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npolly0212

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 21, 2015
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Hey All, my ipad is going to be arriving tomorrow. Trying to get ahead of myself with it - what is your favorite note taking app to use with the apple pencil?
 

ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,121
10,912
Depends I guess on your requirements for the notes.

Personally I use Apple Notes for work a lot and GoodNotes more for private things. However I like Apple Notes a lot and the version in iOS 14 looks promising.

There is also a big following for OneNote and notability and Bear notes, but I have not worked with them lately.
 
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npolly0212

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 21, 2015
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Depends I guess on your requirements for the notes.

Personally I use Apple Notes for work a lot and GoodNotes more for private things. However I like Apple Notes a lot and the version in iOS 14 looks promising.

There is also a big following for OneNote and notability and Bear notes, but I have not worked with them lately.
Well I had the first gen ipad pro when it came out and sold it and havent had one for 3-4 years now. I cant for the life of me remember which note taking app I did use. Think it was OneNote or Notability - and whichever one it was I absolutely loved it lol. Just wasnt sure if any others have gotten better and I need to check out :D
 

ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,121
10,912
Well I had the first gen ipad pro when it came out and sold it and havent had one for 3-4 years now. I cant for the life of me remember which note taking app I did use. Think it was OneNote or Notability - and whichever one it was I absolutely loved it lol. Just wasnt sure if any others have gotten better and I need to check out :D

The playing field is definitely still in flux :)
And it’s worth giving other apps the occasional try but after a while when you have an existing pool of notes you may need, especially handwritten ones, switching apps gets more complicated.
 
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npolly0212

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 21, 2015
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Notability has to be my favorite. GoodNotes would have to take 2nd place.
Yeah I believe it was notability that I was using but honestly cant remember! I will download and test them all I guess haha. Is notability a free one or $$$ costing one?

The playing field is definitely still in flux :)
And it’s worth giving other apps the occasional try but after a while when you have an existing pool of notes you may need, especially handwritten ones, switching apps gets more complicated.
Thats what I figured haha! Thats Why I am worried, I will be taking all my class notes/work notes and all on it so want to find that one perfect app.
 

secretk

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2018
1,494
1,229
1. OneNote for typing notes as I can share them with co-workers
2. Notability for personal notes that I do not need to share
3. GoodNotes when I need classic notebook like layout
4. Apple Notes for random things that I do not need to store/access later on
 

ascender

macrumors 603
Dec 8, 2005
5,023
2,898
I’ve been using GoodNotes with the Pencil for meeting notes, but Apple Notes with the keyboard for everything else.
 
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PlayUltimate

macrumors 65816
Jul 29, 2016
1,007
1,857
Boulder, CO

PlayUltimate

macrumors 65816
Jul 29, 2016
1,007
1,857
Boulder, CO
BTW, used Awesome Note on my phone and iPad for a long time. Tried Bear, Noteability, One Note, Evernote (free) and a few others. Didn't really like Apples Notes.
Got a RocketBook in December and then subscribed to Evernote since I could upload the RocketBook pages and Evernote did OCR on my writing. Then got an iPP 12.9" in April and tried Apple Notes with the pencil. I really like it. And with the updates in iOS 14 (beta), it works pretty good for just notes, journaling, clips, etc. The integration with other products makes it easy. For long form writing, I shift to other products.
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
35,690
52,565
In a van down by the river
If you are just going to use the app on your iPad Pro, Nebo is the one you want. It has the best handwriting recognition, saves to the cloud, and has a lot of excellent features. It makes the Notes app and Notability look like a joke, in my opinion. Others may feel different.


https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nebo-take-notes/id1119601770

 
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PlayUltimate

macrumors 65816
Jul 29, 2016
1,007
1,857
Boulder, CO
If you are just going to use the app on your iPad Pro, Nebo is the one you want. It has the best handwriting recognition, saves to the cloud, and has a lot of excellent features. It makes the Notes app and Notability look like a joke, on my opinion. Others may feel different.


Is there a Mac/iPhone version?
 

TheAppleFairy

Suspended
Mar 28, 2013
2,588
2,223
The Clinton Archipelago unfortunately
If you are just going to use the app on your iPad Pro, Nebo is the one you want. It has the best handwriting recognition, saves to the cloud, and has a lot of excellent features. It makes the Notes app and Notability look like a joke, in my opinion. Others may feel different.


https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nebo-take-notes/id1119601770



Looks like a great app I will have to give it a shot. I have been using GoodNotes for years, I used to follow Aurélien Chevaleyrias (still do, but he hasn't reviewed anything in years). He had some of the best reviews for iPad notetaking I've seen on youtube. I wish he was still active.
 

1rottenapple

macrumors 601
Apr 21, 2004
4,758
2,774
GoodNotes. I’m working from home and GoodNotes has been vital to me. I’m working on a state audit. I organized items in folders for each project. And I Open the items in tabs. I have one tab for notes, another tab for the audit, another to tract audit assignments. It’s been a fantastic application and the Apple pencil makes it powerful.
 

npolly0212

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 21, 2015
1,374
463
Thanks everybody! So after playing around some, so far my 2 favorites are OneNote and Notability!
 
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