touchnotesPro vs BoardNotes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
touchnotesPro
This app combines handwriting, document annotation, and study tools for efficient note-taking. Import various file types, clip web content, and record lectures with real-time transcription. Organize ideas with mind maps and create flashcards for effective review.
- Handwriting and document annotation
- Import PDFs, Word, EPUB, and web content
- Speech and handwriting recognition
- AI-powered formula recognition
- Mind mapping for idea organization
- Flashcard creation for review
- Infinite canvas for freeform notes
Read full descriptionHide full description
touchnotesPro brings handwriting, document annotation and study tools together in one note-taking app. Keep your learning materials in one place, organize key ideas, and create flashcards from important content for review. From capturing ideas to understanding and revisiting them, build a knowledge space of your own. Write, read and annotate Import PDF, PowerPoint, Word and EPUB files. Add annotations, write on the page and highlight key points as you read, keeping your thoughts alongside your materials. Bring your learning materials together Web clipping: import articles, reference materials and web pages into your notes. Extract key points and organize the content so you can do more with what you read. Online video: import online videos, take notes while watching, and capture video frames to save on your note pages. Keep key moments from a lesson alongside your own thoughts. Speech transcription (ASR): turn speech into editable text in real time. This feature supports Simplified Chinese and English only. Capture lectures, meetings, interviews and ideas in these supported languages, then revisit and organize the text afterward. AI-powered recognition and study tools Handwriting recognition (OCR): convert handwriting into editable text. This feature supports Simplified Chinese and English only, making handwritten notes in these languages easier to organize digitally. Formula recognition: recognize mathematical formulas in handwriting or images and convert them into editable formulas. Connect ideas and review what matters Mind maps: organize the key points in your notes into clear hierarchies. See how ideas connect and build a clearer understanding of the whole topic. Flashcards: create flashcards from important content and organize them with multiple tags. Bring the key points from your notes into your review routine. More ways to capture your ideas Infinite canvas: write, draw, insert images and arrange content without fixed page boundaries. Explore ideas, organize knowledge and plan projects on an open canvas. Live Notes: combine moving content with handwriting, images and stickers to capture travel, everyday moments and inspiration in a more expressive way. Continue across devices Sync your notes across devices so you can pick up your study, work and note-taking where you left off. Handwriting, documents, audio, web pages, video, mind maps and flashcards: bring them together to capture, organize, understand and review.
BoardNotes
This app combines whiteboard, notebook, PDF management, mind mapping, and flashcard creation into a single, versatile handwriting note-taking tool. It offers a wide array of pen types, organizational features, and study aids to enhance productivity and learning.
- Handwriting note-taking
- Integrated whiteboard
- PDF import and editing
- Mind mapping functionality
- Spaced repetition flashcards
- Multiple pen and brush types
- Layer management
Read full descriptionHide full description
Feature Introduction: BoardNotes is a versatile handwriting note-taking app that integrates five major functions—whiteboard, notebook, PDF, mind map, and flashcards—covering most note-taking scenarios. It serves as your All-In-One App. Handwriting Pen: 1. BoardNotes utilizes Apple's native pen technology and has developed additional pens tailored for Chinese writing, including a fountain pen, a laser pointer for presentations, and a tape pen for masking notes. 2. Choose from a variety of brushes (laser pen, tape pen, ballpoint pen, straight-line pen, wavy-line pen, custom fountain pen, quill pen, pencil, marker, watercolor pen, fill pen, single-line pen, crayon, freehand pen) to unleash your creativity. 3. Lasso tool (extremely powerful). 4. Eraser (pixel eraser and object eraser). Whiteboard: 1. The whiteboard is ideal for organizing fragmented knowledge, brainstorming, and boosting creativity. 2. Write and draw freely without worrying about boundaries. 3. Customize background colors and grid templates. 4. Add various card types (text, image, video, audio, webpage, file, handwriting). 5. Multiple auxiliary tools: background board, pins, link navigation (supports bidirectional links), connectors, timer (countdown supported), calculator. 6. Quickly locate notes using the search function. Notebook & PDF: 1. Create notebooks and PDFs with multiple paper templates and cover options. Import images from Photos or PDFs from the Files app as pages or covers. 