Penned vs AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Penned
A minimalist handwriting app designed for privacy, keeping all your notes securely on your device. It features natural writing with Apple Pencil, on-device AI text recognition, and smart tagging for easy searching. Export your notes as PDFs in a clean, distraction-free interface.
- Natural Apple Pencil writing
- On-device AI text recognition
- 100% private, no cloud
- Export beautiful PDFs
- Smart tagging and search
- Distraction-free interface
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Your thoughts deserve privacy. Penned Notes is a minimalist handwriting app that keeps everything on your device. - Natural Apple Pencil writing - AI text recognition (on-device) - 100% private - zero cloud required - Export beautiful PDFs - Smart tagging & search - Clean, distraction-free interface Unlike other note apps, Penned Notes uses Apple's Neural Engine to recognize your handwriting locally and nothing leaves your device. No accounts, no tracking, no subscriptions to complex features you don't need. Perfect for: - Daily journaling - Class notes & studying - Meeting notes - Sketches & brainstorming - Sensitive work documents Privacy-first architecture means your notes stay truly yours. Download Penned Notes. Where your thoughts are penned, not surveilled.
AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder
Easily convert your spoken words into written text in real-time. Save time by dictating notes, and then edit, copy, or share them. Customize the app's appearance and font size to suit your needs.
- Convert speech to text
- Delete, copy, and share notes
- Adjustable font size
- Text alignment options
- Multiple color themes
- Supports over 60 languages
- Edit notes
- Create unlimited notes
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Talk, and it's written. Transcribe turns what you say into clean, readable notes — filler words removed, punctuation fixed, paragraphs where they belong. Stop typing. Start talking. SPEAK, AND IT'S WRITING Live transcription — watch your words appear as you speak Clean up — "um, so basically…" becomes writing you'd actually share Summaries & to-dos — one tap turns a meeting into minutes and action items Replay — tap any word to hear exactly what you said there Read aloud — have your notes read back to you EVERYTHING AROUND IT Import audio files and get them back as text Every note keeps its recording — listen back at your own speed Send action items straight to Reminders Search your notes, keep them tidy with folders Share or copy a note anywhere in a tap Color themes, light and dark — make it yours No account, no sign-up. Open the app and talk. MADE FOR Meetings, lectures, interviews, ideas in the car, lists on the go. If you can say it, you can keep it. Nothing is added to a note until you accept it. Over 280,000 downloads. Dictate in 50+ languages. Privacy Policy: https://enacti.com/Transcribe/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://enacti.com/Transcribe/terms.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder at Free against Penned's $4.99. AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder also leads on ratings volume (840 vs 87). Penned's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment, update cadence 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
AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder is free to download; Penned costs $4.99 up front. AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Penned asks for nothing beyond the download.
Penned holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder has 840 ratings behind it against 87, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Penned's written reviews are positive against 48% of AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | Penned | AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (87 ratings) — better | 4.4 (840 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 48.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 87 | 840 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Edwing H Santos Mena | Gaurav Babbar |
Customer experience
Penned
AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder
Bugs and requests
Penned
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes on opening
- Doesn't work on iPad
- Upgrade not available
- Language issues
Requested features
4 requests- Add Persian language support
- Ability to add punctuation automatically
- Sync across devices
- Password protection
In-app purchases
Penned
No in-app purchases
AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder
- Transcribe Pro$2.99
Questions
Is Penned free?
Is AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder free?
Which has better reviews, Penned or AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder?
Do Penned or AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder have ads?
Which is updated more often, Penned or AI Note Taker & Voice Recorder?
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