Screen Pencil vs Pencil
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Screen Pencil
Record videos of websites while simultaneously taking notes with your finger. Capture audio using the built-in or external microphone for comprehensive documentation.
- Website video recording
- Finger-drawn note-taking
- Audio recording (internal/external mic)
- Productivity tool
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Record a video of a website while taking notes with your finger, with the option to record audio with the built in mic or external mic.
Pencil
Create beautiful notes, sketch ideas, and annotate PDFs with advanced ink tools and AI assistance. Convert handwriting to text, scan documents, and organize files seamlessly across cloud services. Enjoy a realistic ink-on-paper feel with stylus support.
- Advanced ink tools for writing and sketching
- AI Assistant for summarization and translation
- Handwritten notes to editable text conversion
- Document scanning with automatic frame recognition
- Cloud service integration for file management
- Full-text search for PDFs
- PDF reader with highlighting and read aloud
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Pencil brings handwriting, sketching, PDF annotation and watercolor painting to iPad and iPhone. Designed especially for Apple Pencil on iPad, it also works with other compatible styluses and your finger. Take notes in class, mark up a document, plan your week or paint an idea while it is still fresh. • Write and sketch your way. Use Apple Pencil on iPad, or write and draw with a compatible stylus or your finger on iPad and iPhone. Start a PDF note from a paper template, choose your ink colors and add typed text, images and shapes. Use lined or grid backgrounds to give your notes structure. • Make your PDFs useful. Highlight passages, add comments, write in the margins and insert your signature. Search inside a document, bookmark important pages and rearrange, duplicate or rotate pages as your work develops. • Keep the conversation with your notes. Record audio directly in a PDF note and play it back alongside the page. Revisit a lecture, meeting or explanation without separating the recording from your written notes. • Type when words come first. Create formatted Text Notes with fonts, colors, lists, checklists, tables and images. Turn a quick thought into a clear set of notes, a plan or a longer draft, then export it as a PDF to share. • Explore watercolor painting. Open a dedicated painting workspace, choose your paper and experiment with brushes, mixed colors and washes. Paint from a reference photo, try guided practice lessons and export your painting as an image or PDF. • Bring paper into your notebook. Scan documents with the camera, import files through the Files app and add photos to your work. Keep notes, PDFs and paintings organized in folders, ready to return to when you need them. • Get help from AI. Ask questions about your documents, summarize a passage, explain an unfamiliar concept or translate selected text. Use AI Chat to work through an idea alongside your notes. Privacy Policy: https://www.noteswriter.com/Kairoos_Privacy_Policy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Screen Pencil at 100% against Pencil's 25%. Screen Pencil also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Pencil sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Screen Pencil asks for nothing beyond the download.
Screen Pencil holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Screen Pencil's written reviews are positive against 25% of Pencil's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Screen Pencil | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 8 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 0 MB | 465 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DAE J MYUNG | Kairoos Solutions SL |
Customer experience
Screen Pencil
Pencil
In-app purchases
Screen Pencil
No in-app purchases
Pencil
- Unlock All and AI Assistant3 Days trial$2.991 Month
- GoodPencil Upgrade$3.99









