Card Buddy - Index Cards

Name: Card Buddy - Index Cards
Rating: 4.4 (39 reviews)
Author: Allen Ussher

Outline, plot & beat sheets

Free · In‑App Purchases

39 Ratings
Age Rating

4+
Years
Category

Productivity
Developer

Allen Ussher
Language

EN
English
Size

8.1
MB

Card Buddy turns your screen into an infinite corkboard for index cards. Drag cards anywhere on the canvas and watch neighboring cards glide out of the way — outlining your story should feel as natural as moving notecards on a desk. Perfect for screenwriters, novelists, and anyone who thinks in cards. Lay out your beat sheet, rearrange plot points, and build your story one card at a time. Features: - Drag-and-drop index cards on a free-form canvas, with neighbors that move out of the way automatically - Two-sided cards — type a summary on the front, details on the back - Add images to any card for storyboards and moodboards - Three text styles: Plain, Auto-style (instant headers and subtitles), and Markdown - Kanban layout to organize cards into columns - Built for Mac and iPhone — your boards go where you do Whether you're breaking a screenplay, plotting a novel, or organizing research, Card Buddy keeps your ideas movable. Terms of use: https://www.ussherpress.com/cardbuddy/terms/ Privacy policy: https://www.ussherpress.com/cardbuddy/privacy/

Ratings & Reviews

4.4

out of 5

39 Ratings

Simplicity RULES!
04/17/2025
TheEmperorHasNoClothes
I am writing a story and have looked at numerous apps that claim to help with the organization of character development, story outline, plot development, notes, etc. As a privacy advocate I am appalled at how many apps require you to provide the developer with royalty-free rights to not only YOUR content within their app but beyond it so they can sell it and repurpose it as you wish. (I am one of “those” people who read EULAs.). Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they’re feeding YOUR ideas into AI to generate stories that somehow are remarkably similar to your own. No thanks.Card Buddy is a breath of fresh air, for many reasons. 1. It is not the privacy nightmare that others are. 2. Its simplicity is phenomenal. While it has a few bells and whistles, the simplicity keeps me on track. In very little time I was able to create and organize cards for all my story elements, bringing my project to life. 3. Card Buddy can be used for SO MANY different tasks/projects!! I’m a retired IT business analyst, and I can see this working very eloquently as a fantastic way to keep track of epics, features, and user stories. In the non-work realm Card Buddy could be used to manage so many personal projects - building a family photo archive, renovating a room in the house, keeping track of contractor quotes, house maintenance, financial planning, managing a home business, etc. It took me only 30 minutes of use after I downloaded the free version to upgrade to the paid version. SO worth it!
Simplicity RULES!
04/17/2025
TheEmperorHasNoClothes

I am writing a story and have looked at numerous apps that claim to help with the organization of character development, story outline, plot development, notes, etc. As a privacy advocate I am appalled at how many apps require you to provide the developer with royalty-free rights to not only YOUR content within their app but beyond it so they can sell it and repurpose it as you wish. (I am one of “those” people who read EULAs.). Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they’re feeding YOUR ideas into AI to generate stories that somehow are remarkably similar to your own. No thanks.Card Buddy is a breath of fresh air, for many reasons. 1. It is not the privacy nightmare that others are. 2. Its simplicity is phenomenal. While it has a few bells and whistles, the simplicity keeps me on track. In very little time I was able to create and organize cards for all my story elements, bringing my project to life. 3. Card Buddy can be used for SO MANY different tasks/projects!! I’m a retired IT business analyst, and I can see this working very eloquently as a fantastic way to keep track of epics, features, and user stories. In the non-work realm Card Buddy could be used to manage so many personal projects - building a family photo archive, renovating a room in the house, keeping track of contractor quotes, house maintenance, financial planning, managing a home business, etc. It took me only 30 minutes of use after I downloaded the free version to upgrade to the paid version. SO worth it!
It's been 84 years...
08/27/2023
Aeth0za
That's how it feels, anyway. I've spent over 30 hours periodically looking for an sticky notes / index cards application that is also meshed with a grid option, FOREVER. Every application worthy has a hefty subscription requirement, or worse, its U/I is so obsessed with appearing clean that precious real estate is used up by emptiy space and cannot be used. I've looked at over 25 applications.WIth Card Buddy, I can fit a LOT of text in different notes on my screen and at a glance without having to scroll up or down. This makes it much easier to story board when it comes to several sub-plots and characters, and moving things around is easy-breezy.User interface is easy, the application is intuitive,a and you can learn it in about 10 seconds.There's a number of features this app could use, but I'm hopeful because at the time of writing I see the creator updated 3 weeks ago. This is an app that is in progress and I look forward to seeing how it grows! Definitely worth the cost.
It's been 84 years...
08/27/2023
Aeth0za

That's how it feels, anyway. I've spent over 30 hours periodically looking for an sticky notes / index cards application that is also meshed with a grid option, FOREVER. Every application worthy has a hefty subscription requirement, or worse, its U/I is so obsessed with appearing clean that precious real estate is used up by emptiy space and cannot be used. I've looked at over 25 applications.WIth Card Buddy, I can fit a LOT of text in different notes on my screen and at a glance without having to scroll up or down. This makes it much easier to story board when it comes to several sub-plots and characters, and moving things around is easy-breezy.User interface is easy, the application is intuitive,a and you can learn it in about 10 seconds.There's a number of features this app could use, but I'm hopeful because at the time of writing I see the creator updated 3 weeks ago. This is an app that is in progress and I look forward to seeing how it grows! Definitely worth the cost.
Pretty Close to Perfect
05/18/2024
raferguzman
I've been looking for an app that would allow to me to lay out index cards in a snap-to grid that would rearrange itself when I moved the cards. This is the only app I could find for Mac! The interface is not quite as streamlined as it could be, but the app works very well and does exactly what I need it to do. Two suggestions: One would be a "fit to window" view, which would keep all my cards stationary on the screen so that I don't have to scroll around to see them all. Another suggestion would be a "grab" function, so that when using a mouse I could grab the board and move it around, without having to use the scroll bars at the side and bottom. Overall, though, this app is worth the very reasonable price!
Pretty Close to Perfect
05/18/2024
raferguzman

