Free | No subscription |
| iPhone and iPad (Reflect Pro) | A$14.99 a month or A$149 a year | Australian App Store, AUD, GST-inclusive |
| AI features | Your provider's usage charges | Billed by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or OpenRouter, not by Reflect |
These are real Australian prices. Apple bills them in AUD, with GST included, so there's no conversion to do and no GST to work out. The yearly plan works out at about A$12.42 a month, a saving of roughly 17% on monthly.
Existing Reflect Classic subscribers get a free year of the iPhone and iPad app.
AI is the hidden line item. Reflect doesn't charge for AI, but your provider does. Light use of a note-chat feature costs little. Heavy transcription can add up. Set a spending limit in your provider's console before you start.
How it works in practice
Built from Reflect's site, GitHub repository and App Store listing, read 8 October 2026.
You pick a folder on your Mac, and Reflect Open treats it as your notebook. Daily notes, [[backlinks]] between notes and search work as they did in the hosted app. Every note is a Markdown file. You can open the folder in another editor, back it up any way you like, or leave with nothing to export.
To turn on AI, you paste an API key into settings. A shortcut (⌘J) then queries your notes through that provider. The trade-off is plain. You get model choice and no Reflect middleman. You also take on a developer-style setup step the old app hid from you.
Sync is your job too. iCloud Drive is the easy option for Mac-plus-iPhone. Git suits anyone who wants version history.
What it does well
- Free on the Mac, for real. No trial clock, no card. That changes Reflect's value case completely from June.
- Your notes stay yours. Plain files in a folder you choose, synced through accounts you already control. Reflect's App Store privacy label says the developer "does not collect any data from this app."
- No lock-in. Open-source code and Markdown files mean the notes outlive the company.
- Model choice. Four AI routes, including OpenRouter, so you're not tied to one lab's pricing or privacy terms.
- Australian pricing on the paid part. The one thing you pay Reflect for is priced in AUD by Apple.
What it doesn't do well
- Beta software. Version 0.14, frequent releases and too few App Store ratings to show a score. Expect rough edges.
- Apple only. No Windows, Android or web app. The June review covered all five platforms; Reflect Open covers two.
- AI setup is technical. Creating an API key and watching provider bills is a job many small-business owners won't want.
- No team features. Single-user by design. No shared workspace, no admin console.
- Your AI text leaves your machine. With a cloud key, the text you send goes to that provider under its own data terms. Check them before you send client material.
- The iPhone app isn't cheap. A$149 a year buys only the mobile companion; the Mac app does everything else free.
Australian fit
This is where the rebuild helps Australians most.
Pricing: the paid iPhone and iPad plan is in real AUD on the Australian App Store, GST-inclusive. The Mac app is free.
Data residency: your notes sit on your Mac and in the iCloud Drive or Git remote you choose. Reflect holds no copy; where Apple or GitHub stores theirs is set by those providers, not Reflect.
GST: Australian App Store prices include GST, so the price you see is the price you pay.
What holds it back from five: AI requests go to the provider you choose. Where that text is processed depends on the provider, not Reflect. There's no Australian support channel. Australian Fit: 4/5.
Alternatives
- Obsidian — free, local-first and the closest match, with a far larger plugin ecosystem and Windows, Android and Linux apps. AI takes more setup. Pick it if you're not all-Apple.
- Notion — the pick for teams and databases, with AI as an add-on. Cloud-hosted and heavier, but collaborative.
- Logseq — free, open-source and local-first, built around an outliner. Steeper to learn.
Bottom line
Reflect Open is a better deal for Australians than the app we reviewed in June. It's free on the Mac, the paid iPhone app is in real AUD, and your notes never sit on Reflect's servers.
Pick it if you work alone, live on a Mac and iPhone, and want private, local notes with AI you control. Skip it if you need Windows or Android, a team workspace, or software that's past beta. If you'd rather not manage an API key, Obsidian or Notion will suit you better.
We score it 16/25 — ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very Good, up from 15/25.
