Penned vs Quick Notes & Draft
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.
Quick Notes & Draft
Capture thoughts, links, and to-do lists effortlessly. Organize your notes with hashtags for easy retrieval and set reminders with a single click. Export your notes to Apple Files or other locations.
- Auto-paste copied text
- Hashtag organization
- Export notes to files
- Convert notes to reminders
- Contribute to app translation
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nanonote - Write freely and organize with #hashtags to filter your notes. People use Nanonote for saving links, creating to-do lists, daily journaling, tracking expenses, and more. Features: - Copy text from any app and just open the nanonote it will automatically paste it in the input box. So just copy from anywhere and enjoy the magic - While writing notes adds Hashtags to organise notes for future use. - Export Note: You can export all your note to a file, save them on Apple files or wherever you want. (Setting > Export Note) - Improved reminder: With one click you can convert your note to a reminder. In the current version, you can choose when to set an alert (Long press on any note to start Reminder) - Contribution to app translation: Currently we support Chinese & English, from now on anyone can contribute to app translation (Setting > App translation)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Quick Notes & Draft at Free against Penned's $4.99. Quick Notes & Draft also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.6). Penned's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume 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
Quick Notes & Draft is free to download; Penned costs $4.99 up front. Quick Notes & Draft sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Penned asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Penned against 4.6 for Quick Notes & Draft. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 87 and 247 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of Penned's written reviews are positive against 56% of Quick Notes & Draft's.
Penned ships an update every 2 months, Quick Notes & Draft fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Penned | Quick Notes & Draft |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (87 ratings) | 4.6 (247 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 55.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 87 | 247 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Edwing H Santos Mena | Santu Dey |
Customer experience
Penned
Quick Notes & Draft
Bugs and requests
Penned
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Quick Notes & Draft
Reported bugs
17 issues- Entry box doesn't work, especially after clicking tags or expanding notes
- App crashes frequently, especially when saving or deleting notes
- Notes disappear or are deleted unexpectedly
- Scan feature not working or its availability is unclear
- Hashtag functionality is broken (doesn't update, doesn't work with non-English)
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- Premium purchase button is hidden below the screen on iPhone SE
- Ads are still shown after purchasing premium
- App crashes upon opening or after adding the first note
- Welcome note cannot be deleted
- App crashes when trying to upgrade to premium
- Entry box shows paste function but no keyboard
- Scan function doesn't work
- App crashes when saving or deleting a note
- App crashes when opening
- Premium notifications continue after purchase
- Button for upgrade doesn't fit screen on iPhone SE
- Graphic displayed too big on iPhone SE 2016, making upgrade button untappable
Requested features
15 requests- Add passcode lock for security
- Add folders with passcodes
- Add widgets
- Add photo support
- More colorful interface options
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- Add a calculation feature (auto plus/minus)
- Support for multi-language hashtags
- Improve hashtag management system (view all tags)
- Apple Watch support
- Portuguese language support
- Add swipe gestures for actions
- Selection option for multiple notes (delete, share)
- Clearer description of Pro features
- Add keyboard shortcuts for saving
- Ability to delete the welcome note
In-app purchases
Penned
No in-app purchases
Quick Notes & Draft
- nanonote Premium$2.99
Questions
Is Penned free?
Is Quick Notes & Draft free?
Which has better reviews, Penned or Quick Notes & Draft?
Do Penned or Quick Notes & Draft have ads?
Which is updated more often, Penned or Quick Notes & Draft?
Other comparisons
