Comparison

Scribble Together Whiteboard vs Highlights

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

Head to head
About

Scribble Together Whiteboard

Collaborate on a shared digital whiteboard in real-time, from any device. Draw, annotate PDFs, and use a virtual laser pointer to communicate ideas effectively. Ideal for remote teams and educational settings.

Highlights
  • Real-time drawing and collaboration
  • Annotate PDFs and images
  • Web and app access
  • Virtual laser pointer
  • Automatic shape and line correction
  • Infinite canvas space
Features
Read full description

Draw to­geth­er in real time, from any­where! In seconds, any­one can follow along with your drawing or draw with you from the app or on the web. Use Scrib­ble along­side a call; talk with Face­Time or any other app you like. DRAW ON ANY­THING Draw over pdfs and im­ages. Snap a pic­ture of home­work and draw on it, or re­view a pdf to­geth­er. Once you are fin­ished, you can save out a new pdf with your an­no­ta­tions. WEB OR APP Work with any­one, even your guests who don’t have an iPad or iPhone. The web app can be used to draw us­ing a tablet, touch screen com­put­er, or sty­lus. Display your live drawing on a big screen in a classroom or conference room using any browser and a convenient link. SET UP IN A SNAP Get­ on the same white­board to­geth­er in seconds. No reg­is­ter­ing for an ac­count or adding con­tacts in yet an­oth­er app. Once you’ve con­nect­ed in Face­Time or by phone you can tell your guests to join you using a link or a code, for free, with no messy sign ups. IN­FI­NITE SPACE, UN­LIM­IT­ED BOARDS Control scrolling of the infinite drawing space so that everyone sees the same area at the same time. Whiteboards are unlimited, so you can start fresh for each topic. Unlike a real whiteboard, many people can draw in the same space at the same time! POINT AND GES­TURE Point­ things out as you’re speaking with Scribble’s vir­tu­al laser point­er. No more clumsy describing of which part of a pic­ture you're re­fer­ring to – just use the mag­i­cal dis­ap­pear­ing laser ink. Designate different colors if you and your guests both need to point. PEN­CIL SUP­PORT If you’ve got an iPad Pro and Apple Pen­cil, drawing feels especially great in Scrib­ble. It’s like us­ing pa­per, but you can draw with any­one, any­where in the world. You can also use Settings to decide what you’d like your finger to do while you have the Pencil in hand. NEAT SHAPES, STRAIGHT LINES Can’t draw in a straight line? Neither can we! Scribble helps you draw perfect lines and shapes. Draw and pause without lifting your marker: you’ll see your shape pop magically into a rectangle, circle, ellipse, parallelogram, trapezoid, triangle or straight line. FREE FOR GUESTS Invit­ing peo­ple re­quires Scribble membership, but your guests join you for free. The membership subscription comes free for 2 weeks per monthly subscription, or 1 month per annual subscription. Drawing on your own is also free, and you can keep your whiteboards if you decide you don’t want to invite others anymore. Pay­ment will be charged to your iTunes ac­count at con­fir­ma­tion of pur­chase. The sub­scrip­tion auto-re­news at the same price un­less dis­abled in iTunes Ac­count Set­tings 24 hours be­fore the end of the pe­ri­od each month. You can go to scribble.cool/cancel for instructions to cancel your subscription and turn auto-renew off. Terms of Ser­vice: https://scrib­ble­to­geth­er.­com/terms

About

Highlights

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

Highlights
  • Read and browse PDF documents
  • Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text
  • Add comments and sticky notes
  • Extract annotations into organized notes
  • Convert table data and recognize text
  • Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex)
  • Lookup citation metadata and DOI links
Features
Read full description

