Comparison

QuickNotes X vs J

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

QuickNotes X

This app offers a fluid and precise note-taking experience with a custom vector ink engine, voice recording synced to writing, and ML-powered shape recognition. Organize notes with notebooks and folders, protect them with passwords and biometrics, and sync seamlessly across devices via iCloud. Mark up PDFs and presentations, and customize your notes with various tools and templates.

Highlights
  • Vector ink engine for fluid writing
  • Voice recording synced to notes
  • ML-powered shape recognition
  • Notebook and folder organization
  • Password and biometric protection
  • PDF and presentation annotation
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

ESCAPE THE LIMITS OF PHYSICAL PAPER • Experience a fluid, precise and natural note taking experience powered by the unparalleled performance of QuickNotes X custom vector ink engine; • Choose your drawing style with numerous included tools, such as fountain and ballpoint pen; • Freely customize your stroke color as well as line thickness and pressure sensitivity; • Record and play back lectures with Voice Recording: your writing will be synced to the audio! • Draw perfect shapes and straight lines thanks to automatic, ML-powered shape recognition; • Move, resize, rotate and zoom your handwriting to take notes like a pro; • Never run out of paper: swipe to the next page and a new page will be created if needed! • Take perfect notes with your Apple Pencil, Logitech Crayon or other capacitive styluses. ORGANIZE & PROTECT YOUR THOUGHTS • Never lose your notes again thanks to the powerful organization provided by QuickNotes X; • Create Notebooks to organize your notes; • Add unlimited Folders & Subfolders to group your Notebooks; • Lock individual Notebooks and Folders with a Password to protect your thoughts from prying eyes; • Unlock protected notebooks using Face ID, Touch ID or by entering your Password; • Rearrange your Notebooks and Folders however you like to make sure they are always in the correct order. SEAMLESSLY SYNC TO ALL YOUR DEVICES • Seamlessly back up & sync your notebooks and folders to all your devices thanks to iCloud; • Write once, edit anywhere: when iCloud Sync is active all your content is automatically available on all your devices; • Use the native Mac app to view your notes on the bigger screen and edit them right on your computer. MARK UP & WRITE ON PDFs, SLIDES AND MORE • Import and edit PDFs, PowerPoint presentations more; • Annotate documents on your device with all the tools available, including fountain & ballpoint pen, highlighter and shape recognition; • Open notes and documents side-by-side on your iPad for maximum flexibility; • Quickly export your notes as images, PDF or QuickNotes X Documents for easy sharing ENDLESS CUSTOMIZATION FOR YOUR CREATIVITY • Create an unlimited number of presets for stroke color and line thickness to always have the right one ready at your fingertips; • Choose between Dual or Single Bar Mode to take notes with the maximum level of flexibility and customizability; • Choose to erase entire strokes on only some parts thanks to the new Precision and Whole Stroke Erasers; • Use the Lasso tool to cut, copy, paste or delete groups of strokes or entire pages; • Customize the look of your Notebooks and Folders by choosing from more than 80 options; • Make each notebook cover yours: the Notebook cover is now fully editable so you can draw on it! • Choose the right paper template for your Notebooks, such as Blank Paper, Cornell Paper, Chemistry Paper, Engineering Grid Paper, Music Paper and more! TYPE AND WRITE ANYWHERE • Add Text Boxes anywhere in a page to start typing, with plenty of customization options for color, font style and size, available right at your fingertips in the new Tool Bar; • Move, rotate and scale text boxes to never run out of space; • Combine handwritten notes with typed content and annotate or highlight key words in your Text Boxes; AND THERE IS EVEN MORE! • Swipe left or right to quickly move to the previous or next page in the notebook; • Quickly jump to any page in the Notebook by using the Notes List menu in the Note Editor; • Customize any new page you create thanks to the new "New Page" menu in the Editor; • Create a QuickNotebook to always have a fresh new page when you open the app; • Changing the paper template for a single page or the entire Notebook is only one tap away; QuickNotes X: Note-Taking, Made Easy. Website: https://www.quicknotesx.com Twitter: @QuickNotesX Instagram: @quicknotesx ----------- Privacy Policy: https://www.quicknotesx.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

About

J

This app helps you organize thoughts, sketch ideas, and manage tasks with a beautiful, intuitive interface. It offers rich text editing, smart organization, and flexible views for a personalized experience. Keep your data private with local storage and no cloud sync.

