# Noteful: Notes & PDF Markup — Highlight. Write. Learn.

> Digital note-taking and PDF annotation app for iPad with handwriting and organization features. (iPhone/iPad app by Noteful Technologies Ltd.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Noteful Technologies Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587904336)
- Category: Productivity, Business
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.80/5 from 22,981 App Store ratings · 1,131 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 14.3 · 158 MB
- Languages: American English, European Spanish, Italian, Korean, German (Germany), Brazilian Portuguese, Thai, Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan), Chinese (Simplified, China), French (France) and 1 more
- Released: 2021-10-18
- Data updated: 2026-08-28
- Monetization: freemium
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews.md

## What is Noteful?

Noteful is your one-stop note-taking app to experience the new paperless revolution on iPad. 

Perfect for annotating documents, taking class notes or even building your personal knowledge system. It is time to put aside the paper clutter, as Noteful is a versatile tool that helps you to accelerate your learning and knowledge work.

Take Beautiful Handwritten Notes
• Natural, fluid and precise handwriting experience
• Precise handwriting on iPad with Apple Pencil native support
• Custom-built ink engine InfiniteStroke that captures and converts your strokes into high-resolution vector ink
• 3 brushes available: ballpoint pen, fountain pen and highlighter
• Switch between pen sizes and colours
• Recognise geometrical shapes

Markup, Highlight, Annotate 
• Import PDFs, MS Office documents to a notebook
• Add images, shapes and typed text to notes
• Use multiple paper templates in a single notebook
• Export and share handwritten annotations as PDF
• Use Quick Create to create a new notebook for quick sketching

Powerful Tagging
• Organise quickly by tagging with #tag or even #nested/tag anywhere in notebooks
• More flexible than folders; Notes can be organised by subjects, by topics or by priorities
• Browse notebooks or pages by tags
• Rename, delete or re-assign tags to easily re-organise your library

Layers in Notebook
• Add annotation on separate layers without changing original content*
• Hide or show layers independently
• Rearrange layers
• Make it possible to composite complex layout*

All Your Notes, All the Time
• Sync to all your iPhone and iPad devices*
• Take textbooks, slides, handwritten notes and PDF documents with you wherever you go
• Notebooks synced with iCloud are encrypted via account-based keys

Powerful Editing
• Erase strokes with eraser
• Double tap on Apple Pencil to switch to eraser tool
• Move and resize annotations with lasso tool
• Unlimited undo, redo
• Support Split View for multitasking

Audio Record Notes
• Record audio while you take notes
• Audio playback position synced with the notes

Modern App Design
• A minimalist UI that maximizes content space
• Streamlined design that requires fewer taps for common functions
• Different orientations are available for the main toolbar
• A clean UI that lets you focus on note-taking and the content

We will be adding new features so please stay tuned for future updates.

—
Noteful is free to use without time limit but with certain features (marked with*) only available to users who upgrade to Noteful Pro via In-app purchase.

Noteful Pro is available for one-time purchase and the features will be unlocked forever. 

—

If you have support questions or product suggestions, please contact us by support. 

Wishing you happy note-taking!

Customer Support: support@getnoteful.com
Privacy Policy: https://www.getnoteful.com/privacy

## Key features

- Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil
- PDF and document annotation
- Organize notes with tags
- Layers for annotations
- Audio recording synced with notes
- Import PDFs and MS Office documents

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Noteful Pro, Lifetime | $6.99 | one-time |


## What do users think of Noteful?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🚀 Smooth writing experience
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 💡 Layers feature
- 👍 Affordable one-time purchase
- 🚀 Efficient and lightweight
- 👍 Great organization with tags and folders
- 👍 Customizable UI

**Cons**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
- 🔍 No handwriting recognition or search
- 🔍 Limited text editing options
- 🔍 Lack of advanced features like math conversion
- 🔍 Exporting PDFs loses some formatting

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Syncing issues across devices
- Lasso tool not working properly with PDFs
- Eraser tool not functioning as expected

**Most requested features**

- Handwriting recognition and search
- More text editing options (bullet lists, etc.)
- Improved PDF handling and annotations
- Custom templates and sticker support
- Expanded cloud storage options (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
- Customizable pen pressure and smoothing

## Recent user reviews (10 of 1,131)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Perfect

*2026-08-22, version 1.4.39*

I don’t write reviews that often unless it’s absolutely horrible or absolutely phenomenal. In this case, this app is FREE and phenomenal. It’s everything I was looking to use for school. I am so impressed with the simple but effective UI and this developer deserves so much praise. I may purchase the full app just to support them. 100/10!! Thank you!!

### 5/5 — Moved from GoodNotes

*2026-08-21, version 1.4.39*

Still learning but I love the tutorial task list they provide to get you familiar with the app.  Finding it easier to use for my digital planning.

### 5/5 — Perfect app

*2026-08-20, version 1.4.39*

I really love the options this app gives you. I love the little sticky note feature and the marker smoothing. If it could have more marker options and even downloadable presets that’d really up the ante. So excited to use this for yet another year.

