BoxLine
A dev notebook for iPhone

Your sketches become diagrams.
Branch your ideas and compare.

Draw a box and it becomes a node. Draw a line and it becomes an arrow. Capture the system in your head with one finger, on the train. Fork into plan A and plan B, compare the diff in color, and adopt the winner. AI can turn text or speech into a diagram, too.

One-finger sketching Branches and diffs AI diagrams draw.io / Mermaid export iOS 17 or later

Sketching and PNG export are free. The App Store link will be added at launch.

Chat BFFPlan B
Server side iOS client BFF LLM Worker Postgres Redis sync? SSEqueue
Circle turned into a box Undo
UndoTidyAIHistoryDiff
Why

Stop losing the idea before you reach a laptop

Diagram tools assume a desk. Ideas arrive on the train and in bed. And when you want to compare plan A with plan B, copies of the file pile up and nobody knows which one is current. BoxLine is the notebook that fixes both.

Before

Notes in text, plans scattered across copies

You jot it down in a notes app and redraw it later. Every experiment becomes another duplicate: "architecture_v3_final_2". What changed? Nobody remembers.

BoxLine

Diagram on the spot, plans as branches

Boxes and lines drawn with a finger become nodes and arrows immediately. "Branch from here" creates plan B, the diff is shown in color, and "Adopt" writes the winner back. Every operation stays in the history.

Features

Turn thoughts into diagrams, then grow them

Sequence diagrams, by finger

Draw the participants, then draw a line from one lifeline to another and it becomes a message. Reorder from the list.

Type it, and it becomes a diagram

Write "User -> Server: order" one line at a time and apply. Power users design fast on the phone. Mix with sketching and AI.

Plan the work in the same notebook

Pick what you are building and a target release date; the app lays out a schedule and walks you to release with "N days to go" and today's task. Includes the App Store submission steps.

Sketch and it becomes a diagram

Draw a rectangle with one finger and it becomes a box. Draw a line from box to box and it becomes an arrow. No mode switching. Circles, diamonds, cylinders, and clouds are recognized too.

Branch, compare, decidePro

"Branch from here" creates plan A and plan B. Overlay the diff in color, then "Adopt" the plan you chose and it is written back to the original.

AI diagrams from text or speech

Type or say "When a user orders, the server checks stock, then..." and AI lays it out as boxes and lines, added as a new branch. Nothing is overwritten, so it is safe to try.

Every operation in the history

Scrub the timeline to any past state and branch from there. Free keeps the last 20 operations; Pro goes back to the first stroke.

A notebook that builds up

Diagrams are listed by date with a one-line note. Lock Screen widgets open "Draw" or "Speak to diagram" directly.

Export to draw.io and textPro

Export to PNG, SVG, draw.io, and text (Mermaid). Import draw.io files. PNG export is included in Free.

One-tap auto layout

"Tidy" reads the direction of your arrows and spaces the boxes evenly. Undo if you do not like it. Six templates included.

iCloud syncPro

Stored only in your own iCloud; the developer cannot access it. Even on Free, you can export and import the whole notebook as a file.

No analytics, no ads

The only network traffic is the relay server used by the AI features. Your text is used only for generation and never stored. No login required.

Branching

Compare in color, then adopt

Plans branch like Git branches. In the diff, additions are green, deletions red, changes yellow. Once you decide, the adopted plan updates the original diagram.

Branch tree

main
Sep 12 12 boxes 8 lines
Plan A Direct Lambda
Sep 14 from main +2 −1
Skip the BFF and stream SSE straight from Lambda. Lighter to run, reconnects are painful.
Plan B BFF + Redis
Today from main +3 ~1
Park state in Redis and sweep it later. Current favorite.
B-2 Redis to Postgres
Today from Plan B ~1

Diff main → Plan B

+3added
−1removed
~1changed
iOS client BFF "API GW" → "BFF" LLM Worker Redis Lambda
added removed changed unchanged
How it works

Three steps to a decision

Draw or speak

Sketch boxes and lines with a finger, or talk to "Diagram from text". They become boxes and arrows.

Branch

Tap the branch chip and choose "Branch from here". Change anything in plan B; main stays untouched.

Compare and adopt

Open "Diff", decide with the colors, and "Adopt" to write it back. Export to draw.io or text when you are done.

Pricing

Sketching is free. Branch when you need to.

Free lets you sketch and export PNGs. Branching, diffs, and adoption are unlocked with Pro.

Free

$0
  • Diagrams3
  • Branchesmain only
  • Diff and adoptNo
  • ExportPNG
  • draw.io importNo
  • iCloud syncNo
  • HistoryLast 20 operations
  • AI diagrams (text / speech)5 per month
  • AI explanationsNo
  • Auto layoutYes
  • Templates3

BoxLine Pro

$3.99 / month
or $29.99 / year. 7-day free trial. Prices vary by region.
  • DiagramsUnlimited
  • BranchesUnlimited
  • Diff and adoptYes
  • ExportPNG / SVG / draw.io / Mermaid
  • draw.io importYes
  • iCloud syncYes
  • HistoryEverything
  • AI diagrams (text / speech)150 per month
  • AI explanations150 per month (shared)
  • Auto layoutYes
  • TemplatesAll 6

Pro comes with a 7-day free trial. The subscription is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation and renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings.
Terms of Use (Apple standard EULA) Privacy Policy

FAQ

Questions

Does it run on iPad?

BoxLine is iPhone only. iPad is not supported.

What if a shape is not recognized?

Strokes that are not recognized stay as freehand ink. Right after recognition you can tap "Undo" to turn the box back into ink. Recognition sensitivity has three levels in Settings.

Where does my text go when I use the AI features?

Through the developer's relay server (Cloudflare Workers) to Anthropic's API, used only to generate the diagram. The relay stores nothing except a random device ID generated by the app and the current month's usage count, which expire automatically.

Can AI break my existing diagram?

No. The result is always added as a new branch (only an empty diagram receives it directly in main). You can edit it by hand or delete the branch.

What happens to my data if I cancel Pro?

Your diagrams stay on the device and keep working within the Free limits. "Export the whole notebook" is available on Free too, so you can take your data out as a .boxline file at any time.

What about switching phones?

With Pro iCloud sync, the notebook is simply there on the new phone. Without it, export and import the notebook file. The Pro purchase is restored with "Restore Purchases" in the App Store.

Can I continue a draw.io diagram?

With Pro you can import .drawio and .drawio.svg files. Shapes BoxLine does not have are imported as rectangles. Exported draw.io files open directly in app.diagrams.net.

Diagram the next idea where it happens

Sketch and export PNGs for free. Try Pro free for 7 days when you want to branch.

Get it on the App Store