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iPad iPad Pro arriving Monday, can't decide on note taking app...

I prefer...

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marlonapp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 10, 2015
26
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I started researching which app I would use since the major reason I bought the iPad Pro is to use it for school as my main note taking device. I quickly discovered that Notability and GoodNotes 4 where the two most popular apps and, after some more research, I honed in on these two. The problem is that I still can't decide which one I'm going to get (and I really prefer not buying both to test them out). I am probably leaning more towards Notability simply because of the audio recording option (if GoodNotes had that, I would pick it over Notability). For those of you who were between both of these apps, what made you pick one over the other?
 
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marlonapp said:
I started researching which app I would use since the major reason I bought the iPad Pro is to use it for school as my main note taking device. I quickly discovered that Notability and GoodNotes 4 where the two most popular apps and, after some more research, I honed in on these two. The problem is that I still can't decide which one I'm going to get (and I really prefer not buying both to test them out). I am probably leaning more towards Notability simply because of the audio recording option (if GoodNotes had that, I would pick it over Notability). For those of you who were between both of these apps, what made you pick one over the other?
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1492269902][/doublepost]GoodNotes is IMHO the best app for taking handwritten notes using the Apple Pencil. I've been using it daily since the iPad Pro first came out in November 2015. It does very well at keeping up with my handwriting and is quite remarkable in its ability to search a handwritten document for words--even words that are not commonplace. I just love it!
 
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Notability for Apple Pencil use is my favorite. Love the memo recording and ability to set graph paper etc. for math courses.

For keyboard use I always use OneNote. Pencil support isn't great with it however.
 
Started with Notability,but had some sync issues with iCloud so moved to GoodNotes which is solid, has an OS X app too. Downside seems only able to import PDF and graphics, whereas Notability can import text and rtf. Maybe get both if you can afford it.
 
Anyone else have iCloud sync issues with Notability?

Also, does GoodNotes plan to have an audio recording feature in the near future?
 
Try Nebo, it's free and has some really special features.

I've used GoodNotes a lot, still use PDF expert/Documents 5 daily, office 365 (free trough university) and the usual suspects.
[doublepost=1492282942][/doublepost]
mpetrides said:
[doublepost=1492269902][/doublepost]It does very well at keeping up with my handwriting and is quite remarkable in its ability to search a handwritten document for words--even words that are not commonplace. I just love it!
Click to expand...
It uses the myscript engine from Nebo....
but that doesn't change the fact that goodnotes is really good.
 
Goodnotes is very good if you're going to want to give presentations. When displaying over a projector, it hides the user interface elements the audience doesn't need to see. You can have the projected image locked in a particular place, allowing to move and blow up the screen if you need to to write more precisely, without distracting the audience.
 
I use Onenote only because it's free. It's an absolute dog on my Mac (slow, crashes) and just about okay on the 12.9 iPad. I don't use the pencil though, all typed notes.
 
The Notability audio recording is a killer feature. Everything else performs quite well to. Love being able to easily fill in gaps in my notes by touching a section of notes and listening to the audio at the time.
 
off_piste said:
The Notability audio recording is a killer feature. Everything else performs quite well to. Love being able to easily fill in gaps in my notes by touching a section of notes and listening to the audio at the time.
Click to expand...

That recording feature will likely be the clincher for me. Having the ability to record the class lecture while taking notes and having it sync up to my writing is absolutely killer indeed.
 
For handwriting: Noteshelf, Goodnotes, Notability
For me, Noteshelf has the best writing experience, with Goodnotes close second. Noteshelf has also audio recording.

For typed notes: Apple Notes, Notability
I like Apple Notes for its fast operation and you can search on attachments.

For typed notes and no formatting: take a look at Drafts, it also has audio recording. Drafts has a lot of export/import options and integration with other apps.
 
I use OneNote because I started off with the Surface Pro. I've since sold it and switched to a retina MacBook and an iPad Pro (9.7). Works fine and syncs automatically with my Microsoft Live account across all my devices. Doesn't crash for me on any of my devices (including iPhone). Very good when transitioning between typing and writing (with Apple Pencil).

