Microsoft OneNote vs ServiceWA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Microsoft OneNote
Capture thoughts, ideas, and plans in a digital notepad. Organize, search, and secure your notes, memos, and sketches. Sync across devices for access anywhere, anytime. Collaborate with others on shared notepads.
- Capture thoughts and ideas
- Digital sketchbook
- Organize and search notes
- Sync notes via OneDrive
- Collaborate on shared notepads
- Handwritten notes and drawings
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Supercharge your productivity with OneNote. Organize thoughts and ideas, and simplify planning important moments with your digital note-taking. Smart notes on your phone can sync across all your devices with Microsoft OneNote. Combine the power of digital ink with the natural feel of a pen to help you sketch out your inspirations. Take smart notes and capture every detail with voice transcription. Our writing tools make it easy to capture your notes, review your content later, and access AI studying. Take smart notes, share writing ideas, organize note-taking, and collaborate on your creative ideas and writing - all with Microsoft OneNote. ONENOTE APP FEATURES: AI-POWERED COPILOT NOTEBOOKS • Make sense of your files with AI chat • Summarize meetings, classes, and discussions easily from your notes • Listen to audio overviews, created directly from the notes you take AI NOTE-TAKING WITH HOMEPAGE AND QUICK CAPTURE • Streamlined writing: Find notes from your connected accounts in one place to easily create, find, & act on your notes. Now with Samsung Notes integration. • AI workflows with Copilot: Capture text, voice, ink or images to your notepad with Quick Capture • Smart notes: Capture smart notes in ink. Click the pen button & write down thoughts • Write smart notes, draw & clip things from the web to add to your writing notebook SCAN PICTURES & EXTRACT TEXT FROM WRITING • Note-Taking Scanner: Scan documents, pictures, or files to extract writing • Capture images to extract text from documents & more • Apply different filters to change colors, add ink, crop images & more SMART NOTES & AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION • Voice smart notes: Take accurate notes with voice dictation • Click the Mic button to record, then click it again to end recording & save the file • Dictate smart notes in 27 languages (note some languages are in preview) & use Auto-Punctutation to format NOTE-TAKING THAT HELPS YOU ACHIEVE MORE • Organize writing using to-do lists, follow-up items, marks for what’s important & custom labels • Use OneNote as a notebook, journal or a notepad for work or AI studying • Notepad badge hovers on screen & lets you quickly write your thoughts down any time • NEW Sticky notes - Make quick memos & note-taking COLLABORATE WRITING & SHARE SMART NOTES • Write meeting notes, brainstorm projects, & draw attention to important points • Take notes & save ideas across your favorite devices, no matter what device your team likes to use BETTER TOGETHER WITH MICROSOFT OFFICE • OneNote is part of the Office family & works great with your favorite apps, such as Excel or Word, to help you do more Write notes, save ideas & keep up with your to-do list with Microsoft OneNote. APP REQUIREMENTS: OneNote is free on iPhone and many other devices. Get started today! Download OneNote and sign in with your Microsoft Account or the account assigned to you by your work or school. Monthly Microsoft 365 subscriptions purchased from the app will be charged to your App Store account and will automatically renew within 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription period unless auto-renewal is disabled beforehand. You can manage your subscriptions in your App Store account settings. This app is provided by either Microsoft or a third-party app publisher and is subject to a separate privacy statement and terms and conditions. Data provided through the use of this store and this app may be accessible to Microsoft or the third-party app publisher, as applicable, and transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or any other country where Microsoft or the app publisher and their affiliates or service providers maintain facilities. Please refer to the Microsoft Software License Terms for Microsoft 365. See “License Agreement” link under Information. By installing the app, you agree to these terms and conditions.
ServiceWA
Access select Western Australian State Government services conveniently in one app. Designed for residents, citizens, business owners, and visitors in WA, it streamlines your interaction with government offerings.
- Access WA State Government services
- One-stop government service hub
- Digital Identity integration
- Location services integration
- Camera services integration
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ServiceWA is provided by the WA Government to help people connect with WA State Government services. It is designed for Australian residents or citizens who live in WA, do business here, or are visiting WA. The ServiceWA app allows you to activate and access select WA Government services in one place. The App may require you to enable camera or location services based on the service that you enable. For more information about ServiceWA, including how to link your Digital Identity, visit https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/government-of-western-australia/servicewa-mobile-app
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Microsoft OneNote at 4.7 against ServiceWA's 2.4. Microsoft OneNote also leads on review sentiment (45% vs 15%) and ratings volume (1.1M vs 1K). ServiceWA's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On price 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. Microsoft OneNote sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. ServiceWA asks for nothing beyond the download.
