UltraNotes vs Wren
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
Wren
Transform your handwritten notes into study materials. This app uses AI to generate summaries, practice questions, flashcards, and mind maps from your lecture notes. It also includes a calendar for tracking deadlines and scheduling study sessions.
- AI-generated summaries
- Practice questions from notes
- Flashcard creation
- Mind map generation
- Specialized sticky types (code, graphs, flowcharts)
- Integrated calendar with deadline tracking
- Search by meaning, not just keywords
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You write the question. Wren's AI writes the answer back in neat handwriting, right on your page. It adds step-by-step math solves, function graphs, mind maps, tables, flowcharts and timelines in clean ink. On iPad, write a request with Apple Pencil, pause, and tap Keep. Or ask Study Buddy and tap Add to note. Most AI talks back in a chat window. Wren talks back in handwriting, on the same page you're taking notes on. Stuck at 11pm on a problem you can't crack? Write it on your board and ask. Wren writes the answer right next to your work, by hand: the graph, the steps, the mind map. No chat window. No copy and paste. Just your board, filling in. ONE ENDLESS WHITEBOARD Open a whiteboard note and you get one board with no pages and no edges. Work a problem in one corner. Sketch a cell in another. Zoom out and the whole topic sits on one screen. Want structure instead? Wren also has Notebooks with real pages and Documents for typed work. INK, NOT CARDS Wren's AI writes with real pen strokes, the same kind of ink you write with. It can put any of these on your board: • A few lines of text, like a definition or a short explanation • Graphs of the function you are working on • Diagrams and flowcharts • Mind maps that branch out from one idea • Timelines, from cell division to the Cold War • Checklists for what to do next • Formulas • Tables that line facts up side by side It all comes out in Wren's own neat hand, so it reads clearly next to your notes. THREE WAYS TO ASK Study Buddy. Open the chat, ask your question, and tap Add to note. The answer is written onto your page by hand. AI Tutor. Pin a Tutor answer you like, then add it to your page. It goes on as ink. Pen pause, on iPad. Write what you want with Apple Pencil, like "graph y = x^2 + 1" or "mind map the causes of World War I", then pause. A preview appears on your page. Keep it or discard it. YOU DECIDE WHAT STAYS On iPad, every pen pause starts as a preview. Tap Keep and it becomes ink on your board. Tap Discard and it is gone. Your board stays yours. ONE NIGHT AT THE BOARD 9pm, calculus. You write the function and ask for its graph. The curve shows up on the board next to your work. 10pm, biology. You ask Study Buddy for the stages of mitosis and tap Add to note. A timeline is written beside your sketch of the cell. 11pm, history. On iPad you write "mind map the causes of World War I" and pause your Apple Pencil. The preview shows the causes branching out. You keep it. Midnight, chemistry. You ask for a table comparing ionic and covalent bonds. It is written in neat rows, right on the board. Then you zoom out, and the whole night of studying is one board you can actually read. WRITE ON IPAD OR IPHONE On iPad, Wren works with Apple Pencil, with pressure and palm rejection, and pen pause is there whenever you stop to think. On iPhone, write with your finger and use Study Buddy's Add to note to bring answers onto your page. Your notes sync across your devices. WHY WE BUILT IT We're a brother and sister, both in college. We take notes every day, and we were tired of copying answers out of a chat window and into our notes. So we made the notes answer back. We are our own users, and Wren is the whiteboard we wanted. Wren is free to download. Some features are part of an optional subscription, billed to your Apple ID. It renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends. You can manage or cancel it anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.getnotenest.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.getnotenest.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Wren at 5.0 against UltraNotes's 4.6. Wren also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 81%). UltraNotes's advantage is ratings volume (187 vs 22). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 and Wren sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Wren holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: UltraNotes has 187 ratings behind it against 22, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of UltraNotes's written reviews are positive against 100% of Wren's.
UltraNotes ships an update every 3 weeks, Wren every 10 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | UltraNotes | Wren |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (187 ratings) | 5.0 (22 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 81.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 187 — better | 22 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 105 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Skyjos Co., Ltd. | NOTENEST LLC |
Customer experience
UltraNotes
Wren
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
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- 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
Wren
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
UltraNotes
- UltraNotes Pro Lifetime$4.99
Wren
- NoteNest Lite7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- NoteNest Founder7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- NoteNest Pro7 Days trial$9.991 Month
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- NoteNest Elite7 Days trial$14.991 Month
- NoteNest Pro Annual7 Days trial$71.991 Year