I'm not sure how I feel about the Apple Notes app, OneNote just feels way more organised but this is probably just me.

Oh, and I did try notability for a bit but it was too feature packed for me (i.e. too confusing).
 
lexvo said:
For handwriting: Noteshelf, Goodnotes, Notability
For me, Noteshelf has the best writing experience, with Goodnotes close second. Noteshelf has also audio recording.

For typed notes: Apple Notes, Notability
I like Apple Notes for its fast operation and you can search on attachments.

For typed notes and no formatting: take a look at Drafts, it also has audio recording. Drafts has a lot of export/import options and integration with other apps.
Click to expand...

Noteshelf looks intriguing but I can't tell if it actually syncs the audio to the notetaking or just simply allows a recording to be kept alongside your notes.
 
Notability is great because of the ease of importing PDFs. They also regularly update content and better the experience for the user.
 
marlonapp said:
That recording feature will likely be the clincher for me. Having the ability to record the class lecture while taking notes and having it sync up to my writing is absolutely killer indeed.
Click to expand...

Are you going to add a good microphone? My previous recordings on a desk/table in a small setting (board/engineers meetings) are really good, but in a large college auditorium much, much less. And also remember a lot of professors aren't too happy about recordings.
[doublepost=1492336943][/doublepost]
off_piste said:
Noteshelf looks intriguing but I can't tell if it actually syncs the audio to the notetaking or just simply allows a recording to be kept alongside your notes.
Click to expand...

I bought noteshelf and didn't like it al all. Neither the moleskine app (should have known better) and a host of others. GoodNotes, notability, PDF expert and personally Nebo if you have the Pencil.
 
I have used both, but opted for GoodNotes:

- writing feels better to me, the vectorizing is smoother than Notability
- zoom window has a 1,5 zoom factor which works much better for me than Notabilty. The zoom factor being too high makes me feel like drawing shapes instead of writing letters
- GoodNotes has more lines per screen, feels more like an A5
- Notability's color palet is very limited, and the few colors in there are not my taste
- GoodNotes has many paper templates that you can assign per page

Of course, if you need audio, GoodNotes doesn't have it (yet).
 
marlonapp said:
I started researching which app I would use since the major reason I bought the iPad Pro is to use it for school as my main note taking device. I quickly discovered that Notability and GoodNotes 4 where the two most popular apps and, after some more research, I honed in on these two. The problem is that I still can't decide which one I'm going to get (and I really prefer not buying both to test them out). I am probably leaning more towards Notability simply because of the audio recording option (if GoodNotes had that, I would pick it over Notability). For those of you who were between both of these apps, what made you pick one over the other?
Click to expand...

I've been keeping my eyes on Notability as well. I wish I had my iPad when it was offered for free in the app store!

I purchased this bundle package of "Noteshelf" - which is an AWESOME handwriting and note taking app. Also in this bundle is "Daily Notes - Diary + Journal + Organizer" - also an extremely powerful note taking app and includes the recording feature that Notability has.
baa2fbc5d50af077a4bb899f13c556f4.jpg


Let me know which app you purchase and how it's working for you!
 
I have used both Noteshelf and Daily Notes.

Daily notes + tasks
  • quick note entry
  • very easy to use
  • good for typed notes
  • easy search function
  • tags
minuses
  • text formatting options so-so (only recently added bullets and numbering and bold/underline/italic only added in 2014)
  • not many sharing options
  • I always feel Fluid Touch is lagging behind when it comes to implementing new iOS functions
  • only one level of maps for storing notes (but it has tags in addition)
  • no iMac version
Noteshelf
  • for me the best app for handwriting (Goodnotes close second)
  • handwriting is very fluid and looks good
  • Good pen options
minuses
  • no iPhone or iMac versions
  • not many sharing options
  • I always feel Fluid Touch is lagging behind when it comes to implementing new iOS functions
  • no search function for handwritten notes
 
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