Comparison

Noteshelf vs PageScan

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Noteshelf

This app offers a comprehensive suite for note-taking, planning, and studying. It combines natural handwriting, AI summarization, PDF annotation, and audio recording. Organize your thoughts, annotate documents, and create custom planners with a smooth writing experience.

Highlights
  • Natural handwriting with lifelike pens
  • AI summarization and explanation
  • PDF and document annotation
  • Audio recording alongside notes
  • Extensive digital planner templates
  • Handwriting to text conversion
  • Cross-device iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Write. Plan. Study. Work. Create. Noteshelf 3 brings natural handwriting, powerful AI, PDF annotation, audio recording and planning together in one beautiful app for iPad, iPhone and Mac. Free to start. FOR STUDENTS • Take lecture and class notes with lifelike pens, pencils and highlighters • Annotate textbooks, worksheets, slides and PDFs • Record audio while you write, so you never miss a word • Use Noteshelf AI to summarize and explain what you've learned FOR PROFESSIONALS • Capture meeting notes and record important discussions • Mark up contracts, reports and presentations • Present your notes on an external display with a laser pointer • Export and share notes as PDFs or images in one tap FOR PLANNERS & JOURNALERS • 200+ templates for digital planners, journals, diaries and trackers • Plan your days, track goals and keep a personal journal • Decorate pages with stickers, photos and custom covers WRITE NATURALLY • A smooth, natural handwriting experience built for Apple Pencil • Write, type, draw and sketch on the same page • Turn handwriting into text and search your notes in 65 languages • Choose lined, dotted or grid paper in any color WORK WITH PDFs & DOCUMENTS • Import and annotate PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint files and images • Highlight, mark up, write and draw directly on your documents • Scan paper documents with the built-in scanner NOTESHELF AI • Summarize handwritten pages in seconds • Explain difficult terms and concepts • Translate text into other languages • Generate notes on any topic RECORD & REMEMBER • Record lectures, meetings and ideas alongside your handwritten notes STAY ORGANIZED & SECURE • Folders, subfolders, tags, bookmarks and a table of contents • Link notebooks together to connect ideas • Lock notes with a password, Face ID or Touch ID • Sync across iPad, iPhone and Mac with iCloud • Automatic backup to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or WebDAV YOUR NOTES, YOUR WAY • Custom notebook covers and a toolbar you can rearrange • Presentation mode, dark mode and flexible page layouts FREE TO START Create up to 3 notebooks with core pens and paper for free. Upgrade to Noteshelf Premium for unlimited notebooks, all templates, handwriting recognition, auto-backup and 100 monthly AI credits. Write beautifully. Work smarter. Stay organized. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

About

PageScan

Effortlessly convert homework assignments into clean, professional PDFs. This app automatically detects edges, straightens pages, and removes shadows, making handwritten work clear and readable. Save, name, and share your scans directly to educational platforms or cloud storage.

Highlights
  • Automatic edge detection and straightening
  • Shadow and glare removal
  • Optimized for handwriting clarity
  • Grayscale and color scanning options
  • Multi-page PDF creation
  • Searchable text embedding
  • Direct sharing to educational apps
Features
Read full description

PageScan turns your homework into a clean PDF in three taps. Line the page up, tap the button, and PageScan finds the edges, straightens the page, and drops out the shadows — so what you hand in looks like a scan, not a photo of a desk. SIMPLE ON PURPOSE Two buttons on the home screen. Four on the preview. No settings to configure, no menus to learn, nothing to sign up for. It does one job. BUILT FOR HANDWRITTEN WORK Most scanner apps are made for printed documents. PageScan is tuned for worksheets and handwriting: pencil stays visible, paper goes white, and letters come out solid black instead of grey. • Grayscale for everyday work, and the smallest files • Color when it matters — highlighter, coloured pen, printed diagrams • Every page saved as US Letter, so it prints and uploads properly MULTI-PAGE Add as many pages as the assignment needs. Retake one that came out badly, delete one you didn't want, and it all becomes a single PDF. NAME IT AND SEND IT Give the scan a name when you save — "Algebra Worksheet 4" rather than a timestamp — then share straight to Google Classroom, Canvas, Mail, Messages, AirDrop, or Files. Rename anything later from My Scans. SEARCHABLE Printed text on each page is read and embedded invisibly in the PDF, so you and your teacher can search inside it and copy from it. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No sign-up. No ads. No analytics. No cloud. Your scans are written to your phone and stay there unless you share them yourself. PageScan does not collect any data at all. NO AI ANSWERS PageScan does not solve your homework. It scans it. It's the tool a teacher is happy to see you using.

Screenshots

Noteshelf4 screens
PageScan4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PageScan at none against Noteshelf's 10. PageScan also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5). Noteshelf's advantage is ratings volume (7.2K vs 1) and chart position (#203 vs unranked). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Noteshelf sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. PageScan asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PageScan holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Noteshelf has 7.2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Noteshelf versus PageScan: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoteshelfPageScan
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (7.2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings7.2K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank#203 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size557 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFluid Touch Pte. Ltd.Physicsway Education LLC

Customer experience

Noteshelf

All ratings7,201 ratings
Positive88.5%
Neutral3.3%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews1,104 reviews
Positive57.5%
Neutral10.3%
Negative32.2%

PageScan

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Noteshelf

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Notebooks failing to open or sync correctly
  • Handwriting recognition not working as expected
  • Imported PDFs losing formatting or functionality
  • Unexpected loss of data or notes
  • Compatibility issues with older devices or operating systems

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add ability to create folders within notebooks
  • Improve page organization and navigation
  • Implement a more intuitive color picker and pen customization
  • Introduce a history/undo feature for linked pages
  • Add support for custom stickers and templates
Show 1 more
  • Optimize performance and reduce loading times

PageScan

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Noteshelf

Subscriptions8
  • Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium$7.997 Days
  • Noteshelf3 Weekly Premium3 Days trial$7.997 Days
  • Noteshelf3 Monthly Premium$9.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Noteshelf 3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium$39.991 Year
  • Noteshelf 3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time2
  • Premium for Noteshelf 2 users$9.99
  • Noteshelf 3 Premium - Lifetime$14.99
None

PageScan

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Noteshelf free?
Noteshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PageScan free?
PageScan is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Noteshelf or PageScan?
PageScan is rated higher. Noteshelf averages 4.5 out of 5 from 7.2K ratings, while PageScan averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Noteshelf or PageScan have ads?
Neither Noteshelf nor PageScan shows ads.

Other comparisons