Score
| Criterion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Value for Money | 4/5 | Free on Mac with no trial clock; iPhone app A$14.99 a month or A$149 a year; AI paid to your provider. |
| Ease of Use | 3/5 | Clean, familiar notes app, but AI needs your own API key and sync is yours to set up. |
| Feature Depth | 3/5 | Backlinks, AI chat, transcription, summaries and web capture; Apple-only, single-user, beta. |
| Australian Fit | 4/5 | Real AUD on the App Store, GST-inclusive, notes stored on your own devices; AI processing depends on your provider, no AU support. |
| Reliability & Support | 2/5 | Beta at version 0.14, too few ratings to score; open source and local files protect your data, support is small-team. |
| Total | 16/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very Good |
Update history
- 8 Oct 2026 — New edition, full re-review of the repositioned product. Was: 15/25 ⭐⭐⭐ Good, scoring Reflect's hosted cloud app at US$10 a month billed annually (~A$168 a year), no free tier, built-in AI and no AUD billing. Now: 16/25 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very Good, scoring Reflect Open — free on Mac, Reflect Pro on iPhone and iPad at A$14.99 a month or A$149 a year (Australian App Store, GST-inclusive), AI on your own key, notes stored locally. Value for Money 3→4, Australian Fit 2→4, Reliability & Support 3→2, Ease of Use 4→3, Feature Depth held at 3. Title, verdict, pricing, platforms, privacy, FAQ and schema rewritten. Source: reflect.app, App Store AU listing and GitHub repository (all read 8 Oct 2026). The previous edition is kept unchanged and linked above.
- 30 Sep 2026 — re-verified by browser; the product this review describes has been repositioned, and no price is published.
reflect.app/pricingnow returns not-found, and the homepage presents Reflect Open: an open-source note app with local Markdown files, free on Mac, with a paid subscription only on iPhone and iPad, sync through iCloud Drive or Git, and AI that runs on your own API key (billed by your provider). The hosted product is reachable only as "Log in to Classic". No price in any currency appears on the site, so the US$10/month annual plan, the "no free tier" line and the built-in AI in this review could not be confirmed and may no longer apply to new customers. Filed for a full re-review in Review-Queue; the review is otherwise untouched. Nothing on the site is priced inA$.aud_native: falseset. Capture:Dossiers/captures/reflect-pricing-2026-09-30.txt; Wayback 30 Sep 2026. - 24 Sep 2026 — The AUD column was never grossed up for GST, and every word around it said it was. The header read “gross-up; GST unconfirmed” and the note beneath described a 10% uplift — while the figures themselves are plain conversions at 1.4045. Checked before changing a word: across the 63 files carrying this wording, 141 rows convert at 1.4045 and none at 1.4045 × 1.10. No figure changed here; only the description of them did. Two things were wrong beyond the arithmetic: gross-up names a tax uplift and was being used for a currency conversion, and GST unconfirmed is stale — our GST rule settled it on 5 September 2026, and a GST-registered Australian business supplying its ABN is not charged GST on an imported digital service. No USD price moved and no score changed.
reviewed:untouched per our dating rule. - 20 Jun 2026 — First reviewed.
Sources
- Reflect — homepage (Reflect Open; free on Mac; paid subscription on iPhone and iPad at local App Store pricing; notes in a folder you choose; iCloud Drive or Git sync; AI on your own key, "requests go directly to your provider"; Classic "still maintained"; Classic subscribers get a free year on iPhone and iPad): https://reflect.app/ — primary. Read 8 October 2026.
- Apple App Store (Australia) — Reflect Open by Reflect App, LLC (free with in-app purchases; Reflect Pro Monthly A$14.99, Reflect Pro Yearly A$149.00; version 0.14.0; privacy label "does not collect any data"): https://apps.apple.com/au/app/reflect-open/id6787385615 — primary. Read 8 October 2026.
- GitHub — team-reflect/reflect-open (MIT licence; Mac and iOS; Windows and Android "out of scope for now"; AI via OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or OpenRouter keys; "in beta and used daily"): https://github.com/team-reflect/reflect-open — primary. Read 8 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is Reflect available in Australia?
Yes. Reflect Open is free to download for the Mac, and the iPhone and iPad app is on the Australian App Store. There's no Windows, Android or web version. Existing customers can keep using Reflect Classic.
Does Reflect charge in AUD?
Yes, for the part you pay for. Reflect Pro on iPhone and iPad costs A$14.99 a month or A$149 a year on the Australian App Store, GST-inclusive. The Mac app is free. AI usage is billed separately by your own provider.
Is there a free plan?
Yes. Reflect Open is free on the Mac with no subscription. You pay only for the iPhone and iPad app and for whatever your AI provider charges.
Is my data private?
Your notes are Markdown files in a folder you choose, synced through your own iCloud Drive or Git account. Reflect doesn't store them. When you use AI, the text you send goes straight to your chosen provider under its own terms.
Who is Reflect best for?
Solo Mac and iPhone users who want private, local notes with AI they control. Skip it if you need Windows or Android, a team workspace, or mature software — it's still in beta.
The AI Directory Australia is an independent publication. We review and score AI tools on their merits for Australian users — no paid placement, no sponsored reviews. Affiliate links, where used, are disclosed and never affect a score. Every review carries a last-reviewed date; flag anything out of date at adam@theaidirectory.com.au.
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