Notes Writer vs J
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: J at 100% against Notes Writer's 45%. J also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). Notes Writer's advantage is ratings volume (7.3K vs 1) and update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). 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
Both are free to download. Notes Writer sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. J asks for nothing beyond the download.
J holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notes Writer has 7.3K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 45% of Notes Writer's written reviews are positive against 100% of J's.
Notes Writer ships an update every 4 days, J fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notes Writer | J |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (7.3K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 45.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.3K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 660 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kairoos Solutions SL | Robert Libsansky |
Customer experience
Notes Writer
J
Bugs and 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
J
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Notes Writer
- 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
- Lifetime Pro Full Unlock$14.99
J
No in-app purchases