"... an app that students, academics, and anyone who does substantial amounts of PDF-based research should try" - Macstories.net "It’s the novel approach to PDF annotation that makes this app a cut above the rest"- TapSmart.com *** "App of the Day" - App Store, US *** USE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FREE Highlights is a fast and lightweight PDF reader (under 10MB) packed with features to help you do your best research. Free users have access to standard PDF reader features including document browsing, reading and annotating. There are NO ADS, time limits or tracking. READ PDF DOCUMENTS • Open PDF documents from anywhere • Browse files using the familiar document browser • Open PDFs in Single Page or Two Page scroll mode • Double tap to Smart Zoom in on a paragraph or figure • Scrub smoothly to the desired page • Search the entire document in an instant • Navigate using any connected keyboard or mouse STORE YOUR FILES WHERE YOU WANT • Full support for "Open In Place" lets you make edits to the file where it is • Access your files from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box using the document browser • Or keep them privately on device only HIGHLIGHT AND ANNOTATE FASTER • Select text with your finger, Apple Pencil or mouse pointer • Highlight, underline, strikethrough text and make image selections • Add comments to annotations or as individual sticky notes • Annotate with fewer taps using context aware popovers • Default annotation colors prevents you from having to repeatedly setting the color for the same type of annotation every time TURN ANNOTATIONS INTO NOTES • As you markup text and images the contents are extracted and sorted into notes • Customize the formatting and contents of your notes • Sort the annotations chronologically or create your own color coding EXTRACT TABLE DATA AND RECOGNIZE TEXT • Convert images containing text or tables to actual text and tables using machine learning - letting you get to the underlying data with a single tap SMART COPY Copy annotations to the desired format with one tap: • Text markup as text • Image selections as images • Tables as CSV • Citations as BibTex LOOKUP CITATIONS • Highlights will fetch DOI-links and metadata • Markup any reference and tap the link icon to look it up • If you have read the work already or have it in your reference manager library, Highlights will link you to it EXPORT ANYWHERE • Save or share your notes as portable files: Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive or PDF • Share them to your favorite notes app: Apple Notes, Bear, Craft, Evernote, DEVONThink, Keep It, MindNode, Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research or Ulysses • Or send them to a colleague via mail. It's your notes, you decide where they go MUCH MORE • Dark mode • Multi-window support on iPadOS • Keyboard shortcuts and navigation • Support for system Copy and Undo gestures • Alternative app icons • Custom accent colors • Apple Pencil double-tap gestures • Power annotation tools For a full list of features see: highlightsapp.net/features HIGHLIGHTS PRO The Highlights Pro subscription unlocks advanced features on your iPhone, iPad and Mac: • Export options for other apps and easily editable formats • Extract information using table and text recognition • Customize accent colors and alternative app icons • Power annotation tools • Citation lookups • Smart Copy Highlights Pro includes a 14-day free trial. You can cancel your subscription at any time. The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off within 24-hour prior to the end of of the current period. Payments will be charged to your iTunes account and your account will be charged within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. For more information about Highlights Pro: highlightsapp.net/pro Privacy Policy: highlightsapp.net/privacy Terms of Use: highlightsapp.net/terms

Screenshots

Scribble Together Whiteboard3 screens
Highlights4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Highlights at fortnightly against Scribble Together Whiteboard's every 2 months. Scribble Together Whiteboard's advantage is review sentiment (74% vs 53%). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Scribble Together Whiteboard sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Scribble Together Whiteboard against 4.5 for Highlights. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.3K and 1.6K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Scribble Together Whiteboard's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Scribble Together Whiteboard ships an update every 2 months, Highlights fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Scribble Together Whiteboard versus Highlights: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScribble Together WhiteboardHighlights
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (2.3K ratings) — better4.5 (1.6K ratings)
Positive reviews74.1% of reviews — better53.2% of reviews
Number of ratings2.3K — better1.6K
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperScribble TogetherJonas Myren Ribe

Customer experience

Scribble Together Whiteboard

All ratings2,260 ratings
Positive90.4%
Neutral4.0%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews139 reviews
Positive74.1%
Neutral10.1%
Negative15.8%

Highlights

All ratings1,619 ratings
Positive88.2%
Neutral3.7%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews466 reviews
Positive53.2%
Neutral15.2%
Negative31.5%

User reviews

Scribble Together Whiteboard

From 2.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Real-time collaboration
  • 💡 Versatile whiteboard features
  • 👍 Useful for remote teaching/tutoring
  • 👍 Great for math and science

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes
  • 💰 Subscription-based pricing
  • 🔒 Limited sharing options in free version
  • 🎨 Lacking advanced drawing tools
  • 🔍 Difficulty organizing/managing boards

Highlights

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
  • 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
  • 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
  • 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage

Room to improve

  • 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Limited search functionality
  • 🔒 Lack of customization options
  • 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

Bugs and requests

Scribble Together Whiteboard

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Whiteboard pages not syncing properly
  • Scrolling issues when multiple users present
  • Eraser marks showing up in PDF exports

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more color/brush options
  • Improve PDF export quality
  • Allow horizontal scrolling
  • Implement built-in video chat
  • Add ability to rearrange pages

Highlights

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
  • Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
  • Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
  • Syncing issues across devices
  • Export functionality not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
  • Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
  • Allow editing of notes directly in the app
  • Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
  • Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Scribble Together Whiteboard

Subscriptions2
  • Collaborate Live With Anyone14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Collaborate Live With Anyone1 Month trial$49.991 Year
3 purchases

Highlights

Subscriptions3
  • Highlights Pro: Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Highlights Pro14 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade1 Year trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Scribble Together Whiteboard free?
Scribble Together Whiteboard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Highlights free?
Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Scribble Together Whiteboard or Highlights?
Scribble Together Whiteboard is rated higher. Scribble Together Whiteboard averages 4.6 out of 5 from 2.3K ratings, while Highlights averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Scribble Together Whiteboard or Highlights have ads?
Neither Scribble Together Whiteboard nor Highlights shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Scribble Together Whiteboard or Highlights?
Scribble Together Whiteboard ships an update every 2 months, and Highlights fortnightly. Most recently, Scribble Together Whiteboard was updated on October 14, 2026 and Highlights on October 14, 2026.

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