UltraNotes vs Open Scanner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
UltraNotes
This app combines powerful note-taking, handwriting, and PDF annotation features. Create rich text notes, sketch with various tools, and mark up documents. Organize, search, and sync your notes across devices.
- Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil
- Rich text formatting and templates
- PDF annotation and signing
- Cross-device synchronization via iCloud
- Searchable handwriting and text
- Side-by-side multitasking on iPad/Mac
- Audio recording with notes
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UltraNotes is a powerful note-taking app and writing app that supports handwriting with Apple Pencil, typing with a keyboard, and annotating PDFs. Handwritten Notes • Create notes with covers and paper templates. Built-in 19 covers and 17 templates. And you could also import your own covers and templates. • 10+ Pens and Brushes: Ball Pen, Fountain Pen, Marker, Crayon, Water Color, Laser, Scribble, Tape etc. • Adjust the thickness and color of the pen tip • Draw perfect shapes and lines. • Write with scribble tool by using Apple Pencil, and it will convert to text instantly. • Use tape tool to help you memorize learning content. • Squeeze Apple Pencil Pro to show contextual palette. • Add text box, stickers and images to make your note more beautiful. • Export note to PDF and image Text Notes • Set headings to make TOC(Table of Contents). • Format text with bold, italics, strikethrough, underline • Highlight text with colors • Bullet List, Numbered List and To-Do List. • Set your own font, font size, line spacing, paragraph spacing, and more • Attach files and images on note. • Templates: Resume, Essay, Shopping List, To-Do List, Weekly Planner etc. • Export note to PDF, RTF, HTML, Markdown and Plain TXT Annotation • Mark up PDFs. • Sign documents Search • Search text and handwritting in notes and PDFs. Multi-task • Work with two notes side-by-side on iPad and Mac. • Drag & Drop handwriting, typed text, and images between notes. Presentation • Present your notes on TV screen via AirPlay or HDMI cable. • 3 Presentation Modes: Entire Screen, Current Page and All Pages. • Use laser tool to point out the content what you’re presenting. More • Record audio while you’re taking note. • Set reminder on note. • Organize notes into categories and folders. • Move, copy and delete notes and folders. • Show notes in grid view and list view. • Sort notes by name, date etc. • Scan physical documents and import to UltraNotes. • Import PDFs and images. • Lock app with password or Face ID. Synchronization & Backup • Synchronize notes among your iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud. • Backup notes to Google Drive. ===== CONTACT US ===== Email: support@skyjos.com Twitter: @SkyjosApps Facebook: @SkyjosApp
Open Scanner
Transform your device into a powerful document scanner. Quickly capture papers, automatically recognize text, and organize your scans with AI-powered features. Seamlessly share and edit your documents in various formats.
- Automatic text recognition (OCR)
- Automatic document naming
- Location-based tagging
- Add saved signatures
- Organize and re-order pages
- iCloud sync
- Annotate and edit scans
- Export as PDF
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Open Scanner is a fast and simple-to-use paper-scanning app with AI features to speed up your scanning workflow: - Automatic text recognition to build page transcript - Automatic document naming - Scans are tagged by your current location - Add signatures saved on your other devices - Native Vision Pro support - Keep your scanned documents in the Open Scanner library - Organize and re-order scanned document pages - iCloud syncs your library to all your devices - Annotate and edit your scans - Use Apple Pencil to mark up scans on iPad - Easy sharing and export of scanned documents as PDF - 100% native iOS app, with no third-party accounts necessary
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Open Scanner at none against UltraNotes's 1. UltraNotes's advantage is review sentiment (81% vs 71%) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, 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. UltraNotes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Open Scanner asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for UltraNotes against 4.7 for Open Scanner. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 187 and 205 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of UltraNotes's written reviews are positive against 71% of Open Scanner's.
UltraNotes ships an update every 3 weeks, Open Scanner every 10 days. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.
| Parameter | UltraNotes | Open Scanner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (187 ratings) | 4.7 (205 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 81.2% of reviews — better | 71.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 187 | 205 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Skyjos Co., Ltd. | Pencil Research |
Customer experience
UltraNotes
Open Scanner
Bugs and requests
UltraNotes
Reported bugs
12 issues- Writing and drawing input not working
- Page scrolling interferes with writing
- iCloud sync not functioning
- Export to other apps failing
- Hand gestures changing page zoom during writing
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- Shape resizing not working after cutting
- Search functionality crashes app
- Added pages not saving when importing PDFs
- PDF import quirks related to iCloud sync
- App crashes causing data loss
- Pro version access lost unexpectedly
- Audio recording cannot be exported
Requested features
21 requests- Ability to lock zoom while writing with Apple Pencil
- Resize shapes after cutting/moving them
- Export notes to PDF and other apps
- Dark/light theme toggle for pages
- Nested list item support
Show 16 moreShow fewer
- Additional font options
- More sticker varieties
- Infinite canvas on all sides
- Password protection for individual notes
- Straightened highlighter tool
- Zoom video with auto-advance feature
- LaTeX conversion support
- Hierarchical folder navigation panel
- Left-right page swiping navigation
- Borderless canvas option
- Selection tool with resize capability
- One-click PDF annotation save option
- Category deletion/renaming without cloud deletion
- Audio recording export
- UI language selection independent of system settings
- Finger tap to undo functionality
Open Scanner
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
UltraNotes
- UltraNotes Pro Lifetime$4.99
Open Scanner
No in-app purchases









