Comparison

GenieNote vs NoteSam

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

Head to head
About

GenieNote

Features
Read full description

Scribble Smarter!! Write, sketch, and calculate — all on one canvas. GenieNote turns your iPhone and iPad into a freeform workspace where handwritten notes, a smart calculator, photo stickers, and sticky labels live together on the same page. HANDWRITE & SKETCH FREELY • Natural ink with Apple Pencil or your finger • Smart canvas: pinch to zoom, pan, and resize freely • Quick-access pen, highlighter, eraser, and color presets BUILT-IN CALCULATOR • Basic arithmetic with ± and % (more functions coming soon) • Drag results onto the page as floating number stickers • Double-tap any saved number to label it ("budget", "total"…) • Drag any number back into the calculator to reuse it • Pro tip: tap an operator (like +), then tap any number on the canvas for instant copy & paste STICKY MEMO LABELS • Place anywhere, resize from any corner • Choose background color, text color, size, and font PHOTO COLLAGES & STICKERS • Add photos from your library or camera • Automatic background removal turns photos into stickers • Fine-tune cutouts by hand with the eraser • Mix photos with sketches for one-of-a-kind pages MADE FOR REAL LIFE • Class notes: formulas, diagrams, and instant math — great for STEM and test prep • Budgets & expenses: shopping lists, travel costs, and running totals without leaving the page • Recipes: ingredients, steps, portions, and conversions in one place • Events & projects: plan parties, track tasks and costs, brainstorm freely • Fitness & meals: log workouts, calories, and goals • Journaling: mind maps, story layouts, and visual goal boards • DIY: sketch plans, note measurements, and estimate materials • Travel & daily planning: itineraries, checklists, and daily budgets WHY GENIENOTE? • Visual memory: keep key figures right next to your sketches • Zero context switching: no more jumping between a notes app and a calculator • For students, planners, engineers, designers — anyone who thinks in words AND numbers Universal app: runs great on iPhone and iPad, optimized for Apple Pencil.

About

NoteSam

Features
Read full description

NoteSam — Handwritten Notes for iPad Built by a mathematician who needed a handwriting notebook that actually kept up with the Apple Pencil. Couldn't find one. Wrote it. Private by design. Your notes live on your device. Sync goes only where you point it — iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV, S3, SFTP. Your note content is never shared or used for ads. The free version offers optional rewarded ads to unlock premium items; Pro has no ads. WRITING • Native PencilKit engine tuned for low-latency Apple Pencil • Vector strokes — infinite zoom, no pixelation • Pressure + tilt sensitivity • Palm rejection that just works READING & ANNOTATION • PDF import — annotate textbooks, contracts, lecture notes • EPUB reader with text-anchored highlights that survive font-size changes • Voice memos attached to the page ORGANIZATION • Unlimited folders and notebooks • Template marketplace — grid, dot, music, planner, more • OCR search across handwritten notes PRIVACY End-to-end encryption (AES-256-GCM + Argon2id). Your cloud provider sees ciphertext only. Analytics records a few in-app events such as sign-up and purchase, and our ad partners measure ad performance — never the content of your notes. Your handwriting, your PDFs, your voice memos — those never leave your device unless you sync them yourself. OFFLINE-FIRST Everything works without a network connection. Sync is additive. Free tier: unlimited notebooks, PDF + EPUB import, all core drawing tools. Pro unlocks the template marketplace and multi-provider sync. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Custom Terms: https://notesam.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://notesam.app/privacy

Screenshots

GenieNote3 screens
NoteSam3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: GenieNote at every 2 weeks against NoteSam's every 3 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. GenieNote sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and NoteSam sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GenieNote ships an update every 2 weeks, NoteSam every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 5 level
GenieNote versus NoteSam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGenieNoteNoteSam
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLeo Rivas-MicoudCryptosam LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

GenieNote

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$39.99
2 purchases

NoteSam

Subscriptions2
  • NoteSam Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • NoteSam Pro Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is GenieNote free?
GenieNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is NoteSam free?
NoteSam is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do GenieNote or NoteSam have ads?
Both GenieNote and NoteSam show ads.
Which is updated more often, GenieNote or NoteSam?
GenieNote ships an update every 2 weeks, and NoteSam every 3 months. Most recently, GenieNote was updated on October 28, 2026 and NoteSam on October 24, 2026.

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