I've been looking for an app that would allow to me to lay out index cards in a snap-to grid that would rearrange itself when I moved the cards. This is the only app I could find for Mac! The interface is not quite as streamlined as it could be, but the app works very well and does exactly what I need it to do. Two suggestions: One would be a "fit to window" view, which would keep all my cards stationary on the screen so that I don't have to scroll around to see them all. Another suggestion would be a "grab" function, so that when using a mouse I could grab the board and move it around, without having to use the scroll bars at the side and bottom. Overall, though, this app is worth the very reasonable price!
Almost Awesome
08/25/2023
Lotte Latte
PROS:-Great organization, streamlined look, great for character sheets, plotting, and setting mood boards!-Great free option to test out the app without paying and only asks for a one-time price to be able to save it, which in a monthly pay structure kind of world we live in now, it was refreshing! Still a bit more than I’d usually pay for a creative organization app, but it allows a lot of customizations-Inserting links and images into cards is soooo easy! Most apps would get the formatting all wrong, and this is one of the few index card apps that aren’t just studying flash cards but catered towards creatives who use index cards CONS/AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT:-Not able to duplicate boards—so if I want to do another volume of plotting I have to recreate the template again. Why have samples if you can’t duplicate them or generate them as pseudo-templates (rather than having to start with different formats from scratch)?-Also not being able to duplicate cards themselves interrupts my creative workflow to copy and paste—which leads me to my next point: -The double-tap zoom out feature that’s built-into it—every time I want to select text and cut it to paste into another card I click the first word and then trying to drag select the passage, and it registers this action as a ‘double-tap’ and super zooms me out (so you can see whole board). I will admit, you can expand the card full screen and do this successfully, but the point of this app is for visual interface, and expanding and minimizing can trip up my creative process, which is what this whole app is about. It would be nice if this double-tap zoom out feature was disabled and offered as a customizable document setting instead!Hope the developers hear what I have to say and update this app with any of my suggested features, in which case I would edit my review!

Developer Response
Thank you so much for this incredibly detailed feedback. This is exactly what I'm looking for to help improve the app.1. I can definitely add a duplicate board feature in the next version.2. There is an option to duplicate cards, but it is buried in the ellipsis menu in the card tool bar. I can definitely bubble this up so it's more prominent.Regarding your general comment about things interrupting your creative workflow, I'm working on improving how the app responds to taps and gestures so it feels more natural. I definitely want the app to sort of disappear as you are working out your ideas, so stay tuned.If you have further feedback, please send them to support (at) ussher.ca - I would love to hear it so I can improve the app. -Allen
Almost Awesome
08/25/2023
Lotte Latte

PROS:-Great organization, streamlined look, great for character sheets, plotting, and setting mood boards!-Great free option to test out the app without paying and only asks for a one-time price to be able to save it, which in a monthly pay structure kind of world we live in now, it was refreshing! Still a bit more than I’d usually pay for a creative organization app, but it allows a lot of customizations-Inserting links and images into cards is soooo easy! Most apps would get the formatting all wrong, and this is one of the few index card apps that aren’t just studying flash cards but catered towards creatives who use index cards CONS/AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT:-Not able to duplicate boards—so if I want to do another volume of plotting I have to recreate the template again. Why have samples if you can’t duplicate them or generate them as pseudo-templates (rather than having to start with different formats from scratch)?-Also not being able to duplicate cards themselves interrupts my creative workflow to copy and paste—which leads me to my next point: -The double-tap zoom out feature that’s built-into it—every time I want to select text and cut it to paste into another card I click the first word and then trying to drag select the passage, and it registers this action as a ‘double-tap’ and super zooms me out (so you can see whole board). I will admit, you can expand the card full screen and do this successfully, but the point of this app is for visual interface, and expanding and minimizing can trip up my creative process, which is what this whole app is about. It would be nice if this double-tap zoom out feature was disabled and offered as a customizable document setting instead!Hope the developers hear what I have to say and update this app with any of my suggested features, in which case I would edit my review!
Developer Response 08/26/2023
Thank you so much for this incredibly detailed feedback. This is exactly what I'm looking for to help improve the app.1. I can definitely add a duplicate board feature in the next version.2. There is an option to duplicate cards, but it is buried in the ellipsis menu in the card tool bar. I can definitely bubble this up so it's more prominent.Regarding your general comment about things interrupting your creative workflow, I'm working on improving how the app responds to taps and gestures so it feels more natural. I definitely want the app to sort of disappear as you are working out your ideas, so stay tuned.If you have further feedback, please send them to support (at) ussher.ca - I would love to hear it so I can improve the app. -Allen

- Fixed layout issues with text sometimes getting cut off in the card - Improved text readability when zooming out of canvas - Improved quality of images rendered in cards - Improved speed of loading Kanban documents with many images. Previously the app would stall on these files but it should now load immediately.

Version 1.4.13 Jun 3

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Accessibility

Information

Seller: Allen Ussher
Size: 8.1 MB
Category: Productivity
Compatibility: Requires iOS 15.6 or later.

iPhone
Requires iOS 15.6 or later.

iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.6 or later.

iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.6 or later.

Mac
Requires macOS 12.6 or later.

Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
Languages: English
Age Rating: 4+

4+

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In-App Purchases: Yes

Non-expiring License $19.99

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