Comparison

Use Before Flight vs Notes Writer

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

Head to head
About

Use Before Flight

This app offers interactive pilot training for professional pilots, focusing on ECAM handling and emergency scenarios for Airbus aircraft. Prepare for simulator checks and enhance system knowledge with hundreds of drills, videos, and documents, available offline.

Highlights
  • Interactive ECAM handling drills
  • Simulated glass cockpit screens
  • Over 250 abnormal/emergency scenarios
  • Offline use for all drills
  • Cross-referenced content (blogs, videos)
  • Intuitive multi-functional menu
Features
Read full description

THE AWARD-WINNING APP FOR PROFESSIONAL PILOTS Use Before Flight is the essential training app for the professional pilot, helping you prepare quicker and better for your sim check with interactive, immersive training, anywhere and at any time. **SUBSCRIPTION TO USE BEFORE FLIGHT REQUIRED** AVAILABLE FOR A320 & A330 AIRCRAFT ECAM handling and -discipline is key to operating Airbus aircraft. It is crucial, not only in real life, but also at least twice a year when the next simulator check is approaching. All Airbus pilots have experienced this: being in the flight simulator for a check is not the right time to start practicing ECAM handling, quite the contrary. You are expected to know what you are doing, and getting confused can really spoil the day. During line flying and daily operations, however, luckily failures and malfunctions are rare, so proper preparation with just the manuals can be challenging. This is where Use Before Flight steps in. Prepare yourself without the pressure of a simulator detail, wherever you are in your own time. Don’t let those unexpected ECAM lines surprise you! Being prepared will take the stress away and free up capacity you can spend on flying the aircraft and proper decision making. Albeit being the most confusing, it is not just the ECAM handling that matters. Training with literally hundreds of drills, supported by videos, blog posts and documents, will greatly improve not just your system knowledge, but expand your overall abilities as an Airbus pilot! Key features: - Visualise and interact with immersive scenarios with all glass cockpit screens fully simulated - Find content quickly and easily through an intuitive multi-functional menu system - Practice over 250 interactive abnormal and emergency scenarios anywhere and at any time  - all drills embedded for instant offline use - Enhance your training experience further with our unique iconic guidance and by discovering fully cross-referenced related content, such as blogs, videos documents & case studies

About

Notes Writer

This app is a comprehensive note-taking and PDF editing solution for mobile devices. It allows users to write, format, and organize notes, annotate PDFs, fill forms, and scan documents. The app offers advanced editing tools, powerful search, and seamless sharing and export options.

Highlights
  • Write and format notes
  • Annotate PDFs and fill forms
  • Organize with unlimited notebooks
  • Powerful full-text search
  • Document scanning
  • Sync with cloud services
  • Export to multiple formats
Features
Read full description

