Comparison

HandNote vs Tendback

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

Head to head
About

HandNote

Features
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Turn photos of your handwritten pages into clear, editable notes. HandNote keeps each original page next to its text on your device, so you can check the handwriting at any time instead of typing everything again. • Current recognition supports handwriting written with the Latin alphabet. • Recognize a handwritten page for free and add up to 10 pages to one note. • While you review, words that may need checking are highlighted. • Corrections you make are remembered and applied automatically next time. • Saved notes keep the original photo next to the text, stored on your device. • Notes are grouped by date — today, this week, earlier — and you can sort them into notebooks. • Copy or share the text, share a designed image card with or without the original page, or save the card to Photos. • Export all your notes at once as a zip with text files and the original photos. • Your first AI organization is free: see the outline, key points, summary and study cards for one of your own notes. • Premium keeps organizing every page after that and adds PDF, Markdown or plain-text file export. How it works: 1. Photograph a handwritten page or choose one from your photo library, then add more pages if you need them. 2. Check the highlighted words and correct anything the recognition got wrong. 3. Save the note with its original page, share it as text or an image card, and organize it with AI — the first time is free. The app is free to download. Recognition, review, editing, saving with the original photo, multi-page notes, correction memory, notebooks, copying, sharing text and image cards, and exporting all notes as a zip are available without upgrading, and your first AI organization is free. HandNote Premium only adds AI organization after that (outline, key points, summary and study cards) and PDF, Markdown or plain-text file export, through an auto-renewing weekly subscription or a permanent purchase. Important: Handwriting recognition and AI-organized content may contain errors. Always check important information against the original page. Apple Standard Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://handnote.skybringup.com/privacy/

About

Tendback

Features
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Keep the things that need a follow-up in sight. Waiting for a refund, a repair, an application update or a reply? Need to send someone documents or confirm the next step? Tendback is a personal follow-up list for things that are not finished yet. WRITE IT, REVIEW IT, FOLLOW UP Type a sentence such as “Follow up with Support tomorrow” or “Send data to Alex in three days.” Local rules suggest a date, person and direction. You review everything before saving. English and Simplified Chinese are supported; your own text is never translated. SEE WHO NEEDS TO ACT Use Waiting on Me, Waiting on Others and Needs Follow-up to keep actions and replies clear. Review upcoming items for the next seven days. Resolve or abandon an item to move it into history. LOCAL REMINDERS AND WIDGETS Choose reminders for the day before and the follow-up day. Keep the free Needs Follow-up widget on your Home Screen. Notification delivery and widget refresh timing depend on iOS settings and system conditions. FREE CORE, OPTIONAL PRO The free app includes up to eight active items, local reminders, history, six built-in templates and the Needs Follow-up widget. Pro adds unlimited active items, optional private iCloud sync, more Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, photo attachments, custom templates, Excel and JSON export, and alternate app icons. LOCAL FIRST No account to create. No developer-operated server storing your follow-ups. No advertising SDKs or third-party analytics SDKs. Optional iCloud sync uses your private CloudKit database. Original attachment images stay on the device where they were added; only their metadata syncs. Exports include attachment metadata, not original images, and cannot be imported back for restoration. VOICE WHEN YOUR DEVICE SUPPORTS IT Press and hold to create a draft with on-device speech recognition. Microphone and speech permissions are required. Availability depends on your device and selected language. Typing remains available. PRO PURCHASES Pro is available as a monthly or yearly auto-renewing subscription, or as a one-time lifetime purchase for this app on its current platform. Prices are shown by Apple for your region. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation. Subscriptions renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the current period ends; renewal is charged within 24 hours before that period ends. Manage or cancel subscriptions in Apple Account settings. Restore eligible purchases in the app. Privacy Policy: https://jiaqi1619.cn/genyixia/en/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://jiaqi1619.cn/genyixia/en/terms/ Support: https://jiaqi1619.cn/genyixia/en/support/

Screenshots

HandNote4 screens
Tendback4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: HandNote at 3 against Tendback's 1. HandNote also leads on iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. HandNote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Tendback sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HandNote ships an update monthly, Tendback every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
HandNote versus Tendback: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHandNoteTendback
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.5 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size72 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerskybringup孟奇 李

In-app purchases

2 purchases

HandNote

Subscriptions1
  • Weekly Premium$1.997 Days
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$6.99
3 purchases

Tendback

Subscriptions2
  • Tendback Pro Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Tendback Pro Yearly$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Tendback Pro Lifetime$12.99

Questions

Is HandNote free?
HandNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tendback free?
Tendback is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do HandNote or Tendback have ads?
Neither HandNote nor Tendback shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HandNote or Tendback?
HandNote ships an update monthly, and Tendback every 5 weeks. Most recently, HandNote was updated on November 9, 2026 and Tendback on November 10, 2026.

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