Highlights
  • Text and drawing notes
  • Rich text editing
  • Smart organization (pinning, color-coding)
  • Trash and recovery system
  • Flexible display views
  • Calendar and map integration
  • Reminders and instant search
Features
Read full description

Notes that stay on your iPhone. Write them, sketch them, lock them behind Face ID, and put them on your Home Screen. No account, no cloud, no ads, no in-app purchases and nothing to subscribe to. WRITE IT, OR DRAW IT Type a note, or sketch one with pen, marker and pencil — Apple Pencil or your finger, with adjustable width and color. Start a drawing over a photo from your library or straight from the camera. Undo and redo sit under the keyboard while you write. Check items off inside the text: a checklist line is part of the note rather than a separate list, and the box responds wherever you tap it. EVERYTHING WHERE YOU LEFT IT • Pin the notes that matter to the top • Color-code them, tag them, and filter by a tag in one tap • Search titles, bodies and tags at once • Compact, standard or detailed rows, remembered between launches • Deleted notes wait 30 days in the trash, and can be opened before you decide • On iPad the list and the note sit side by side, through rotation and Split View alike REMINDERS THAT ARRIVE Set a date and time on any note and it comes back as a notification — as a banner even when the app is already open, and tapping it opens that note rather than the list. If iOS will not schedule it, the app says so instead of losing it quietly. Notes with reminders also line up in a calendar view, by the day they are due. NOTES THAT REMEMBER WHERE THEY WERE A note keeps the place it was written, and the map shows them all — notes made in the same spot share a pin. Useful for a trip, a viewing, a walk around a site, or anywhere the location is half of what you wrote down. LOCKED IS LOCKED • Lock any note behind Face ID or Touch ID • The notes file is unreadable while the device is locked • An unlocked note is covered before iOS takes its app-switcher snapshot • A locked note's reminder reaches the Lock Screen without its title or its text • Search does not look inside a locked note ON YOUR HOME SCREEN AND LOCK SCREEN Small, medium and large Home Screen widgets show your most recent notes, pinned first — and tapping one opens that note, not the list. All three Lock Screen shapes are there too: the newest note as a line, as a title with a line of text, or just how many notes there are. A locked note shows its padlock and nothing else, in every size. Ask Siri to create a note, or put it in a Shortcut. BUILT FOR EVERYONE Every icon-only control is labeled for VoiceOver, and a note's row is announced as one thing rather than as the seven pieces it is drawn from. A checklist line says whether it is checked. Text follows your Dynamic Type size, including the checkbox and the area you tap to check it. The unlock button shows the method your device actually offers. YOURS, AND ONLY YOURS • No ads • No in-app purchases, no subscription • No account, no sign-in, no cloud, no data collected • Works completely offline • Back up and restore everything as a single file • English and Czech • iPhone and iPad Just your notes. Nothing else.

Screenshots

QuickNotes X4 screens
J4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: J at 100% against QuickNotes X's 38%. J also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and in-app purchases (none vs 11). QuickNotes X's advantage is ratings volume (3.8K vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. QuickNotes X sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 3 months. J asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

J holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: QuickNotes X has 3.8K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of QuickNotes X's written reviews are positive against 100% of J's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

QuickNotes X ships an update every 5 weeks, J fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
QuickNotes X versus J: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQuickNotes XJ
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3.8K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews38.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.8K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size354 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAlessandro SassiRobert Libsansky

Customer experience

QuickNotes X

All ratings3,753 ratings
Positive82.4%
Neutral6.1%
Negative11.5%
Written reviews158 reviews
Positive38.0%
Neutral13.9%
Negative48.1%

J

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

QuickNotes X

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes randomly disappearing or becoming corrupted
  • Pen input not registering correctly or lagging
  • Unexpected page flipping or navigation issues
  • Syncing problems between devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add text typing option for those with poor handwriting
  • Implement cloud sync and cross-device access
  • Include more customization options like templates and colors
  • Improve shape recognition and drawing tools
  • Allow rearranging and organizing of pages/notebooks

J

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

11 purchases

QuickNotes X

Subscriptions1
  • Cloud & ML Pack$0.993 Months
One-time10
  • Covers Pack$0.99
  • Templates Pack$0.99
  • QuickNotes X AI: 50000 Tokens$0.99
Show 7 more
  • QuickNotes X AI: 100000 Tokens$1.99
  • Notebooks & Folders Pack$2.99
  • Tools Pack$2.99
  • QuickNotes X AI: 300000 Tokens$3.99
  • QuickNotes X Pro$4.99
  • Pro Pack$5.99
  • QuickNotes X AI: 500000 Tokens$5.99
None

J

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is QuickNotes X free?
QuickNotes X is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is J free?
J is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, QuickNotes X or J?
J is rated higher. QuickNotes X averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3.8K ratings, while J averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do QuickNotes X or J have ads?
Neither QuickNotes X nor J shows ads.
Which is updated more often, QuickNotes X or J?
QuickNotes X ships an update every 5 weeks, and J fortnightly. Most recently, QuickNotes X was updated on October 1, 2026 and J on September 18, 2026.

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