Comparison

JustNotes vs NanNanCat Notes

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

Head to head
About

JustNotes

Create handwritten notes and annotate PDFs on your iPad with Apple Pencil. Organize your thoughts with folders and export them as PDFs or images. Enjoy a full-featured, offline notebook experience without ads or tracking.

Highlights
  • Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil
  • PDF import and annotation
  • Folder organization
  • Export as PDF or PNG
  • Offline functionality with autosave
  • Pinch-to-zoom and pan
Features
Read full description

JustNotes is a free, offline notebook for iPad. Other apps require payments, or have limitations, but not this one. Write with Apple Pencil, import and annotate PDFs, organize notes in folders and subfolders, and export exactly what you need—no ads, no tracking. All the features of other apps, but without the money or ads. Why you’ll like it: • Beautiful handwriting with Apple Pencil • Pinch-to-zoom & one-finger pan while drawing • Per-page orientation: portrait or landscape • Paper styles: plain, lined, or grid • Import PDFs (auto-saved in Imported Files) • Organize with folders & subfolders; drag to reorder pages • Export as PDF or images (PNG) • Works offline with continuous autosave

About

NanNanCat Notes

Features
Read full description

NanNanCat Notes is a handwriting notes app, made by a university student in Taiwan and named after their cat, NanNan. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no locked features, no ads — just a plain tool. HANDWRITING AND DRAWING Fountain pen, ballpoint, brush and highlighter with freely adjustable width and colour — save your favourites. Shape recognition, a ruler, sticky notes, washi tape, stickers and text boxes are included. Inserted photos can be cropped, resized and rotated. RECORDING WITH INK REPLAY Record a lecture or meeting, and optionally capture the timing of your writing — during playback the ink reappears stroke by stroke in time with the audio. Choose the built-in mic or a connected headset. THREE KINDS OF DOCUMENT Besides paged notebooks, there's a whiteboard for thinking out loud and a text document that exports as Markdown. All three share the same folders and search. SYNCS ACROSS YOUR DEVICES Sign in to the same Apple Account and notes written on iPad appear on iPhone by themselves — no account to create, no sync button to press. Or keep everything local with iCloud turned off entirely. HANDWRITING SEARCH AND ON-DEVICE AI Search your own handwriting. Summarising, proofreading and translating all run on the device — your notes are never sent to any server. PRIVATE AND SECURE Set a passcode for the app and unlock it with Face ID or Touch ID. No ads, no tracking, no third-party analytics. TAKE IT ANYWHERE Export notebooks as PDF or as a re-editable file format, and text documents as Markdown. The Files app always has an up-to-date PDF of every notebook. Available in Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean. Questions or suggestions? Reach us on Discord or by email.

Screenshots

JustNotes4 screens
NanNanCat Notes2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: NanNanCat Notes at daily against JustNotes's every 6 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

JustNotes ships an update every 6 weeks, NanNanCat Notes daily. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
JustNotes versus NanNanCat Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJustNotesNanNanCat Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.518.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNeel RoyJunda Chu

In-app purchases

None

JustNotes

No in-app purchases

None

NanNanCat Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is JustNotes free?
JustNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is NanNanCat Notes free?
NanNanCat Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do JustNotes or NanNanCat Notes have ads?
Neither JustNotes nor NanNanCat Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, JustNotes or NanNanCat Notes?
JustNotes ships an update every 6 weeks, and NanNanCat Notes daily. Most recently, JustNotes was updated on October 13, 2026 and NanNanCat Notes on September 28, 2026.

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