9.7-inch iPad (6th generation)
Pencil (1st gen)
With thenew 9.7 - column inch iPad , theApple Pencilat last comes to the masses . Apple ’s recent push to get its scrappy tablet back in schools have in mind you no longer how to blast out mountains of immediate payment if you require to use the iPad like a digital legal pad , and that ’s good newsworthiness for all of us regardless of whether we ’re in boardrooms or third - grade history course of instruction .
Even substantially for Apple Pencil newcomers , the App Store is already squeeze with note - taking apps that use it to its full potentiality . Here are our pet , take after long time of enthusiastic experiment . ( We ’ve updated this article with a telecasting demonstration . We ’ve also included Cardflow+ , which is a different type of note of hand - remove app than the others we ’ve discussed , but it ’s no less effective . )
Apple Notes: The best free app
I used to think Apple ’s Notes app was only good for one thing : trying out the Apple Pencil when you ’re in a storage . Once you bring in the Pencil home , you ’d have been better off drop most of your time with any of the other apps on this list .
iPadOS 13 changed a fate of that . banker’s bill still is n’t my favorite app for the Apple Pencil , but Apple greatly improved it by giving us 120 colors to pick out from and the power to vary the stroke free weight for the pen , pencil , or highlighter . The young version also comes with a pixel eraser , dark mode , and the ability to move the palette to any sharpness of the screen you wish .
One of the most impressive lineament of musical note is that its “ pencil ” sic really seem like you ’re writing with a pencil . No other app really comes close .
As before , it ’s got a killer choice creature , and you’re able to even utilise Spotlight to track down down handwritten musical phrase in Notes document , cater you pen them in something more legible than wimp scratch . Perhaps unsurprisingly , it synchronise swiftly with your other gadget through iCloud .
So it ’s near , and if you ’re not looking for much more besides a racy writing experience , Notes will service you well . It also remains the only app that ’ll open a blank page when you tip the glass of a locked iPad with an Apple Pencil .
musical note remains too stuck in the outlook of working with “ real ” paper for my preference , though , so you wo n’t find characteristic like the helpful “ multitudinous canvas ” that you ’ll see elsewhere . That can be a pain in the neck when you ’re do brain maps or adding illustrations to your notes .
Ginger Labs Notability: The best all-purpose app
Notability , befittingly enough , is by far the most notable app that fend for the Apple Pencil , and for good reason . If you ’re going to expend money on any hand - compatible app , count spending $ 10 on this one . Not only does Notability let you do everything from comment PDFs to making shapes , but it also captures the experience of compose with a penitentiary or pencil better than any of its competitors . The stroke are unstable and precise , allow you to block about attempt to get the style to go decent and plainly focus on your writing .
leading light does n’t offer many fancy option for writing tools , but the option it does give you work so well that others seldom experience needed .
The entreaty does n’t end there , though . notable also excels by letting you choose between nine styles of seamed and unseamed report , and it collapse you 15 choices for paper color as well . ( Weirdly , none of those choices mimic the sulfuric yellow of a legal pad . ) It ’s easy to spell PDFs and webpages and mark them up as though they were paper . you’re able to record audio while you ’re writing by handwriting , and you’re able to take heed exactly what was being articulate when you write a promissory note .
guiding light ’s iCloud support works like a dream , so you’re able to easily write out note from your iPad and consult them on your ( separately sold)Mac appwithin seconds . You ’ll find that lineament in traditional note - taking apps likeiA Writer , but the power to call up your handwritten scrawl on your phone at any time counts as a major plus .
Time Base Technology GoodNotes 4: The best for organizers
GoodNotes 4lives up to its name . It ’s not quite as visceral as leading light and so it decrease shortsighted of “ cracking , ” but it offers many of the same options found in its far-famed rival and even a duet of good ones for in effect touchstone . ( You ca n’t commemorate audio , though . )
For one , you could easily create physique such as triangles , circles , or rectangles . Simply come home on the appropriate menu point , doodle the shape on the screen with your Apple Pencil , and GoodNotes mechanically converts it into the absolutely formed circle or triangle you had in mind . It does n’t fully exchange your handwritten notes to typewrite schoolbook as some apps do , but its handwriting recognition is good enough that you could look all of your notes for specific news .
I ’m also not a fan of the style the page does n’t equip the cover without alteration when you quickly flip to landscape painting musical mode .
Need to scrabble in a few notes between wrinkle ? Just apply the magnifying tool , which package off a rectangular “ windowpane ” into a smaller part of the page without the need to pinch in . GoodNotes even does a slightly expert line of organizing notes by theme than Notability , as it let you keep separate notebooks for each class or project , each with their own blanket .
In some ways , this law of similarity to publish works against it . GoodNotes remains attached to the idea of write on digital paper as though it were real paper , so it ’s not as well-to-do to scroll through multiple shroud of paper , moving the sheet down as you write in one continuous movement . Much as with a regular sheet of paper , you ’re stuck with whatever dimensions the page gives you until you flip over on a young one , resulting in the same scrunched - up notes in corners you might recall in school . This blueprint may help with the short ton of exports GoodNotes offers for printable paper size , but such restrictions experience especially limiting on a 9.7 - inch iPad .
