Pen and Paper vs Loose Leaf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pen and Paper
Create handwritten notes and drawings, annotate PDFs, and add text and shapes. Zoom in for detailed editing, organize content with layers, and import custom fonts and page styles. Share your creations as PDFs or JPEGs.
- Handwritten notes and drawings
- PDF import and annotation
- Text and shape insertion
- Zoom and split view
- Layer management
- Custom font installation
- PDF export
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Pen and Paper is perfect for hand-written notes on your iPad or iPhone. You can even import and write on PDFs. INK Draw ink with your finger. Resize, recolor, and move your doodles. TEXT Add text and text boxes. Change alignment, fonts, color, and install additional fonts. Perfect for adding comments to PDF. SHAPES Add geometric primitives, arrows, curves, and polygons Use the built in diagram elements and arrows to create diagrams. Create clip art of portions that you wish to reuse. shapes can be colored using gradients and fill with patterns. Use "rough" outline to make it look more like a drawing. ZOOM AND SPLIT VIEW Zoom more than 10 times to edit and draw even tiny details. Use split view (iPad only) to see full page view or look at another page PHOTOS Include photos. You can crop and rotate photos. BOOKMARKS Add bookmarks to navigate in your documents PDF SUPPORT AND SLIDE NOTES Import and annotate PDFs from other apps or Files. Use any of the built-in "Slide Note" templates to annotate presentations. When you are done export as PDF again. Use the "clone" tool to copy a portion a PDF and marker to mark text in the PDF for easy search. SHARING To share your notes with the world, simply email them as PDF. You can also extract individual pages as JPEG images. LAYERS Use the layer list to organize order of shapes and ink on the page PAGE STYLES Pen and paper comes with a variety of page styles, but you can also create your own. Import a PDF of your favourite page style and store it as a "page style" in the app. ICLOUD SUPPORT Documents, clipart and page styles, can be stored in iCloud. FONTS Are the built-in fonts not interesting enough? Install extra Truetype fonts from sites like FontSquirrel and Blambot within the app. Features: • Layers • Pen tool with color and thickness • Marker tool for marking text in PDFs • Smooth pan and zoom • Split-view to see two parts of your documents at the same time • Bookmarks and search • Insert text, arrows, photos, rectangles, circles and polygons easily • Fill shapes with gradients and patterns • Area selection, for moving and resizing large areas of your note • Built-in icon library • PDF import and export (email or other accounts) • Install additional fonts (Truetype) • Various page styles and add your own. • Fullscreen mode • iCloud support SUBSCRIPTION Subscription removes watermark (on export) and enables lasso tool. All other features are part of free version. TERMS OF USE (EULA) Uses Apple's standard terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Loose Leaf
Capture your thoughts, sketches, and ideas with an intuitive digital notebook. Offers unlimited pages, customizable templates, and easy import/export options. Its simple interface mimics the feel of pen and paper for effortless creativity.
- Unlimited pages
- Customizable templates
- Image and PDF import
- Moveable scraps with scissors tool
- Ruler and protractor tool
- Sidebar scrap drawer
- Export and share options
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Loose Leaf is great for notes, sketches, ideas, and more! Watch the video and find out more: https://getlooseleaf.com FEATURES • Unlimited pages • Templates! Blank, lined, grid, and more! • Easy image and PDF import • As easy as pen and paper • Scissors create moveable scraps • Ruler / protractor tool for simple shapes • Sidebar scrap drawer • Export and share ideas via major social networks • Send pages quickly to other apps • Share pages to your contacts in Loose Leaf • Simple two-finger gesture page navigation EASY TO USE 1 finger to draw, erase, or cut 2 fingers to move and navigate NO HIDDEN COSTS • No in app purchases • No subscriptions • No settings TRANSLATE Want Loose Leaf in your language? Help us translate it at http://bit.ly/translate-looseleaf ! If you have any questions or suggestions, you can always send us an email at hello@getlooseleaf.com or reach out to @getlooseleaf.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Loose Leaf at none against Pen and Paper's 1. Loose Leaf also leads on iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15). Pen and Paper's advantage is rating (4.4 vs 4.1) and device support (4 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Pen and Paper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Loose Leaf asks for nothing beyond the download.
Pen and Paper holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 43 and 58 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of Pen and Paper's written reviews are positive against 68% of Loose Leaf's.
Pen and Paper ships an update every 5 weeks, Loose Leaf every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Pen and Paper | Loose Leaf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (43 ratings) — better | 4.1 (58 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 69.7% of reviews — better | 67.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 43 | 58 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vivid Apps | Milestone Made, LLC |
Customer experience
Pen and Paper
Loose Leaf
Bugs and requests
Pen and Paper
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Loose Leaf
Reported bugs
16 issues- Does not rotate to landscape view
- Sidebar makes writing difficult on the left
- Cannot insert text box
- Cannot crop pictures
- No way to delete projects
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- No way out of current project
- Biased against left-handed users
- Issues importing photos from library
- PDFs not imported directly from app
- Low resolution import for photos
- Appends advertisements even after purchase
- Freezes up for long periods
- Control buttons unresponsive or delayed
- Crashes during startup
- Cannot change pen size
- Slow execution on older devices
Requested features
14 requests- Adjustable eraser size
- RGB color selector for pencil
- PDF as paper template
- Text box insertion
- Crop pictures in square/rectangle
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- Day timer sheet offerings
- Zooming for writing/drawing
- Export selected pages
- Landscape mode
- More colors
- EPUB import
- Implement text input
- iPhone version
- Albums feature
In-app purchases
Pen and Paper
- Pen and Paper PRO$7.99
Loose Leaf
No in-app purchases








