Mental Note for iPad ๛ vs LitNote
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mental Note for iPad ๛
This app transforms your iPad into a versatile digital notepad. Seamlessly combine text, drawings, pictures, and voice recordings on a single page. Capture ideas in any format and share them easily.
- Combine text, pictures, audio, and drawings
- Freehand sketching with multiple colors
- Organize notes with tags
- Password protect private notes
- Export notes in PDF, text, and other formats
- Share notes via email and cloud services
Read full descriptionHide full description
"...a true notepad experience that may help you make a clean break from the pencil-and-paper era." -New York Times. Users describe Mental Note as "the only notepad app... that's actually better than, and as simple as, a pen and paper." It's "the future of note taking", and "a big sketchpad... [to] free-associate and put stuff down in any format". Mental Note for iPad brings the future closer with an even bigger sketchpad for you to capture your ideas on. Turn your iPad into a digital notepad. Combine pictures, voice recordings, drawings and text - all on the same page, in any order you choose. An idea... a flash - a moment of genius. When a thought hits, and you have to remember it, why limit how you record it? The more context and sensory details you can capture, the clearer the idea can be put down. Use pictures, audio, sketching and text together on the same page... a digital page that can be shared with anyone. Mental Note allows you to capture ideas as they happen: use pictures, dictate, add text, sketch on anything. Ideas clarified. Creativity captured. FEATURES - Draw with your finger using multiple colours and widths on top of pictures, text, or anywhere else on the page. Zoom in to sketch fine details. - Choose a picture from your album and add it to the page. - Add audio to the page by recording with the built-in microphone. Continue to edit your note while recording. - Organize your notes using tags. - Password protect your private notes and flag your important ones. - Attach Calendar events to your notes. - Undo, redo anything in the note by shaking the device. - Delete note sections using the toolbar button or by swiping any note section. - Move a note section by swiping and then dragging it to its new location. - Length of a note is limited only by device memory. - Export in a variety of formats including PDF, text, Mental Note format, and more. Send using email, iCloud, Dropbox, and more. * Send a note in Mental Note format so the note may be imported into another person's Mental Note app. * Using email, export a complete note directly from Mental Note as either a PDF document or a picture (each audio recording is attached to the email as a separate file). You can also email just the text from your note. - Export your notes and backups to your iCloud and/or Dropbox account. - Share a note with your friends using most installed apps. - Map the location a note was created at (if location services are enabled). - Change the size and font of the text in your notes. - Change the color and background of your notes. - Numerous other configuration options. THIS VERSION IS OPTIMIZED FOR iPad. FOR iPhone, PLEASE SEE Mental Note - the digital notepad. Read more: www.zymbiotic.com X @zymbiotic facebook.com/zymbiotic
LitNote
Read full descriptionHide full description
Mobile specialty: Annoying note that always show on your lock screen & you can customize it. Never forget anything again You have a thought. You need to write it down. Right now. LitNote is for the ideas that pop into your head at the worst times—in line at the grocery store, right before bed, during a meeting you probably should be paying attention to. CAPTURE IT BEFORE IT'S GONE Open the app. Start typing. That's it. No folders to pick, no settings to configure. Your thought is saved the moment you write it. FIND IT ON ANY DEVICE Started a note on your iPhone? It's already waiting on your iPad and Mac. iCloud keeps everything in sync automatically. Your notes follow you. WRITE THE WAY YOU THINK [] for checklist, ** for bold, * for italic, == for highlight, simple OR stupidly Cmd+B Cmd+I Cmd+Shift+S . Add a little emoji to help you spot important notes at a glance. Nothing complicated—if you can send a text message, you can use LitNote. WHAT YOU WON'T FIND HERE No subscriptions. No accounts to create. No tutorials to sit through. No clutter. Just a clean place to put your thoughts. Perfect for a movie name, a song name that your friend mentioned Perfect for meeting notes, quick reminders, journal entries, or that brilliant idea you'll definitely forget by morning. Your notes. Your devices. Nothing in the way.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: LitNote at Free against Mental Note for iPad ๛'s $4.99. LitNote also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months). On 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
LitNote is free to download; Mental Note for iPad ๛ costs $4.99 up front. Mental Note for iPad ๛ sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. LitNote asks for nothing beyond the download.
Mental Note for iPad ๛ ships an update every 5 months, LitNote every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mental Note for iPad ๛ | LitNote |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 2.7 (6 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 51.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zymbiotic Technologies | Phong Vu |
In-app purchases
Mental Note for iPad ๛
- Paper Customization feature$2.99
- Straight Line Drawing feature$3.99
- Dark Mode Override feature$3.99
LitNote
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Mental Note for iPad ๛ free?
Is LitNote free?
Do Mental Note for iPad ๛ or LitNote have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or LitNote?
Other comparisons















