iPad What was the deciding factor for you when choosing GoodNotes or Notability

[TJ82]

Used Notes for the first time yesterday and got on really well with it - the pencil mode that converts straight to text just blew my mind (just got iPad yesterday).

Going to invest a lot of time into learning a note taking app and I bet they all have deal-breaker bottlenecks for some users, so wanted to ask, what features or lack of pushed to one notes app over the other?

 

[GerritV]

After having spent a lot of time and money on just about every notetaking app out there, I think every single one of them lacks something that others do have while offering something else that others don't have.

Unless you can specify what you really need, it's hard to recommend any. You need a thorough Search function? Audio? Lots of templates? Customizability? Good writing experience? ...?


With all that said, I would say to start giving Apple Notes a serious test. The app got a lot of attention (again) in the latest iOS / iPadOS, that places it more and more into the Apple Eco System. Perhaps this deep OS integration will prove to the dealbreaker in all the other notetaking apps.

 

[TJ82]

After having spent a lot of time and money on just about every notetaking app out there, I think every single one of them lacks something that others do have while offering something else that others don't have.

Unless you can specify what you really need, it's hard to recommend any. You need a thorough Search function? Audio? Lots of templates? Customizability? Good writing experience? ...?


With all that said, I would say to start giving Apple Notes a serious test. The app got a lot of attention (again) in the latest iOS / iPadOS, that places it more and more into the Apple Eco System. Perhaps this deep OS integration will prove to the dealbreaker in all the other notetaking apps.

I'm kinda at the stage where I'm not experienced enough to know how I'll use a tablet for notes in practise and what I'd need unfortunately!

I have a vague idea of what would be useful - I saw Notability had a record audio feature but I don't know if I could record the audio from Teams if I was being trained for example which would be an incredible power feature for me.

My partner would want something where he can put a bunch of ideas and screenshots and things down on a large page and do rough mockups for say the outline of a website, research notes etc. His use case is much more open-ended and could be for anything that might come up in a creative or research project.

Both of use personally probably just want something with the easiest learning curve and the most intuitive. I was using notes there and was getting annoyed at not knowing how to delete mistakes for convert to text without going to the delete key (which I found clunky and slow) and other basics like using the pen to substitute for return key to go to a new line.

I'm sure lots of that stuff will come with some learning, but for now I'm finding small frustrations!

 

[GerritV]

I'm kinda at the stage where I'm not experienced enough to know how I'll use a tablet for notes in practise and what I'd need unfortunately!

I have a vague idea of what would be useful - I saw Notability had a record audio feature but I don't know if I could record the audio from Teams if I was being trained for example which would be an incredible power feature for me.

This is exactly the reason why I would advise you to start working with Apple Notes and take it from there ;-)
If you were to buy a third party app right now, I promise you will feel the urge to buy more - and end up with a collection of apps, none of which you'll actually be ready to commit to.

My partner would want something where he can put a bunch of ideas and screenshots and things down on a large page and do rough mockups for say the outline of a website, research notes etc. His use case is much more open-ended and could be for anything that might come up in a creative or research project.

To the extent that the "large page" could be translated as "infinite canvas", you may want to take a look at Concepts.
Beware, it's not a notetaking app - rather a drawing app. But I know that some people are using it for concept mockups, mind maps etc. In other words, use cases where pure notetaking (as in a notebook) isn't the core thing.

Both of use personally probably just want something with the easiest learning curve and the most intuitive. I was using notes there and was getting annoyed at not knowing how to delete mistakes for convert to text without going to the delete key (which I found clunky and slow) and other basics like using the pen to substitute for return key to go to a new line.

I'm sure lots of that stuff will come with some learning, but for now I'm finding small frustrations!

I'm not using Scribble right now (not supported in my language), but if I'm not mistaken you can "scribble out" text in Apple Notes in order to rewrite.

 

[danpass]

Apple Notes (and Pages) user here.

When Evernote and the other note apps of the time made sweeping changes to their systems, including subscription walls, that was a HUGE red flag to the accessibility and utility of my notes.

Switched that day to Apple Notes.

Also the synchronization between phone, ipad and Mac is seamless and realtime.

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