# Notes Writer vs Highlights

The clearest difference is update cadence: Notes Writer at every 5 days against Highlights's fortnightly. Notes Writer also leads on ratings volume (7.3K vs 1.6K). Highlights's advantage is review sentiment (53% vs 45%) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Notes Writer sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days 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.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Notes Writer against 4.5 for Highlights. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7.3K and 1.6K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 45% of Notes Writer's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's.

Notes Writer ships an update every 5 days, Highlights fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Notes Writer | Highlights |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.5 (7.3K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notes-writer-ai-note-taking/id1423643723/reviews) | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **7.3K** | 1.6K |
| Positive reviews | 45.1% of reviews | **53.3% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 5 days** | Fortnightly |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 658 MB | 37 MB |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | **15.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Kairoos Solutions SL](https://appshunter.io/developer/978066434) | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) |

## What reviewers say

### Notes Writer

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notes-writer-ai-note-taking/id1423643723)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (8)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Weekly | $1.99 | per 7 days |
| Notes Writer Unlock All and AI | $3.99 | per month |
| Notes Writer Unlock All and AI | $14.99 | per year |
| Full Version Unlock Pro | $3.99 | one-time |
| Full Version Unlock Pro | $4.99 | one-time |
| Full Version Unlock Pro | $5.99 | one-time |
| Full Version Unlock Pro | $6.99 | one-time |
| Lifetime Pro Full Unlock | $14.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Smooth writing experience
- 💡 Versatile note-taking features
- 🔒 Good privacy
- 👍 Useful for various purposes (notes, PDF annotations, etc.)

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🔒 Limiting free version with paywalls
- 🐛 Bugs with erasing, page management, and file corruption
- 🐛 Laggy performance and slow loading times

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

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


### Highlights

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833)

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:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Highlights Pro: Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Highlights Pro | $29.99 | per year |
| Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 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

**What reviewers complain about**

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

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

- 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


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Notes Writer free?

Notes Writer 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, Notes Writer or Highlights?

Highlights is rated higher. Notes Writer averages 4.5 out of 5 from 7.3K ratings, while Highlights averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.

### Do Notes Writer or Highlights have ads?

Neither Notes Writer nor Highlights shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Notes Writer or Highlights?

Notes Writer ships an update every 5 days, and Highlights fortnightly. Most recently, Notes Writer was updated on October 25, 2026 and Highlights on October 25, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*