### 4/5 — Very convenient

*2026-08-18, version 1.4.39*

The app is very good and is very cheap, for 6 dollars you can get everything on the app with no subscription, and the writing is very clean, overall very nice

### 5/5 — Perfect

*2026-08-18, version 1.4.39*

Literally perfect in everything

### 5/5 — I switched from Goodnotes. Noteful keeps absolute essentials working flawlessly with no Ai garbage!

*2026-08-18, version 1.4.39*

After being a Goodnotes user for over 8 years, I have officially switched to Noteful for my digital planning. As someone who has thoroughly tested over 20 different note-taking apps over the years — and spent a long time committed to a "big name" mainstream option — I can confidently say Noteful is the best investment you can make for your iPad. Hands down, the affordable one-time purchase is worth it without a single doubt.
What makes Noteful an absolute breath of fresh air is what it doesn’t have. It doesn’t have any of the artificial intelligence junk or marketing garbage that every other iPad note-taking app is aggressively forcing onto users right now. It doesn't overload you with flashy gimmicks that just suck up your time, focus, and energy. Opening those other apps became exhausting because of the sheer bloat. Opening Noteful is just refreshing.
It is simple. It is intuitive. It feels natural, and it just feels good.
Because the developers aren't wasting energy on crazy bells and whistles no one asked for, they’ve focused all their attention on the tiniest details. Everything just works, all the time. You open a menu, and it looks nice. You use a tool, and it executes perfectly. There is nothing breaking, nothing weird, and nothing off-putting.
For the first time in years, I finally feel settled in an iPad note-taking app that I can actually trust. It keeps the basics incredibly clean, robust, and essential. If you want a distraction-free workspace that protects your creative energy and just lets you get to work, you have to have this on your iPad.

### 5/5 — Shout out to the one-time purchase

*2026-08-17, version 1.4.38*

Everything you need very easy to use. I only wish there were options for customization like different app icon styles and more modern UI

### 5/5 — Perfect

*2026-08-17, version 1.4.38*

Absolutely perfect app for covering all the basics, and love that it’s one time purchase. Try the base app for a few days, but you’ll love this app and it’s worth it.

### 5/5 — Great app for college

*2026-08-16, version 1.4.39*

I love taking notes in here. I can download the PDFs and slides to review material. You can record audio and add pictures.

### 5/5 — Great App!!! But some caveats…

*2026-08-14, version 1.4.38*

I really like the app and it’s simple yet so useful! I don’t really write reviews cause I don’t ever think its worth my few minutes of thought but! I think this!

Although i bought the Noteful Pro, it really wish there was a change/update to how you can word search more precisely and accurately or the lasso tool. And a bit more features to the pro other than unlimited notes and minor adjustments.

Other than that great!

## Frequently asked questions about Noteful

### What does Noteful do?

Noteful is a note-taking and PDF markup application designed for iPad. It allows users to create handwritten notes, annotate documents, organize information with tags, and even record audio synced with their notes, aiming to replace traditional paper clutter.

### What are the key features of Noteful?

Key features include a natural handwriting experience with Apple Pencil support, the ability to import and annotate PDFs and MS Office documents, powerful tagging for organization, layers for annotations, and audio recording synchronized with notes.

### How much does Noteful cost?

Noteful is free to use with certain features marked with an asterisk available through an in-app purchase called Noteful Pro. Noteful Pro can be purchased with a one-time payment to unlock these features permanently.

### What devices is Noteful compatible with?

Noteful is designed for iPad and also syncs with iPhone devices. It leverages iCloud for syncing notes across all your Apple devices.

### What are common use cases for Noteful?

Common use cases include annotating textbooks and lecture slides, taking class notes, building a personal knowledge system, marking up documents, and sketching ideas. It's ideal for students and professionals looking for a digital solution to manage information.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.4.40 — 2026-08-25

- Fixed a critical crash when opening the Layers view for a layer containing only a straight line.
- Fixed an issue where the Lasso tool could select and move invisible objects when the current layer was hidden.

### 1.4.39 — 2026-08-15

- New: The Overview tab provides a document overview with page thumbnails and quick access to insert, cut, copy, paste, duplicate, and delete actions.
- New: A new sidebar layout lets you keep Overview, Bookmarks, Outlines, or Layers open in a resizable sidebar while editing. You can also switch these views back to an overlay from the menu.
- New: You can now sort bookmarks and outlines by page number, and add sub-outlines or sibling outlines directly from an outline’s menu.
- Trash in the library now shows the number of items it contains.
- Fixed an issue where Translate action was unavailable on iOS 26.

### 1.4.38 — 2026-07-12

- Fixed an issue where the Draw with Touch option did not work as expected.
- Improved compatibility with upcoming OS updates. Fixed an issue where the Layer and Arrange actions did not work from the menu.

### 1.4.37 — 2026-06-08

- New: Organize your favorite colors and pen presets with palettes.
- New: Saved pen presets now sync across devices.
- New: Import .zip files with folder support.
- Improved the study timer so it no longer stops when the app is closed.
- Fixed an issue where closing the outline view could disrupt the scrolling position.
- Fixed a potential data loss issue that could occur when device storage is full.

### 1.4.36 — 2026-04-20

- New: Lock images to prevent accidental movement.
- New: Options to change folder sorting in the document library.
- Changed: Reverted to the system font picker to improve reliability with custom fonts (e.g., missing fonts or incorrect names). While this may feel like a step back in usability, it ensures the most consistent behavior given iOS system constraints.
- Fixed an issue where image flipping did not work properly on images without a mask.
- Fixed an issue from the previous version where text boxes could be clipped while typing with some IMEs (e.g., Japanese and Chinese).
- Fixed an issue where the Hand Tool’s fullscreen mode had an incorrect layout when the main toolbar was positioned on the right.
- Added 0.38 mm pen size.
- Minor localization and UI tweaks.

## Apps similar to Noteful

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| [MyScript Notes: AI Handwriting](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/myscript-notes-ai-handwriting/id1119601770) | 4.7 (38,487) | Free | Productivity |

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-28.*