Every note. Every format. Unlimited Digital Notebooks. Like paper, but better. Take lecture notes, prepare for exams and develop your research. Bring the same tools to manuscripts, interviews, lesson plans, meetings and creative projects. Notes Writer keeps your work together on iPad, iPhone and compatible Apple silicon Macs. Designed for students and anyone who wants to learn, create and stay organized—including teachers, writers, journalists, doctors, architects, illustrators, mathematicians, researchers and business professionals. WRITE & CAPTURE • Handwriting, sketching & painting Take handwritten notes with Apple Pencil, type a document or explore a concept through drawing. Use dedicated sketching, watercolor and oil painting tools for illustrations and creative work. • PDF annotation Review lecture slides, medical literature and professional reports. Highlight PDFs, add comments, images and shapes, fill forms and sign documents. Keep your annotations beside the source material. • Recording & transcription Record lectures, business meetings and interviews, transcribe the audio and search the transcript for the detail you need. Add recordings to PDF notes and whiteboards, then listen back at your own pace. STUDY & RESEARCH • Courses, manuscripts & research projects Choose an optional project tree to arrange topics, sources and drafts in a Study Project. Use the Binder for structure, the Corkboard to plan sections and compilation to assemble a document or ebook. • Whiteboards, diagrams & outlines Create whiteboards with notes, images, recordings and tables. Build flowcharts and diagrams to explain a process, compare findings or plan a lesson or project. Use Outline Notes when your ideas need a hierarchy. • Flashcards & review Create flashcards with text, handwriting and images, or generate them from notes and PDFs with optional AI tools. Review with spaced repetition, answer by typing or speaking, and track your progress. MATH & SCIENCE • Calculations, Python & charts Math Notebooks combine written reasoning, symbolic calculations and Python cells. Plot results, explore a model and present your data in editable Chart documents. • LaTeX & technical PDFs Write technical papers in LaTeX and compile them to PDF with a preview of the result. For plans and technical drawings, set a scale and measure distances, perimeters and areas directly on the PDF. ORGANIZE & SHARE • Notebooks, folders & templates Create and customize folders, subfolders and notebooks. Choose names, covers and paper templates that suit each course or project. Scan handouts, search your collection and manage documents with sorting, moving and grouping tools. • Documents side by side Open documents in tabs and work with your reading and draft side by side. Create a study planner, lesson plan, research journal or manuscript within the same library. • Formats for your work Work across PDF, Microsoft Word (DOCX), EPUB, RTF, Markdown, plain text (TXT), HTML, LaTeX and OPML outlines. Edit formatted documents, read ebooks and export supported documents as PDF, DOCX, RTF, HTML or EPUB. Export options vary by document type. • Sync, backup & privacy Sync with iCloud and work with Dropbox and Google Drive files through the Files app, with changes synced by your provider. Set up automatic document backups, use autosave and recovery, and protect the app and folders with a passcode. OPTIONAL AI ASSISTANT Ask questions about your notes and documents, simplify an explanation, summarize a reading or refine your writing. Use translation, grammar and tone tools when they help. Review every suggestion and decide what belongs in your work. Start a notebook. Study, create and work your way. Privacy Policy http://www.noteswriter.com/Kairoos_Privacy_Policy.html Terms of Use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Notes Writer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Use Before Flight at none against Notes Writer's 9. Use Before Flight also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). Notes Writer's advantage is rating (4.5 vs 4.0) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months). 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. Notes Writer sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Use Before Flight asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Notes Writer holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notes Writer has 7.3K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 30% of Use Before Flight's written reviews are positive against 45% of Notes Writer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Use Before Flight ships an update every 2 months, Notes Writer every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Use Before Flight versus Notes Writer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUse Before FlightNotes Writer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (5 ratings)4.5 (7.3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews30.4% of reviews45.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings57.3K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size286 MB660 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUse Before Flight UK LtdKairoos Solutions SL

Customer experience

Use Before Flight

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive30.4%
Neutral4.3%
Negative65.2%

Notes Writer

All ratings7,332 ratings
Positive86.8%
Neutral5.1%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews963 reviews
Positive45.0%
Neutral15.1%
Negative40.0%

Bugs and requests

Use Before Flight

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Notes Writer

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes randomly disappearing or getting corrupted
  • Inability to recover deleted documents
  • Unexpected behavior when adding/deleting pages
  • Syncing issues and broken links between documents

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more brushes and pen customization options
  • Improve the clipping/selection tool
  • Implement OCR and handwriting search
  • Provide a Mac version

In-app purchases

None

Use Before Flight

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Notes Writer

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly$1.997 Days
  • Notes Writer Unlock All and AI3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Notes Writer Unlock All and AI3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time5
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$3.99
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$4.99
  • Full Version Unlock Pro2 variants$5.99
Show 2 more
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$6.99
  • Lifetime Pro Full Unlock$14.99

Questions

Is Use Before Flight free?
Use Before Flight is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Notes Writer free?
Notes Writer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Use Before Flight or Notes Writer?
Notes Writer is rated higher. Use Before Flight averages 4.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Notes Writer averages 4.5 from 7.3K ratings.
Do Use Before Flight or Notes Writer have ads?
Neither Use Before Flight nor Notes Writer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Use Before Flight or Notes Writer?
Use Before Flight ships an update every 2 months, and Notes Writer every 4 days. Most recently, Use Before Flight was updated on October 29, 2026 and Notes Writer on October 31, 2026.

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