Notes at Hand vs Serious Notebook
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notes at Hand
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Notes at Hand is a simple and powerful note-taking app designed to help you capture, organize, and protect your ideas every day. You can create, edit, and delete notes with a title and body text, while autosave keeps your work محفوظ without extra effort. A built-in word counter helps you stay on track, and search and sorting tools make it easy to find the right note fast. You can also build checklists, add photos, organize notes into folders, and pin important items to the top of the list. For extra privacy, Notes at Hand supports note locking with Face ID or Touch ID. Sharing notes is quick and easy, and the app also includes support for Apple Watch and Home Screen widgets for convenient access anywhere. In the free version, you can create and edit notes, use checklists and photos, create up to 2 folders, pin up to 2 notes, and choose from 1 basic theme color. Premium unlocks unlimited folders, unlimited pinned notes, all color themes, text formatting such as bold, italic, underline, and lists, plus tags, filters, reminders, and app locking. With advanced note management tools and flexible organization, Notes at Hand is built to keep your notes accessible, secure, and easy to manage. This application contains auto-renewable subscriptions and In-App Purchases: Weekly - $4.99, Monthly - $12.99, Yearly - $39.99, One‑Time Purchase-$59.99 Terms of Use Link: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I1EiFgTwoFHQ1gBFxNwK9f_45KoA1s4JmiAyWSqXUkE/edit?usp=sharing
Serious Notebook
A private digital notebook for handwriting, typing, and annotating documents. Import PDFs, scan paper, and organize your thoughts with customizable tools. Keep your work securely on your device with no accounts or tracking.
- Handwrite and sketch with Apple Pencil
- Type notes and highlight on iPhone
- Import and annotate PDFs
- Scan paper into notebooks
- Insert text boxes, sticky notes, photos, and scans
- Export notebooks as PDF
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Your handwriting, PDFs, and ideas. A quieter place to think. Write naturally with Apple Pencil on iPad. Type notes and highlight pages on iPhone. Import a PDF planner, annotate a worksheet, or scan paper into a notebook you can keep working in. Serious Notebook keeps your work on your device, with no account, ads, tracking, or subscription. WRITE, STUDY, AND PLAN • Handwrite and sketch on iPad with pen, pencil, highlighter, and eraser tools. Apple Pencil works on compatible iPads. • Type notes and highlight with your finger on iPhone. • Choose blank, ruled, grid, or dot-grid paper in soft white or cream. • Give each notebook its own title and cover. MAKE DOCUMENTS YOUR OWN • Import PDFs as notebooks and annotate their pages. • Scan paper on supported camera-equipped devices, review the pages, then start writing. • Add text boxes and sticky notes. With lifetime access, insert photos, PDF pages, and scans into your notes. • Move, resize, and rotate inserted objects. • Export a notebook or selected pages as PDF to save or share. NEW IN 3.0 Scan several pages straight into your open notebook as movable objects with lifetime access. Take multiple photos, review them, and add them together. On iPad, a clearer top toolbar leaves more room to write. TRY YOUR OWN NOTES The free workspace includes one handwritten notebook plus one separate PDF or scan notebook, up to 10 pages each. Try the included example without using either allowance. ONE LIFETIME PURCHASE Unlock unlimited notebooks, pages, PDF imports, camera scans, and photo insertion with a single non-consumable purchase. No recurring payments. Existing lifetime customers and eligible original paid-app customers keep access. Restore Purchases is available in Settings. PRIVATE, ON YOUR DEVICE Notes, imported documents, photos, and scans stay on the device where you create them. No app account or document upload is required. Notebooks do not automatically sync between devices. Export PDFs regularly to keep a copy of your work. Purchase and restoration use Apple's App Store services. For class notes, project ideas, PDF planners, and everyday thinking on iPhone and iPad.
Screenshots
Verdict
Notes at Hand and Serious Notebook are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Notes at Hand sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and Serious Notebook sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Notes at Hand | Serious Notebook |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tamar Ben-David | BILGESU KADAN |
In-app purchases
Notes at Hand
- Weekly-Trial3 Days trial$4.997 Days
- Weekly$4.997 Days
- Monthly$12.991 Month
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- Yearly$39.991 Year
- Lifetime$59.99
Serious Notebook
- Lifetime Unlock$24.99
Questions
Is Notes at Hand free?
Is Serious Notebook free?
Do Notes at Hand or Serious Notebook have ads?
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