Microsoft OneNote holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Microsoft OneNote has 1.1M ratings behind it against 1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 45% of Microsoft OneNote's written reviews are positive against 15% of ServiceWA's.
Microsoft OneNote ships an update weekly, ServiceWA monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Microsoft OneNote | ServiceWA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.1M ratings) — better | 2.4 (1K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 44.6% of reviews — better | 15.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.1M — better | 1K |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #76 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 409 MB | 82 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | Government of Western Australia |
Customer experience
Microsoft OneNote
ServiceWA
User reviews
Microsoft OneNote
From 1.1M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Simple, works well
- 👍 Great for planning
- 👍 Powerful note-taking app
- 👍 Invaluable tool for note taking
- 👍 Used for years, couldn't be without this app
Room to improve
- 🔨 Could be better
- 🔨 Formatting issues on mobile app
- 🔨 Buggy widget, no dark app icon
- 🐛 Glitchy, crashes often
- 🐛 Terrible sync speeds
ServiceWA
From 1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✅ Centralizes multiple government services in one app
- 🚀 Fast load times and efficient performance (for some users)
- 🔒 Secure identity verification process
- 📱 Check-in functionality works well once set up
- 💉 Vaccination certificate integration
Room to improve
- 😤 Extremely complex and frustrating setup process
- 🔐 Requires multiple app downloads (MyGovID, Medicare app)
- ❌ Poor user experience for non-technical users
- 🚫 Mandatory digital ID requirement (privacy concerns)
- ⏳ Time-consuming identity verification steps
Bugs and requests
Microsoft OneNote
Reported bugs
9 issues- Cursor positioning is erratic
- Search function does not work well
- Ink to text conversion missing on iPad
- Syncing issues, notes not syncing properly across devices
- Crashing, freezing, and performance issues
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- Scrolling issues, page jumping to top unexpectedly
- Eraser tool deletes more than intended
- Formatting issues when importing/exporting
- Inconsistent behavior between desktop and mobile versions
Requested features
11 requests- Native Markdown support and merged cell support
- Ruler, ability to choose or create notebook covers
- Ability to password protect app or individual notebooks
- Option to open on last opened page instead of Home
- Ability to turn note into task that appears on To Do and Planner
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- Search for tags, more Evernote-like search features
- Ability to select text using 3D Touch
- Option to limit page to A4 size with framing
- Pencil feature like Notes app for drawing
- Ability to delete notebooks
- Ability to delete notes from Apple devices
ServiceWA
Reported bugs
19 issues- App crashes on launch or gets stuck on loading screen
- Login authentication fails with MyGovID
- Verification code SMS never arrives or times out
- App freezes waiting for verification code with no way to exit
- Unspecified error messages during login
Show 14 moreShow fewer
- JSON forbidden error on MyGovID authentication
- Blank screen after ID validation attempt
- App won't appear on home screen (must open from App Store)
- Incompatible with iPhone 6 and older iOS versions (OID003 error)
- G2G Pass tab has broken email confirmation field
- Fuelwatch feature not appearing despite release notes
- Vaccination certificate shows wrong valid date
- App hangs on home screen when using mobile data
- Requires phone restart to function properly
- Facial recognition scan issues
- App doesn't support 120Hz refresh rate devices
- Cannot import vaccination certificate from Safari/Chrome
- Redirect loops when sharing COVID certificate with SafeWA
- Cannot check in children through the app
Requested features
19 requests- Check-in history visibility (at least 7-14 days)
- Manual check-in capability
- Dark mode option
- Ability to hide personally identifiable information (DOB)
- Digital driver's license support
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- Online vehicle registration access
- Fuelwatch integration (actual integration, not just links)
- Emergency services integration
- Transperth integration
- License renewal reminders
- Seniors WA integration
- Back-tap app opening feature
- Searchable service list organized by life events
- Check-out functionality for time tracking
- Support for non-Australian phone numbers
- Ability to register without passport
- Multiple alert areas for bushfire alerts
- Photo ID display at venues
- Support for temporary visa holders without driver's license
In-app purchases
Microsoft OneNote
- Microsoft 365 Personal1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Microsoft 365 Personal$11.991 Month
- Microsoft 365 Family$12.991 Month
ServiceWA
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Microsoft OneNote free?
Is ServiceWA free?
Which has better reviews, Microsoft OneNote or ServiceWA?
Do Microsoft OneNote or ServiceWA have ads?
Which is updated more often, Microsoft OneNote or ServiceWA?
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