2. Add text, images, stickers, videos, webpage snapshots, audio recordings, links (bidirectional links supported), timers, calculators, and floating PDF windows. 3. Layer functionality—show or hide layers as needed. 4. Insert new pages via blank sheets, images, scanned documents, or files. 5. Cut, copy, and paste pages into other notebooks or PDFs. 6. Duplicate, rotate, or delete pages. 7. Reorder pages via long-press and drag in thumbnail view. 8. Create outlines and add bookmarks. 9. Search (text, handwritten notes, etc.). 10. Import e-books (epub, mobi, azw, etc.). Mind Map: 1. Mind mapping is a key feature within the whiteboard. 2. Nodes support multiple formats (text, image, handwriting, video, audio, webpage snapshot, file). 3. Offers 3 structures and 18 color schemes. 4. Add summaries (brackets). 5. Handwritten mind maps (using handwritten cards). 6. Long-press and drag selected cards into the mind map. 7. Reorder nodes or adjust hierarchy via long-press and drag. Flashcard: 1. Flashcards use the SuperMemo algorithm to automatically schedule optimal review intervals, reminding you before forgetting to maximize memory efficiency. 2. Flashcards support text, images, and handwriting. 3. Quickly create cards from notes in whiteboards, notebooks, or PDFs using the rectangular lasso tool. Download BoardNotes for free on iPad, iPhone, and Mac. For suggestions, please contact us via the in-app feedback feature.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: BoardNotes at 80% against touchnotesPro's 30%. BoardNotes also leads on rating (4.7 vs 2.5) and ratings volume (116 vs 4). touchnotesPro's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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. touchnotesPro sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and BoardNotes sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
BoardNotes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BoardNotes has 116 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 30% of touchnotesPro's written reviews are positive against 80% of BoardNotes's.
touchnotesPro ships an update every 3 weeks, BoardNotes every 10 days. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | touchnotesPro | BoardNotes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (4 ratings) | 4.7 (116 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 30.0% of reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 116 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.2 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 667 MB | 342 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 广东新空电子科技股份有限公司 | Chongqing Ouluowa Technology Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
touchnotesPro
BoardNotes
Bugs and requests
touchnotesPro
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
BoardNotes
Reported bugs
16 issues- Whiteboards erasing automatically
- No automatic backup leading to data loss
- Syncing issues between iPad and Mac
- Pencil tip not appearing on PDF annotations
- App crashes frequently
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- Recording data is lost
- Cannot create new notebooks
- Gear icon for settings missing in dark mode
- Issue with eraser and color selection logic
- Lasso tool missing cut button after cropping
- PDF embeds appear blurry
- Handwriting search not implemented
- Accidental touches/palm rejection issues
- Chinese font display issues in markdown
- App freezes when using search function
- Software flashes back (crashes)
Requested features
24 requests- Sync to Google Drive/other cloud services
- Faster 'add to cards' function
- View carded items in sidebar
- Color coding for pins
- Image opacity adjustment
Show 19 moreShow fewer
- Faster image copy from whiteboard
- Android app version
- WebDAV function
- Markdown editing/viewing function
- Handwriting recognition and search
- Improve palm rejection/anti-touch
- Add more brush types (with stroke variation)
- Search for handwritten text
- Dark Mode UI
- More calculator functions (square root, trig identities)
- In-app browser (ChatGPT, YouTube integration)
- Easier UI navigation of notebook pages
- Ability to change existing page formats
- More in-depth pen fine-tuning
- Optimize UI, move undo/redo to top right
- Adjust pressure sensitivity
- Customizable top toolbar icons
- Add college rule paper
- Translate function for papers
In-app purchases
touchnotesPro
- Basic Cloud Package$1.99
- Premium Cloud Package$1.99
- 享做笔记vip-1年$3.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Premium Cloud Package$3.99
- 享做笔记vip-2年$4.99
- Basic Cloud Package$6.99
- Student Cloud Package$6.99
- Student Cloud Package$9.99
- vip$9.99
- Premium Cloud Package$14.99
BoardNotes
- 5 days membership$0.99
- Math Formula Recognition$1.99
- 1 month membership$1.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Permanent Unlock All$4.99
- 6 months membership$4.99
- 6 months membership$6.99
- Permanent Unlock All$6.99
- Annual Membership$7.99
- Permanent Unlock All$7.99
- Permanent Unlock All$9.99






