Map Note vs Noteshelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Map Note
Organize your thoughts on an infinitely expanding canvas. This app is designed for non-linear thinking, allowing you to freely expand ideas radially for brainstorming and mind mapping.
- Infinitely expanding canvas
- Radial idea expansion
- Mind mapping
- Brainstorming
- Idea sketching
- Non-linear note-taking
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Using map notes, you can spread your ideas anywhere on an infinitely spread canvas. I think the brain's work when considering ideas is a random and radial working image rather than linear. Traditional notes that need to be written sequentially from left to right are not very suitable for this process. If you use this infinite size notebook application, you can freely expand ideas from the center of the page, so you can make ideas more natural. Ideal for creating rough mind maps, brainstorming and idea sketches. * Please check out MapNote 2 that can add images, add folders, and sync with iCloud.
Noteshelf
Create handwritten notes, annotate PDFs, and record audio with this app. It offers extensive customization for notebooks, a variety of writing tools, and AI-powered features for summarization and translation. Organize your thoughts and documents seamlessly.
- Handwritten note creation
- PDF annotation and markup
- Audio recording with notes
- AI-powered summarization and translation
- Customizable notebooks and templates
- Handwriting to text conversion
- Document scanning and import
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Write. Plan. Study. Work. Create. Noteshelf 3 brings natural handwriting, powerful AI, PDF annotation, audio recording and planning together in one beautiful app for iPad, iPhone and Mac. Free to start. FOR STUDENTS • Take lecture and class notes with lifelike pens, pencils and highlighters • Annotate textbooks, worksheets, slides and PDFs • Record audio while you write, so you never miss a word • Use Noteshelf AI to summarize and explain what you've learned FOR PROFESSIONALS • Capture meeting notes and record important discussions • Mark up contracts, reports and presentations • Present your notes on an external display with a laser pointer • Export and share notes as PDFs or images in one tap FOR PLANNERS & JOURNALERS • 200+ templates for digital planners, journals, diaries and trackers • Plan your days, track goals and keep a personal journal • Decorate pages with stickers, photos and custom covers WRITE NATURALLY • A smooth, natural handwriting experience built for Apple Pencil • Write, type, draw and sketch on the same page • Turn handwriting into text and search your notes in 65 languages • Choose lined, dotted or grid paper in any color WORK WITH PDFs & DOCUMENTS • Import and annotate PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint files and images • Highlight, mark up, write and draw directly on your documents • Scan paper documents with the built-in scanner NOTESHELF AI • Summarize handwritten pages in seconds • Explain difficult terms and concepts • Translate text into other languages • Generate notes on any topic RECORD & REMEMBER • Record lectures, meetings and ideas alongside your handwritten notes STAY ORGANIZED & SECURE • Folders, subfolders, tags, bookmarks and a table of contents • Link notebooks together to connect ideas • Lock notes with a password, Face ID or Touch ID • Sync across iPad, iPhone and Mac with iCloud • Automatic backup to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or WebDAV YOUR NOTES, YOUR WAY • Custom notebook covers and a toolbar you can rearrange • Presentation mode, dark mode and flexible page layouts FREE TO START Create up to 3 notebooks with core pens and paper for free. Upgrade to Noteshelf Premium for unlimited notebooks, all templates, handwriting recognition, auto-backup and 100 monthly AI credits. Write beautifully. Work smarter. Stay organized. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Noteshelf at Free against Map Note's $2.99. Noteshelf also leads on ratings volume (7.1K vs 69) and update cadence (weekly vs every 4 weeks). Map Note's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 17) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 18.0). On rating, review sentiment, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Noteshelf is free to download; Map Note costs $2.99 up front. Noteshelf sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Map Note asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Map Note against 4.6 for Noteshelf. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Noteshelf has 7.1K ratings behind it against 69, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 56% and 57% positive.
Map Note ships an update every 4 weeks, Noteshelf weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Map Note | Noteshelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.5 (69 ratings) | 4.6 (7.1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 56.1% of reviews | 56.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 69 | 7.1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 558 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Naoya Enokida | Fluid Touch Pte. Ltd. |
Customer experience
Map Note
Noteshelf
Bugs and requests
Map Note
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Noteshelf
Reported bugs
5 issues- Notebooks failing to open or sync correctly
- Handwriting recognition not working as expected
- Imported PDFs losing formatting or functionality
- Unexpected loss of data or notes
- Compatibility issues with older devices or operating systems
Requested features
6 requests- Add ability to create folders within notebooks
- Improve page organization and navigation
- Implement a more intuitive color picker and pen customization
- Introduce a history/undo feature for linked pages
- Add support for custom stickers and templates
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- Optimize performance and reduce loading times
In-app purchases
Map Note
No in-app purchases
Noteshelf
- Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium$4.997 Days
- Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium3 Days trial$4.997 Days
- Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium$7.997 Days
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- Noteshelf3 Weekly Premium3 Days trial$7.997 Days
- Noteshelf3 Monthly Premium$9.991 Month
- Noteshelf3 Monthly Premium$19.991 Month
- Noteshelf 3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium$39.991 Year
- Noteshelf 3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Noteshelf Premium Yearly$49.991 Year
- Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Noteshelf 3 Yearly Premium1 Month trial$69.991 Year
- Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium$79.991 Year
- Premium3 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Premium for Noteshelf 2 users$9.99
- Noteshelf 3 Premium - Lifetime$14.99









