Detective Notes is a digital companion app for mystery board games that allows users to track clues and suspects on iOS.
Product velocity
Dormant
Daily rank 🇺🇸
—
Games
Sentiment
4.7
217 reviews
Nemesis
Yatzy & Farkle: Dice World
The App DNA
What makes this app unique?
Users hire this app to replace physical score pads with a customizable, multilingual digital interface that keeps their deduction strategy private.
For Board game enthusiasts who play deduction-based mystery games and want a digital, paperless alternative to traditional score pads.
Key features
Users can add or edit suspects, tools, and locations to match specific board game configurations
Interface and sharing options available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, and Korean
Ability to hide or customize notes per game to prevent other players from viewing deductions
How much does it cost?
The app operates on a free model with no visible subscription or IAP gates, monetizing through ad inventory.
Velocity
Dormant developmentopaqueShow more...
The app has recorded only one release in the last five months, resulting in a cadence well below the threshold for maintenance. Given the lack of activity since late December 2025, the development momentum is classified as zombie status. There is no evidence of active feature development, bug fixes, or live operations during this period.
Who built it?
User Sentiment
What do users think recently?
How are ratings & reviews evolving?
Not enough recent reviews to extract reliable themes yet.
Read the full review analysisCompetition
Competitive landscape for Detective Notes
How's the Games market?
Detective Notes maintains a 4.68-star rating on iOS with 217 total ratings, positioning it as a specialized utility tool rather than a mass-market game. The lack of monetization gates signals a focus on user acquisition within the tabletop gaming niche.
Read the market outlookThe rivals identified
By AppA11y, Inc.
This app competes for the same casual board game enthusiast demographic by providing a digital utility for classic tabletop mechanics.
- Offers robust VoiceOver accessibility features, significantly expanding the addressable market for visually impaired players.
- Features a mature, high-volume turn-based multiplayer infrastructure that Detective Notes currently lacks entirely.
Battle Grid CompanionContender
Gloomhaven Scenario ViewerContender
Gloomhaven Campaign TrackerContender
Ticket to Ride® CompanionContenderUnlock the head-to-head verdict: where this rival wins, and where it loses.
Access the full report for freeThe Analyst's Read
Key takeaways for Detective Notes
Where is it heading?
The tabletop companion market is shifting toward automated, multi-device integrated tools that handle complex game states for the user. Detective Notes remains stable but exposed to these more feature-rich competitors, so the PM must decide whether to remain a lightweight utility or pivot toward group-sync capabilities to stay relevant.
- The app maintains a stable rating and update cadence, suggesting a mature product that is not currently pursuing aggressive feature expansion.
- The emergence of bundled board game apps threatens to consolidate the utility market, which could erode the install velocity of single-purpose tools.
The SWOT
- Multilingual support functions as a B2B distribution barrier into international board game markets
- Customizable setup enables mapping to any physical mystery board game configuration
- Integration of image recognition to automate clue tracking from physical game boards
- Partnerships with physical board game publishers for official digital companion status
Next best moves
Ship multi-device sync because the lack of group data sharing is a feature gap against Gloomhaven Campaign Tracker → increase retention
The counter-intuitive read
The app's manual-entry model is not a weakness but a moat…
Read the full takeFeature gaps
Multi-device server sync (available in Gloomhaven Campaign Tracker) +2
Since the last report: The app's competitive positioning shifted to acknowledge the threat of automated, image-recognition-based companion tools, while the product remains in a maintenance state.
Bottom line
Detective Notes holds a strong niche position through customization, but it lacks the automation and group-sync features of modern tabletop companions, so the PM should prioritize multi-device data sharing to prevent churn to more robust campaign trackers.
Unlock 2 critical frictions, 2 market threats and the analyst’s take.
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