MyScript Nebo: The best for handwriting recognition
We ’re still a retentive style from the daytime when engineering can interpret your doctor ’s scratch into a nappy line of 12 - point Arial , butMyScript Neboreminds us that we ’re catch much tightlipped . It ’s our current favorite pick for handwriting recognition , as it take cautiously written longhand script and — with little more than a spigot of the line — transforms it into something you’re able to e-mail . It even give you a “ prevue ” of how it ’s “ read ” the line so you know what to adjust before a full spiritual rebirth .
in earnest , though : Even though scram it to read like this takes a little longer ( with my handwriting ) , this is seriously impressive .
blend that with a smooth Pencil experience that ’s reminiscent of notable and textual interaction that resembles Notes Plus , and you ’ll find oneself it makes a good overall notebook . Just keep in mind that its handwriting recognition is n’t going to magically keep you from doing any transcription . I find out that getting the good results out of Nebo need writing slowly and measuredly , which for me nixes the appealingness of writing by hand in the first situation .
Microsoft OneNote: The best for collaboration
Much of the bad blood that formerly existed between Apple and Microsoft is yesterday ’s newsworthiness , and in fact , Microsoft support Office on iOS with such veneration that you ’d think it was Microsoft ’s own operating system . You ’ll find that same kind of care and support in itsOneNoteapp , which offers a wide selection of features as well as support for the Apple Pencil .
You ’ll need a Microsoft account to use it , but there ’s a good chance you ’ll have one anyway if your workplace or school is heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem . It ’s a petty like Apple ’s own Notes in that it ’s mainly there so you could have a station to collect all the little government note you scribble out , but Microsoft move further than Apple by allowing variations in chance event breadth and a few extra colors to choose from .
wiener and kat living together — mass insanity !
I also look up to OneNote for the sheer size of the canvas it offers . Pinch on the pageboy to zoom out , and you ’ll find that you have an absolutely monumental amount of elbow room to play with , which do OneNote ideal for mind maps and similar brainstorm exercises .
regrettably , that ’s belike also why it does n’t countenance you export document to easily sharable files like PDFs like almost every other app listed here . That said , it ’s a ready to hand space for note collecting , and it tender quite a few more feature than Apple it does . As a bonus , OneNote ’s Office integration makes it easy to collaborate on projects with friends and colleagues who have Microsoft accounts .
WriteOn Notes Plus: The best use of ‘digital paper’
Notes Plusoffers the least pleasing writing experience out of all the apps listed here , but it makes the slash because no other “ understands ” writing on an iPad quite so well . GoodNotes 4 may do a pile of lineament Notes Plus offers better these days , but note Plus continue to have a few thaumaturgy up its sleeve .
This took far more time than I expected because of the inferior Pencil handling , and you may see a couple of spots where I made corrections .
Here ( as in Notability ) , there ’s no flipping to a raw page to start writing on another sheet of paper ; instead , you may just keep scroll the pages down , comfortably keep your wrist in one spot . Need to score out something ? Do n’t bother with an eraser prick — rather , just scrub out the word and it ’ll disappear . You do n’t even necessitate a selection tool , as Notes Plus automatically pick out script when you draw in a circle around it . Much like GoodNotes , it allow you make a box for bosom in a few liner notes . It ’s even got an impressive handwriting - to - schoolbook tool . It ’s not anywhere near as wise as the instrument you ’ll find in MyScript Nebo , but it normally scram the occupation done .
It ’d credibly be perfect if it were n’t for the piece of writing execution . The strokes the Pencil lay down feel “ sticky , ” especially while using the fount playpen and chirography tool . Most of the time I find myself stick with the ballpoint pen pen and wet brush setting , but even after tinkering with the viscousness and thickness setting , Notes Plus still does n’t offer as fulfil a composition experience as nearly every other app .
Even so , I still find myself returning to it , mainly out of admiration for how well its other piece fit together .
Qrayon Cardflow+: The best index card app
Screenwriters and novelists will often tell you that indicant cards make organizing scenes and general theme so much more intuitive than regular outline . Vladimir Nabokov , for a scrap of triviality , even wrote the totality of some of his novel on index cards , as they take into account him to easy rearrange paragraph as needed .
This is a fair simple cattle farm for the sake of readability , but these instrument panel can behuge .
Normally , though , using index cards feels like slaughtering a forest just for the sheer chill of it . Thank goodness for the digital geezerhood , and give thanks Qrayon forCardflow+Remove non - product link . This app mimics the bit of spreading a bunch of index cards on a board and arranging them as needed , and no other corkboard , mind - map , or storyboard app “ gets it ” quite like this .
Just rap anywhere on the gray background and a new card will pop up , and you’re able to indite notes on it with either the Apple Pencil or a keyboard . you may rearrange the cards singly with the Pencil or your finger , or you may aggroup them together and have the app itself coordinate them more neatly .
There ’s awonderful detached reading , but I lief pay the $ 10 for the full version for the ability to synchronise saves to iCloud , draw and quarter on the board , change ink colors , insert photos and hyperlinks , and more . As a drawback , sometimes the app will crash when too many cards litter the sieve ( although the iCloud - syncing feature insure that I ’ve never lose a task ) , Even so , it ’s a howling way to draft articles , and I candidly wish it was on the Mac as well .
